Love-Zap Your Stress

I was contacted by a large number of readers for more information on how to zap stress out of our lives into infinity and beyond, after posting up my "Love is Your Inner Doctor" article. With that in mind, I decided to share some natural stress solutions I use, which can provide numerous additional benefits for improving overall health and wellness.

A modern day ailment - many of us need help to cope with stress. But some conventional and alternative treatments for stress and anxiety may leave you feeling drowsy or fatigued. The good news: Numerous natural therapies can keep you focused and sustain your energy all day, while helping reduce the anxiety and stress that can damage mental, physical and emotional health.

Read about energy zappers.

If you pursue some of the avenues I prescribe below with zest and passion, you'll love-zap your stress into oblivion and get re-energised in no time at all. Some of these you will have read about before, but there'll be a few new secret stress zappers that you won't have heard about, as well. Remember we are all individual and each have our own story to tell, and so while some of the ideas I share below might be right for some, they might not help others. Toy with the ideas below, try some of them out, and listen to you body - it will tell you what works best for you.

Natural stress busters

1. Have four cups of organic green tea a day. Researchers have found that people who drink four or more cups of green tea daily are 44% less likely to have symptoms of depression than those who drink only one cup per day or less. Studies show that the component responsible for green tea's potential antidepressant effects is L-theanine - a calming amino acid known to reduce mental and physical stress and enhance critical neurotransmitter activity.

   Drink tea for daily health.

   Green tea is also abundant in a class of phytochemicals called polyphenols, including the potent antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which contributes to an increase in brain alpha wave activity. Alpha waves are associated with a state of being awake but relaxed, so EGCG combined with green tea's L-theanine, work together synergistically to promote an enhanced state of alert relaxation.

   Read about brainwaves here.

   With green tea, however, the issue of caffeine divides the experts. Some believe high levels of caffeine can have the opposite effect on relaxation, and so recommend decaffeinated green tea in order to avoid over-stimulation and anxiogenic (anxiety-promoting) effects. I prefer to drink my green tea as natural as possible, without the process of decaffeinating it. It is a personal choice, so go with whatever works best for you.

   Coffee v smoothies: Which is better for you?

   Others believe that when stress makes you unfocused, caffeine's stimulating qualities may promote a can-do attitude - especially with a cup of "pick-me-up" coffee. To supersize that good feeling, experts say drink your coffee with a little bit of organic whole milk instead of fat free. It's believed the extra protein and fat make you feel more satiated and therefore calmer, but they warn not to overdo it of you are watching the calories.

   Is coffee healthy for you?

2. Add different herbs and plants to your diet. Introducing yourself to the natural world of herbs and plants is beneficial, but remember that everything should be consumed in moderation, and be purchased as locally as possible, within season, and grown organically. This is the optimum, and we can't always achieve this, but we should keep these factors in mind when we investigate different herbs and plants around the world that might help with stress. If you can purchase as locally as possible (or from respected local fairtrade providers), it will be safer, as you will be more likely to ascertain if they are legal to buy where you live, but more importantly, if they are safe to eat! This is what I did when I researched some different herbs and plants to introduce into my mum's diet. I share two examples below.
   • Ashwagandha, I have found is a plant used traditionally throughout the world as an herbal remedy, treats inflammation, fights infection, enhances immunity, improves memory and promotes overall well-being. Ashwagandha is one of the most highly regarded and commonly used adaptogens by Ayurvedic healers. Adaptogens are a special class of botanicals that help balance your system for optimal energy during stressful periods. It helps the body resist stress and maintain mental and physical energy throughout the day, while supporting restful sleep at night. Its ability to reduce anxiety, ease restlessness and stabilise moods is highly valued by many herbalists.
   • Holy Basil (Tulsi) I discovered is native to India (where it is known as Tulsi). This herb has been shown to decrease the stress hormone cortisol. Studies show that chronically elevated levels of cortisol contribute to numerous degenerative conditions, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. Holy basil also operates as an adaptogen, naturally improving the body's response to physical and emotional stress during periods of high anxiety and physical exhaustion. Taking a holy basil herbal supplement or drinking Tulsi tea can help stabilise the brain's serotonin and dopamine levels to calm and relax you without making you feel drowsy. Holy basil also helps to balance blood sugar and cholesterol, and provides a rich source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds.
3. Take B vitamins - or make sure they are included in you diet. Expert medical opinion has it well-established that B vitamins support metabolic and immune health. In addition, research shows that healthy levels of B vitamins - especially B6, B9 and B12 - may also contribute to the reduction of anxiety and depression, and help boost energy. Whether you supplement your diet with these essential B vitamins or obtain them through foods (I advise getting them through food unless you are allergic to, or have to cut out certain foods from your diet) such as dairy products, lean meats, fish, poultry, nuts and eggs, they can have a direct impact on your brain’s serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine levels. For example, beef is a vitamin B12 rich food, but the amount of vitamin B12 in beef depends on the cut; lean fat-trimmed chuck contains the most followed by sirloin steak.

