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Introduction
Stress is what you feel if you are in danger or if you have more on your plate than you can handle. Your body perceives any serious difficulty as a threat and you go into a state called the ‘fight-or-flight response’. You get a boost of adrenaline so you can fight your problem or run away from it.
The problem is that in the modern world we rarely have to fight or run. That is why we need stress management and not just stress relief. To do something for stress relief is to take a break. To become an expert at stress management means that you can handle the stress of day-to-day living with greater ease and control.
This website has all the methods you need to become an expert on managing stress instantly. To get started read "21 Effective Stress Management Techniques"
The problem is that in the modern world we rarely have to fight or run. That is why we need stress management and not just stress relief. To do something for stress relief is to take a break. To become an expert at stress management means that you can handle the stress of day-to-day living with greater ease and control.
This website has all the methods you need to become an expert on managing stress instantly. To get started read "21 Effective Stress Management Techniques"
Causes of Stress
Everything in life can cause stress. You can be stressed by relationship problems, family problems, emotional problems (such as anxiety and depression), social situations, your job and where you live.
The symptoms of stress are a faster heartbeat, stiff neck, headaches, sleeping problems, stomach problems, back pain, sweaty palms and reduced immune system efficiency which can lead to disease and illness.
Stress can affect your relationships and work so you should have an idea of the major stressors and stress management techniques. WebMD has a useful stress test you can do to get an idea of your stress levels located here.
"Rule No. 1 is, don't sweat the small stuff. Rule No. 2 is, it's all small stuff. And if you can't fight and you can't flee, flow." - From Time Magazine's article 'Stress: Can We Cope'
The symptoms of stress are a faster heartbeat, stiff neck, headaches, sleeping problems, stomach problems, back pain, sweaty palms and reduced immune system efficiency which can lead to disease and illness.
Stress can affect your relationships and work so you should have an idea of the major stressors and stress management techniques. WebMD has a useful stress test you can do to get an idea of your stress levels located here.
"Rule No. 1 is, don't sweat the small stuff. Rule No. 2 is, it's all small stuff. And if you can't fight and you can't flee, flow." - From Time Magazine's article 'Stress: Can We Cope'
Relaxation & Meditation Audios (Free Downloads)
The following links will provide a solution for your stress relief needs with meditation, relaxation and scientifically tested sounds (called binaural beats)designed for deep relaxation.
How to Get Smarter, One Breath at a Time
At 4:30, when most of Wall Street is winding down, Walter Zimmermann begins a high-stakes, high-wire act conducted live before a paying audience. About 200 institutional investors—including airlines and oil companies—shell out up to $3,000 a month to catch his daily webcast on the volatile energy markets, a performance that can move hundreds of millions of dollars. "I'm not paid to be wrong—I can tell you that," Zimmermann says. But as he clicks through dozens of screens and graphics on three computers, he's the picture of focused calm. Zimmermann, 54, watched most of his peers in energy futures burn out long ago. He attributes his brain's enduring sharpness not to an intravenous espresso drip but to 40 minutes of meditation each morning and evening. The practice, he says, helps him maintain the clarity he needs for quick, insightful analysis—even approaching happy hour. "Meditation," he says, "is my secret weapon."
Everyone around the water cooler knows that meditation reduces stress. But with the aid of advanced brainscanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the function and structure of the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory.
One recent study found evidence that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain's cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory. Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented preliminary results last November that showed that the gray matter of 20 men and women who meditated for just 40 minutes a day was thicker than that of people who did not. Unlike in previous studies focusing on Buddhist monks, the subjects were Boston-area workers practicing a Western-style of meditation called mindfulness or insight meditation. "We showed for the first time that you don't have to do it all day for similar results," says Lazar. What's more, her research suggests that meditation may slow the natural thinning of that section of the cortex that occurs with age.
The forms of meditation Lazar and other scientists are studying involve focusing on an image or sound or on one's breathing. Though deceptively simple, the practice seems to exercise the parts of the brain that help us pay attention. "Attention is the key to learning, and meditation helps you voluntarily regulate it," says Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin. Since 1992, he has collaborated with the Dalai Lama to study the brains of Tibetan monks, whom he calls "the Olympic athletes of meditation." Using caps with electrical sensors placed on the monks' heads, Davidson has picked up unusually powerful gamma waves that are better synchronized in the Tibetans than they are in novice meditators. Studies have linked this gamma-wave synchrony to increased awareness.
Read more? http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1147167,00.html#ixzz2K4m1s48a
Everyone around the water cooler knows that meditation reduces stress. But with the aid of advanced brainscanning technology, researchers are beginning to show that meditation directly affects the function and structure of the brain, changing it in ways that appear to increase attention span, sharpen focus and improve memory.
One recent study found evidence that the daily practice of meditation thickened the parts of the brain's cerebral cortex responsible for decision making, attention and memory. Sara Lazar, a research scientist at Massachusetts General Hospital, presented preliminary results last November that showed that the gray matter of 20 men and women who meditated for just 40 minutes a day was thicker than that of people who did not. Unlike in previous studies focusing on Buddhist monks, the subjects were Boston-area workers practicing a Western-style of meditation called mindfulness or insight meditation. "We showed for the first time that you don't have to do it all day for similar results," says Lazar. What's more, her research suggests that meditation may slow the natural thinning of that section of the cortex that occurs with age.
The forms of meditation Lazar and other scientists are studying involve focusing on an image or sound or on one's breathing. Though deceptively simple, the practice seems to exercise the parts of the brain that help us pay attention. "Attention is the key to learning, and meditation helps you voluntarily regulate it," says Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin. Since 1992, he has collaborated with the Dalai Lama to study the brains of Tibetan monks, whom he calls "the Olympic athletes of meditation." Using caps with electrical sensors placed on the monks' heads, Davidson has picked up unusually powerful gamma waves that are better synchronized in the Tibetans than they are in novice meditators. Studies have linked this gamma-wave synchrony to increased awareness.
Read more? http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1147167,00.html#ixzz2K4m1s48a
