5 Tips To Boost Your Spirits
If you?re feeling like everything is getting on top of you, or you?re finding it difficult to cope or function, or you?re feeling down in the dumps, then try these 5 easy-to-do tips to relieve tension and stress and boost your spirits:
1. Take a relaxing bath. Add music, candles and a glass of your favourite drink: beer, tea, hot chocolate, wine or even champagne. Close the door and forget about everything else for an hour or so. This helps to increase levels of calmness and the calmer we feel, the less likely we are to get stressed out or depressed.
2. Comedy night: get in your favourite nibbles: chips, tortillas, salsa, crackers, cheese, pizza, chocolate, cookies, ice cream etc. Crack open a bottle of wine or pour yourself a beer or two and spend a full evening watching your favourite funny films or comedians. Laughter raises our spirits and is a great antidote to the stresses and trials of modern living.
3. Get out of the firing line: Take off for some peace and quiet for a day or better still a weekend or a week. Take a journal, relax and gather your thoughts. When we?re under pressure or struggling to cope with a major situation or event in life, seeing solutions to our problems can be really difficult. Distance from problems can bring clarity and relieve tension. I love going to the coast when I feel like this and it always, without fail, helps me to calm down and find solutions. I don?t know why but there?s something really soothing about being near the ocean. Being near water, come to think of it.
4. Increase calmness and feel great by indulging in massage. Share a massage with your partner ? create a relaxing atmosphere by softening the lights and have oils and towels to hand. Lavender oil is particularly relaxing. Or, treat yourself to a massage from a professional masseur or masseuse. For a really invigorating massage, visit a Turkish baths if you?re fortunate enough to have one nearby. Massage is very relaxing and increases intimacy between lovers. It?s one huge stress buster as well but be warned, it?s addictive! Not a bad thing to be addicted to though, and it will do you no end of good.
5. Spend a week without watching any television. Television can fill your mind with negativity, bombard you with image manipulation via commercials and give you a distorted view of reality by showing you everything that?s bad about the world. Famines, disasters, murders, violence, war ? the list is endless ? and news programmes and soap operas are full of such events. So give your mind a break from this assault on your senses. Abandon the television for a week and do something more rewarding instead: Read a book, listen to music, socialize, workout, go for a walk or try your hand at something new. If you need to hear the news, listen to a radio news bulletin once a day. But try and avoid them for one week, replace them with something more life enhancing and see how you feel.
The above ideas are very simple to implement but they are also very effective in helping to relieve stress and tension. Give them a try and watch your mood levels rise!
Until next time.
About the author:
Chris Green is the author of the new acclaimed book “Conquering Stress”, the complete guide to beating stress, depression and anxiety, quickly, naturally and permanently. Click Here==>http://www.conqueringstress.com
-
What is a panic attack?
A panic attack is one of the most uncomfortable experiences a human being can have. Panic attacks seem to come out of the blue and they can include heart palpitations, tightening in the chest or shortness of breath (which is why they are sometimes confused with heart attacks), choking sensations (which is why you may think you’re going to suffocate) dizziness (which is why you may fear you’re going to pass out), faintness, sweating, trembling, shaking, and/or tingling in the hands and feet. These physiological effects are often accompanied by feelings of unreality, an intense desire to run away, and fears of going crazy, dying or fear of doing something uncontrollable.
Agoraphobia is fear of panic attacks, of going out and being unable to escape if you have a sudden panic attack.
What causes the reactions of a panic attack?
*Although these fears are real at the time, they are primarily the result of adrenaline and other physiological responses that are useful to you when you are really under threat, but are frightening when your mind tricks you into thinking you are.
*Because you start breathing more quickly in the upper portion of your chest, your brain gets less oxygen. As a result, you can have feelings of unreality and disorientation. These reactions can make you think you’re going crazy, but you’re not. No one goes crazy in a sudden or spontaneous way, mental illness develops slowly over time. This kind of breathing can also bring on lightheadedness and fear you’ll lose your balance of faint; just breathe more deeply in the lower part of your abdomen and this feeling will pass.
*Adrenaline dilates the blood vessels in your legs that can make them feel like jelly and you start to tremble and fear you might fall. These sensations will pass if you don’t fight them.
* The tension you feel can affect your inner ear and make you feel dizzy or that things around you are spinning; this is not dangerous and will pass.
* Stress and tension can cause the muscles in your neck and chest to tighten and reduce your ability to breathe. You won’t suffocate. Your brain has a built-in reflex that will eventually force you to breathe.
* A panic attack cannot cause you to have a heart attack even though your heart may beat very fast. A healthy heart is built to beat as many as 200 times a minute for weeks and still keep going. There is a big difference between a racing heart and a heart attack.
* You won’t lose control of yourself. If anything, you’ll be highly focused on one goal, escaping. So, you may try to run away or escape, but losing total control of yourself is a myth, not a reality.
Because of their intensity, they can leave you feeling helpless, terrified and anticipating another attack. While some people have several panic attacks a week, others have one and never have one again or have one every few years.
What can you do to cope with panic attacks so they no longer have the power to frighten you?
* Engage in the regular practice of deep relaxation.
* Exercise every day. Exercise can reduce stress responses such as panic attacks.
* Eliminate stimulants. Stop using caffeine, chocolate, sugar, nicotine, and all stimulant drugs.
* Learn to acknowledge and express your feelings, especially anger and sadness; when you deny these feelings, they can come back to haunt you in the form of panic attacks.
* Learn to challenge your negative thinking patterns and use self-talk that promote a calmer and more accepting attitude toward life.
If you make these 5 lifestyle changes, over time your problem with panic attacks will diminish or vanish entirely. For more specifics on how to change your lifestyle to reduce panic attacks, go to www.carolynchambersclark.com and find a sample chapter and how to obtain LIVING WELL WITH ANXIETY, WHAT YOUR DOCTOR DOESN’T TELL YOU THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.
Carolyn Chambers Clark has a masters degree in psychiatric/mental health nursing from Rutgers University, and a doctorate in education from Columbia University. She is author of LIVING WELL WITH ANXIETY and LIVING WELL WITH MENOPAUSE. You can find free articles and newsletters on her web site at www.carolynchambersclark.com