   Experts say you can eat red meat such as beef, as long as it's made from grass-fed beef. That's because pastured beef is high in conjugated linoleic acid, a fat that fights cancer and belly fat and has also been shown to protect brain cells from worry. Grass-fed beef also supplies a good dose of iron, which may boost your energy levels. As many as 15% of women ages 20 to 40 are iron deficient, and most iron-deficient people are tired and stressed. Evidence shows that B vitamins help balance and metabolise neurotoxic chemicals associated with psychological conditions like anxiety and depression.

   Toxic meals can cause stress.

   A number of B vitamins effectively benefit your mental health, particularly vitamin B1 (thiamine), which may improve mood and memory, and increase energy levels. Additionally, studies have shown that vitamin B6 (pyridoxine HCL) - combined with other B-complex vitamins - can reduce feelings of rage, anxiety, despair and depression.

   Cocoa and dark chocolate both contain B-complex vitamins such as B1, B2, B3, B5 and B11 (all types of chocolate have vitamins D and E), while a Johns Hopkins University study found that the taste of sweetness on your tongue causes a surge of feel-good endorphins. Also, dark chocolate contains compounds called flavonoids that also affect mood: According to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, cocoa flavonoids improved both mental acuity and attitude. Additionally, in a 2009 study by the American Chemical Society, eating a mere 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate daily lowered stress hormone levels. The key is to limit yourself to just a few bites, since the sugar in chocolate can cause a crash later. Plus, when you binge on anything, your blood is diverted to your gut away from your brain and muscles, which leaves you feeling tired.

   There are numerous minerals in chocolate. Dark chocolate has magnesium, copper, iron, manganese and zinc, which are useful for brain function, cell growth, the repair of tissue and the absorption of nutrients. When taking B vitamins, it is essential to accompany them with minerals such as zinc and trace elements. These serve as co-factors that support the health benefits of B vitamins.

   Click here for real comfort foods.

   These days I find many people are forgetful for a number of reasons. My mother's short term memory began to deteriorate suddenly last month, until we sorted her diet out for her. Part of it has to do with so much change going on in our lives and the world. And it can get stressful! If my recent experiences with friends and family are anything to go by, I estimate that about 70% of you who are reading this right now, are finding yourself more forgetful these days. When you improve your mind and your memory, you also make better decisions.

   So, I thought I'd share here the foods we added to my mother's diet which helped to improve her memory in about a month. If you find it difficult to concentrate or remember very recent events, try adding some of the foods listed below to your diet. Adding just one of these things to your diet each day will improve your memory by 20% over a month's time. Adding more than that will obviously improve your memory every quicker.

   • Parsley - its fresh herb leaves are rich in many essential vitamins such as vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) and vitamin B1 (thiamine). Add this to all your salads.
   • Shitake Mushrooms - these are an excellent source of three B vitamins (vitamins B2, B5 and B6). Shiitake mushrooms have more vitamin B12 than milk and fish. They go delicious in side salads or as meat substitutes in main meals.
   • Radishes - these are a good source of vitamin B9 (folic acid), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin). Another essential ingredients for salads.
   • Maca - Maca has gained the reputation of being a super herb in recent years, but it has actually been traditionally used for over 2,000 years to address a variety of health conditions. This Peruvian super food contains vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B9 (folic acid) and vitamin B12 (cobalamin).
   • Cinnamon - it contains trace amounts of vitamin B3 (niacin) - along with vitamins C, E, and A. Cinnamon is an important ingredient of the traditional way my mum makes a cup of coffee in her family, but she started adding this to her evening hot milky drink, too.
   • Coconut - it contains several vitamins in the B group. These are vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), vitamin B7 (biotin), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B9 (folic acid) and vitamin B1 (thiamine) as well as vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) in traces. This is another ingredient of my mum's traditional family coffee drink.
   • Strawberries - B vitamins are found in abundance within the strawberry. These include vitamins B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B3 (niacin), vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) and vitamin B12 (cobalamin). Make sure your summer kitchen store is never without some fresh, seasonal and local produce.
   • Apples - a raw unpeeled apple has small amounts of most of the B vitamins especially B9 (folic acid), and also vitamins A, C and E. Apple seeds are rich in vitamin B17 (amygdalin), but experts are divided as to whether consuming the seeds of fruits such as apples and apricots are in fact beneficial for us. However, there is mutual agreement that an apple a day does keep the doctor away!
4. Exercise intensively for 3 minutes a day. Natural herbs and supplements can make a difference in helping reduce stress, but for many, these remedies are only half of the necessary equation. A healthy diet needs to be combined with other stress-busting activities to boost their benefits. For example, if you are suffering from poor memory, boosting your diet with B vitamins combined with activities such as doing crossword puzzles or something to challenge your brain frequently (like learning something new each day) will help protect the plasticity of your brain power. Physical exercise has also been touted by experts as a way to stop memory loss, and beat stress.

