The most healthy people I meet seem to normally say that your health is only under your control so why not “Do it yourself?” I am not a medical professional

and I am not able to provide legal advise but here are some ideas to manage stress, tr

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a, and grief that I have worked well for me.

• work

• love

• friendship

• leisure

• coping

• problem solving

• creativity

• sense of humor

• nutrition *Consider supplemental multivitamins and multi minerals as well as additional magnesium.

• exercise

• self care

Healthy Gregory Hillman 2011

Almost all of us have been working at managing stress and a number of of other problems throughout our entire life. We know the only human that does not have stress is a dead human and we can use our stress to help us learn and improve our health instead of allowing it to harm us. I am not a Doctor or medical professional but I have included some opinions that have worked very well for me to manage even the most difficult stress.

Various Levels Of Stress Management

There are many different levels and stages of stress, grief, loss of child, parent, or spouse, post traumatic stress maybe from an abduction / veteran, and other types of stress that we might need to deal with at some point in our life. After my experiences with various levels of stress and studying ways to manage and direct stress better I have found that there are some things that will work very well and others that will only create more stress and may harm your ability to deal with every day concerns in your life. It is also important to note that stress is not always in the form of anger and many times can come from sadness, over stimulation, and other health concerns.

Improve Health To Manage Stress

I believe there are ways we can all improve our mental and physical health. Every person is different but I might consider taking a general look at the overall categories of health and find out if there are ways you could improve or become more healthy. Here are some categories to consider:

• work
• love
• friendship
• leisure
• coping
• problem solving
• creativity
• sense of humor
• nutrition *Consider supplemental multivitamins and multi minerals as well as additional magnesium.
• exercise
• self care
• gender identity
• cultural identity

I believe if you can improve your ability to achieve optimal performance in each of these areas you will be able to manage your stress easier. Also you should be able to trust people but not be easily manipulated. If you are easily manipulated you may get yourself into situations that will cause additional stress for no reasons besides other peoples’ means.

Exercise and Physical Skills To Reduce Stress

Sometimes in addition to stress, if the environmental conditions exist, you may have uncontrollable bursts of Epinephrine and this can cause all types of health concerns including palpitations, tremor, hypertension, and acute pulmonary edema, tachycardia, arrhythmia, anxiety, headache and many other things. Even though you may not be able to stop your body from releasing this hormone I believe you may be able to manage the effects better through exercise. Look through the general categories of exercise and see if there are ways you could improve:

• Endurance

• Stamina

• Strength

• Flexibility

• Power

• Speed
• Coordination

• Accuracy

• Metabolic
• Morphological
• Bone integrity
• Body composition
• Cardiovascular fitness

• Muscular endurance

• Muscle strength

• Agility
• Balance

• Coordination

• Power

• Speed
• Reaction time
• Team sport
• Individual sport

I believe if you find ways to improve your physical health though these different physical skills you will be able to manage your stress much easier even through the most difficult situations.

Flexibility And Positive Thinking

When you are going through a stressful time it is important to remain calm. You can cry as much as you want but you might consider trying to regulate your emotions though an increased focus on flexibility, positive thinking, and guided meditation. I have found all of these things seem to work very well in managing stress. You might also consider practicing Pranayama. These certain breathing exercises may have helped me with even the most stressful situations.

Here is a video example which may help give you some general ideas about Pranayama:

Float Therapy And Endurance Through Lap Swimming

Many people have enjoyed the relaxation of float therapy but I also suggest focusing on lap swimming. Even if it is only one or

two days a week, try building endurance through the swim and do a variety of different strokes. I have seen research that would show optimistic people are more likely to do a variety of different activities so switch it up. You can also do the “dead man’s float” in an unused area of the pool where you can allow all of your muscles to completely relax and rest. Try doing this for 30-40 seconds at a time if your breath will allow for 20 or more times and see if you feel more relaxed and less stress. Some people are able to swim for 12 hours or longer but be sure to work up to this and have plenty of rest. I have found that swimming 4-6 hours is normally plenty to create the desired need of reducing the stress and physical nervousness.

Solve The Stress

Drugs, alcohol, poor health, and even especially bad nutrition are traps that most people seem to fall into when they are under a excess amount of stress. These things may help you deal with the stress temporarily but will not solve it. It is important to find out what is causing your stress and if it is something you can solve I suggest considering a continued focus to work on it towards your goal. Use this to propel you to improve your health so you can deal with the stress and solve your problem easier. I strongly believe when you are in better health you will be able to solve problems much easier.

Remove Clutter And Signals That May Cause Stress

You may be the only one that can say which photo may cause you stress because of an old memory or which way you feel most comfortable with your desk organization but you may also consider removing clutter from any part of your life that could be causing stress. You can even do this around your home and work environment. Look for signals like, “would I have less stress if this pile of stuff or group of items was sorted and taken care of? Are there people in my life that I need to work with to solve a problem or may be causing additional unneeded stress?

Please let us know if you have found any other things that may help manage stress or may work for others. Enjoy and do not forget to have some fun while you are managing your stress!