Are you feeling stressed? Are you wondering how to beat stress? Is stress really as bad as people imply?

These are all questions many of our clients ask themselves and our team at New You Escapes.

Make no mistake stress is a killer. Unfortunately, in today’s manic world of technology led day to day living, we are incredibly busy. Technology alone has a huge amount to answer for. The world has changed and now we have very little cut off from work. Historically, we left the office, came home and that was the end of the day for you to just concentrate on you and your family and friends. Unless you are very dedicated and controlled you will undoubtedly still be looking at emails and taking care of work tasks even when at home and this has become the norm.

Unfortunately, when you have no time to concentrate on yourself or to take advantage of a little downtime there is no time for rest and relaxation. Rest is incredibly important for our health – incredibly important.

All humans are programmed to survive. So, when we go into fight mode we will either react with fight or flight. Fight mode doesn’t necessarily mean you are in an actual fight. In essence, your brain will perceive a struggle when you are overtired, anxious, worried, over stimulated or simply filled with toxins. Fight mode occurs when your body and mind are displaced from your natural state. So, as you can see there is an abundance of stressors and for many people, there are a collection of inflammatory stressors in their lives.

Arguably, many of our clients are dumbfounded as to what to do to change this. They are working parents trying to juggle one hundred balls at once. They are high powered professionals. They are starting new businesses. They are a parent to many children. They care for elderly relatives or dependants. They are natural “worriers”. There are many different lifestyles that create stressful lives and life cannot be changed for some individuals. So, what do you do? Well, the alternative is to put a strong scaffolding in place with good coping mechanisms to support your life.

Ways To Deplete Stress.

• Reduce tech time – So many people are addicted to technology, especially social media. Even small changes will make a big difference.  Charge your phone outside of your bedroom so that when you are in bed you aren’t looking at your phone. Make the bedroom a tech-free zone!

• 7+ Hours of Sleep – Recovery, and sleep are an absolute must. Those who think they are fine on 4 hours sleep simply aren’t. it is not possible. The optimal amount of sleep is 7-8 hours per night. Try it, for a month – you will feel like a new person.
• Exercise – exercise is the most underutilised antidepressant in the land. Exercise gets your blood pumping, your body moving, cortisol levels diving and dopamine and serotonin skyrocketing. Exercise plays a huge role in stress management. You don’t need to do an hour a day if it isn’t possible. Even a 20 minute walk a day will help. Just get moving and do something you enjoy.
• Gut health – good gut health is imperative for stress management. Stress itself attacks your microbiome so you must take a good probiotic for support. Furthermore, don’t eat processed foods. Try to eat whole foods, rainbow colours, lots or organic and healthy produce filled with nutrients. You need to fuel your body not fill yourself with toxins.
• Deplete alcohol – alcohol may appear to make you feel less stressed whilst you are drinking but this simply is not the case. Alcohol increases anxiety and increases blood sugar levels.
• Deplete sugar – sugar is a stimulant so please try not to have sugar whilst stressed. Have you noticed that you crave more sugar when you are stressed? Fight mode will inevitably create extensive cravings. The sugar hit gives you a quick burst of energy but this soon comes crashing down. A vicious cycle begins and this is inevitably how weight gain occurs when you are stressed.

Can A Healthy Holiday Help With Stress?

Changing your life is not always possible but creating scaffolding and support within your life is always a choice. If you integrate our top tips into your life then you will absolutely notice a great difference.

We appreciate not everyone has time to visit New You Escapes for a week and these tips will help you whilst at home. However, if you do have time to treat yourself to a wellness retreat with New You Escapes you will undoubtedly feel like a new person. It could take you up to two months to feel the same benefits of a week at one of our health retreats.

For further details do call us on 01202 618220 or email [email protected]