De-Stress for the New Year

Stress is rampant in today's society, from work to finances to relationships. We all have stress in our lives, but why do some people seem to be overwhelmed with stress much easier? Learning how to deal with stress properly can be a large determining factor to your overall health. Here are some steps to de-stress this holiday season.

1. Nutrition
Eating a well balanced diet and a healthy amount of water. It sounds simple to say eat your fruits and vegetables, but how many of us are actually following that advice? Research I have read recently says up to 80% of our diet should be made up of fruits and vegetables, a far cry from the food pyramid we grew up with. As always, my recommendation for water is half your body weight in ounces every day. Get a water bottle and carry it with you everywhere, water is such an easy but profound way to improve your health.

2. Sleep
Get to bed before midnight and be consistent with when you go to bed and when you wake. Having a routine is the key to waking up rested and relaxed.

3. Exercise
30-40 minutes 3x/week. Calculate your Max Heart rate by taking 220 and subtract your age. While we work out you should be getting your heart rate to AT LEAST 65% of that number for cardiovascular benefits.

4. Breathing
When we are stressed one of the first things we do is we start taking short shallow breaths and our body becomes less oxygenated leading to health problems. Make it a point to focus on deep breathing a few times a day to alleviate this problem.

5. Proper nervous system function-
Getting your spine adjusted regularly decreases the body's stress response and will decrease your body's physiological response to stress.

Take these steps to de-stress as soon as possible, because as we all know stress is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases that we deal with in our country. Live the wellness life and be proactive. START TODAY so you will have a jumpstart on your health by the time 2011 rolls around.

Merry Christmas!!!