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Busy Fish: Tips for Changing Your Day from Chaos to Calm
Syndicated columnist Dale Dauten recently wrote, One of lifes great joys that weve lost is that of the empty day, a day given over to quiet, to reading and contemplation. Our planners and PDAs give the illusion of importance and of being in...
Choose a Stressless Lifestyle!
Choose a stressless lifestyle? That's very easy to say. Yet it is so important. Our health should be our # 1 priority. We all know that, and still we keep hearing about yet another work mate who is now on the sick-list for several weeks to come. ...
Do You Have Undiagnosed Hypoglycemia?
You have permission to publish this article electronically free of charge, providing the entire byline at the end of the article is included and the content is left unchanged. If you use it, please notify me with a copy of your publication or a url...
Stress: Making The Doctors Rich!
We work hard to get wealth and in the process many acquire an additional component-Stress!
Stress is one of the worlds' silent killers. Remaining in the background for years,it rarely shows its physical ravages under its own name, but rather...
To Hell In A Handbasket; Men Who Crash And Burn
What’s up with men? Why do we push our bodies to extremes? Why do we so often ignore our body’s signals that we’re doing too much, going too fast, trying too hard? Why do we indulge in excess, and constantly exceed our” envelope of tolerance”?
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Massage Therapy for Health
Yes, massage feels good. But, more importantly, massage helps maintain and promote good health.
Three of the primary health benefits of massage are improved circulation, reduced muscle tension, and relief from the effects of stress.
Massage increases lymph flow and blood circulation. Your body depends on the flow of lymph and blood to remove metabolic waste and by-products of tissue damage and inflammation and to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissue cells.
Secondly, massage reduces muscle tension. Tense muscles lead to stiffness, reduced movement potential, impaired circulation, and pain. Massage relaxes muscles through the mechanical effects of pressure on muscle tissue and the soothing effects of focused, skilled touch on the nervous system, which controls muscle tension.
A third important benefit of massage is relief from the effects of stress. Negative stress is a major factor in many of the diseases that plague our lives. Various sources estimate that 70-90% of visits to general physicians are for stress-related illness.
The effects of stress on the body are the result of the fight-or-flight response. Here’s how the fight-or-flight response works. Let’s say that during a backcountry hike an angry cougar confronts you. You have two choices--run or fight.
Your body prepares for action: your muscles tense, your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure all increase, your liver dumps sugar into your blood stream for energy, and your adrenal glands pump adrenaline into your system. Your body also shuts down the digestive, urinary, and reproductive systems, which are not needed for immediate survival.
Then after your successful fight or flight, your body pretty much returns to normal as a result of the intense physical exertion.
Most of the stresses we face in today’s world are subtler than a cougar. But when
someone yells at you for no apparent reason, your body has much the same response that it has to that cougar. Since it’s not acceptable to either fight or run, you just stand there and your body does not as easily return to a normal state.
The effects of such stresses are cumulative: over time your body spends more time in the hyped-up fight-or-flight state. You can see where this state could lead to chronically tense muscles and to heart, blood pressure, blood sugar, digestive, urinary, or reproductive problems.
Massage therapy helps reverse the effects of stress by creating the opposite of the fight-or-flight response: the relaxation response, which lowers heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure and increases the blood supply to all the body’s systems.
Although massage has many wonderful benefits, it is not for everyone. Most types of massage are not appropriate for someone with advanced heart disease, uncontrolled high blood pressure or diabetes, blood clots, and a few other conditions. Massage therapists take a health history to ensure that you receive safe and effective massage.
Regular massage helps you maintain good health. The effects of massage are cumulative. If you have a massage only when you are totally stressed or in pain, you start over each time. Receiving massage as often as you can physically, time-wise, and financially afford is an excellent investment in your health.
About the Author
Carol Wiley, LMP, is a massage therapist in Bellevue, WA. Visit http://www.bellevuemassagetherapy.com for more information about massage, a guide to massage resources and products, and self-care tips (including stretching, exercise, stress management, and more). Also, sign up for Carol's free monthly newsletter, Just the Right Touch, to learn more about the wide world of massage, bodywork, somatics, and related health/wellness topics.
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Stress Management Tips and Techniques from Mind Tools |
More than 100 stress management tips and techniques, helping you manage the job-related stress in your life. |
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Stress Management Techniques, Stress Relief & Stress Reduction ... |
Mind Tools helps you manage the causes of stress and teaches useful stress management techniques. |
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www.ivf.com |
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Stress Management: Information and Resources on Stress From About.com |
Find a wide variety of stress management strategies you can use in your daily life. Learn about the causes and effects of stress, healthy and effective ... |
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Stress Management |
Links to stress management information on the web. |
www.pp.okstate.edu |
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Return to the Stress Management and Emotional Wellness Page ... Cognitive Restructuring Approaches to Stress Management ... |
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International Stress Management Association(UK) |
The leading professional body for stress management. The ISMA website has articles from their journal Stress News, links and general advice on lifestyle and ... |
www.isma.org.uk |
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Stress Management: Counseling Services, University at Buffalo |
The description on stress management. ... Stress Management. Introduction Stress is a part of day to day living. As college students you may experience ... |
ub-counseling.buffalo.edu |
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Stress Management and Anxiety Relief |
Welcome to stressmanagement.co.uk - We specialise in managing your stress. |
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Stress Management for effective ways to manage stress |
Our stress management services allows you to find the solutions to all types of stress. We also have professional stress management counsellors available 7 ... |
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Stress Management--UIUC Counseling Center |
Self-help Brochures. What is Stress? Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; ... |
www.couns.uiuc.edu |
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The Stress Management Society |
Congratulations to taking the first step to freedom from the stress trap. This is the place to learn more about stress and its management. |
www.stress.org.uk |
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Stress management - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
Stress management encompasses techniques intended to equip a person with effective ... Definition of stress: Stress management defines stress precisely as a ... |
en.wikipedia.org |
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Stress |
Stress Management. Everyone experiences stress from time to time, so it is perfectly normal ... Fortunately, stress management is largely a learnable skill. ... |
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SBC Academic Resource Center | Stress Management |
With stress management training, you can learn to avoid procrastination and other stress-producing situations. Stress Quiz: How Stressed Are You? ... |
www.arc.sbc.edu |
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Mind Tools - How to Master Stress |
3. Stress Management Techniques. Raising Stress Levels - Psyching Up · Stress Reduction Techniques · Reducing Short-Term Stress - Mental Techniques ... |
www.psywww.com |
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Stress, stress management, occupational stress, stress prevention ... |
A recent survey showed that 70-90% of us feel stressed at work and outside. Unless we learn to manage stress, we will get sick. |
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HSE - Stress Management Standards Homepage |
The International Stress Management Association has produced a leaflet showing how employees can work with their employers to tackle work-related stress ... |
www.hse.gov.uk |
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Stress Management Tips for Stressed and Overworked People. |
Free weekly stress management tips and relaxation CD plus practical resources for stressed people. |
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