   Get fit to live longer.

   Consequently, a number of people rely on some type of physical activity to relieve stress and lower anxiety. Research shows that we can get visible benefits from just 3 minutes of intensive exercise a week. So, I got my mum on her exercise cycle which was gathering dust in the garage, and now she cycles as hard as she can for three minutes each day. She has already seen vast improvements, and uses it as her wake-up jolt to start the day. It's also useful as an additional method if you're angry at something - exercise it out. If cycling doesn't suit you, don't worry - there are many forms of exercise.

   Read how to dance your stress away.

   Stretching can also make you feel good, relax you and even prepare you for sleep or help you start the day feeling refreshed. One stretching exercise experts recommend for stress is to stand straight with your feet shoulder-width apart, hips facing forward, and abs tight. Gently twist your trunk to the right, and hold. Return to the starting position, and repeat to the left side. Next, gently lean to the right as you reach your left arm up toward the ceiling; curve it slightly overhead, palm down. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed. Hold, then repeat to the left side. The best time to stretch during a workout is afterwards, when your muscles are really warm. This is when you'll get the biggest improvements in flexibility.

   Reduce stress with exercise.

   However, some experts say it doesn't have to be action we immediately associate with physical activity. For example, dropping our jaw when stressed is said to help. Relaxing your tongue and jaw sends a message to your brain stem and limbic system to turn off the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. So, when stressed it's advised to simply let your tongue go limp in your mouth, and then open your mouth slightly, which will instantly loosen up your jaw. These exercises help bring our parasympathetic nervous system online, which tells our bodies to rest and restore, experts say.

   Moreover, next time you're feeling frazzled, try other tactile solutions that make you feel good. During peak moments of stress, endorphins released into the brain relieve pain and begin a recovery period. Doing things that feel good physically - such as taking a warm shower or listening to a favourite piece of music - mimics this process and shuts down the stress deluge.

5. Yoga or tai chi and similar practices can help you wind down. Yoga, tai chi and qigong are three of the most well-researched stress-relieving exercises. There is scientific proof that they are real contributors to the health and mental states of those participating in them. They've been shown to dramatically reduce stress levels and empower those practising these ancient art forms. The 4,000-year-old practice of qigong - which literally translates to "life energy cultivation" - was found to decrease depressive symptoms and increase the quality of life for women receiving radiotherapy treatment. Qigong is a practice that works to align breathing rhythm, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing, and meditation purposes. It's rooted in ancient Chinese medicine, martial arts, and philosophy to balance energy, involving rhythmic breathing in unison with slow, stylized repetitive fluid movements, a calm and mindful state of awareness, and the visualisation of energy being guided through the body. Past research has shown that individual mind-body practices, like qigong and other forms, can be linked to reductions in stress and an increased quality of life.

   Use meditation for natural pain relief.

   Similarly, yoga purposefully relaxes and rejuvenates and can also invigorate depending on which type you practice, and tai chi is a Chinese martial art designed to facilitate a state of mental calmness and clarity while improving physical energy and function. The strategic breathing involved in both yoga and tai chi naturally boosts energy levels, while the postures and meditations keep your mind, body and spirit focused and grounded. These exercises create a platform for centring yourself in order to let go of stress and anxieties, and they re-focus your energy on positive thoughts and feelings.

   Finding your peaceful centre through simple breathing techniques is not so far-fetched. Breathing is a unique physiological process that happens automatically, yet you can easily shift it with your conscious will. If you're stressed-out, your breath reflects your mental state, coming fast and shallow, choppy and irregular. You may even unwittingly hold it for long periods of time. Stress breathing in turn stresses your body, causing it to release hormones that make it harder to concentrate and more difficult to remember things. Studies show that frequent stress breathing raises heart rate and blood pressure, triggers anxiety, and even changes blood chemistry in a way that makes your platelets stickier, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.

6. Opt to meditate for at least 10 minutes every day. Mindful meditation is another well-researched method (and my personal favourite) for relieving stress and improving energy and focus. A simple 10-minute daily meditation session can offer significant improvements in your mood and energy levels. More and more peer-reviewed research confirms that meditation is a viable method for improving health, energy and emotional well-being - reducing anxiety, depression, mental imbalances and risk of chronic disease. Published studies show that daily meditation is more effective than antidepressants in improving mental clarity and emotional balance.

   You have a choice to practice stress or to practice peace, and experts recommend a centring exercise known as circle breathing to help promote a state peace before you meditate. When you take 5 or 10 circle breaths, soon your body and mind will shift into circle breath automatically when you're scattered, anxious, or off centre. Make it your goal to try the centring exercise below 10 times a day this week, if you can. That will help your body and mind form a strong, positive habit. Remember, whenever you feel stress, remember that you have a choice: to practice stress or to practice peace.

   1. Inhale, and stretch your arms over your head, giving a sigh of relief and lowering your arms as you exhale. Relax and keep your arms lowered for the rest of the exercise.
   2. Now imagine that you're inhaling a stream of peaceful energy into a spot a few inches below your navel.
   3. Inhale the warm stream into the base of your spine, then imagine it traveling up your back to the top of your head.
   4. Exhale, and mentally follow your out breath back down the front of your body to the point below the navel where you'll begin the next in breath. Your breath has now made full circle up the back of your body, down the front, and back to the starting place below your navel.
   5. Continue this breathing pattern for 5 to 10 circle breaths. You can also use circle breath for a longer period as a relaxing form of meditation.

7. More on creativity at Mickie Kent Survive Creatively with Love Love is Creative Love Your Imagination

   Urge yourself to get creative! Getting creative, searching for your unique ability and using your magic time to its full potential, can help to reduce your stress levels. Creativity is the new talent of the modern age, because with increasingly sophisticated technology making us less and less manual, it is our creativity that will help us stand out in the future. So improving our creative skills is not only worthwhile as ways to beat stress, but it's a (life) long term goal of self-improvement that will bring success to your family and work life. Here are my stress zapping tips for increasing your creativity:
   • Paint the walls blue. It's been scientifically proven that blue colours bring out our creativity far more than red colours. Perhaps that's where the phrase "blue sky thinking" comes from. Blue also has a calming effect on some people.
   • Take more breaks. Another scientific study has shown that taking a break after generating ideas makes you far better at spotting the best ones when you return to the task. And it allows for space to relax, and lower stressful situations.
   • Think like a child. In a study, a group was told "You are seven years old, school is cancelled. You have the whole day to yourself. What do you do?" and another group was told the same thing but without the first sentence. The two groups were then given creative tasks and those that had been thinking like a seven year old, far outperformed the others (almost twice as well). Having the carefree attitude of a child can help with your stress levels, too.
   • Watch more comedy. Happy people are more creative. Fact. Even a brief jolt of happiness such as watching a great comedy can bring about a spike in creativity. And what better way than to laugh the blues (or reds) away!
   • Embrace your constraints. Ever found how creative you get just before a deadline? That's the power of constraints on the creative process. Set yourself rules, deadlines, and boundaries and creativity can flourish. Similarly, if you embrace the difficulties in your life head-on, you spend less time worrying about them. Worry leads to stress.
   • Brainstorm with yourself rather than others. Getting help and advice is always - well - advisable, but when you're in creative mode research has shown over and over again that brainstorming ideas isn't a particularly productive approach. It's far better to develop ideas alone and then pool your ideas together and debate them as a group - and also less stressful! What I mean here is that some magical me-time is always going to be more productive in the creative stakes, while doubling up as a meditative space for your to iron our any stresses you might have left over from the day.
   • Work with strangers, but not too strange. A sociologist from the US measured a factor of collaboration he called Q, groups that know each other really well have a high Q factor, groups that barely know each other have a low Q factor. When measuring the success of music productions he found that groups with a very low Q factor performed poorly but there came a point where the Q factor became too high and the results started to drop. So it seems that it's best to work in groups that have some familiarity, but not too much. Also don't get stressed by strangers that criticise your creative productivity, keep your immediate support group close, and the haters at a distance, to aid in keeping stress levels to a minimum. Remember believe in yourself.
   • Prepare to improvise. Lose your inhibitions and let your creativity off the leash. Improvise as you go, building on each idea as if layering them on top of each other. Being open to change, and receptive to whatever obstacles will come your way is a great mind set to have to protect against turning situations into stressful breakdowns.

Now, I hope my seven stress zappers go some way to help some of you bring down the stress levels in your lives, but there's one big stress reducer (although some would call it a stress inducer) I need to mention last, but not least - and that is love itself. There is no greater enemy to stress than being in a healthy, proper and loving relationship which offers you full and unconditional support against the difficulties and challenges we shall all come to face in our lives. Therefore nurturing true love is the most powerful way to zap stress into infinity.

Read more ways to reduce stress.

On this issue, if we're unable to have healthy relationships, or we attract people that are bad for us, then this will indeed cause us stress. But this negative form of stress is often wrongly attributed to the qualities of love itself. Love may provide us with positive stress - rushes of adrenalin, healing energy boosts, and the like, but love isn't a debilitating influence on our lives as some would suggest. Rather it is the corruption or the absence of true love that does us harm.

Thinking of you in love!