Stress Mastery - a Gift for the Heart

 In our last post we talked about sodium and the fact that 90% of us are consuming more of it than may be healthy. Excess sodium can be a factor in hypertension, or high blood pressure.

Hypertension can be a ticking health time bomb. It can be a harbinger of acute and chronic debilitating disease ahead. Secondary hypertension may show up as a result of another medical problem or taking certain medications, but the the more common condition is primary or essential hypertension.

What are some causes of this silent killer?

- Being overweight

- Chronic stress

- Elevated sodium intake (see our February 8, 2012 post)

- Lack of exercise

- Excessive alcohol consumption

- A diet too low in potassium, magnesium, and calcium

You may not notice any physical signals, so its important to have it checked by your doctor regularly. 

Small Steps to Big Progress

In addition to visiting your doctor, what else can we do to? Looking at known causes and going the other direction is obviously a great start. For those readers who participated in our Weight for Wellness(TM) program, you discovered small, incremental steps over time can lead to significant progress in health improvement.

We recommend beginning with just one or two micro changes and building your success over time. For example, buy a pedometer and track the number of steps you walk daily. Once you identify your baseline average, add just a few more steps every day. It begins with awareness, measurement, and a decision to do things differently.

Stress Mastery - A Gift for the Heart

We highly recommend incorporating stress releasing activity into your daily life. Walking or other exercise is a great way to get a "two fer". You reduce stress while burning calories.

Other stress reduction actions can be as simple as closing your eyes for one or two minutes while noticing your breath. Closing your eyes increases alpha brain waves and helps calm the autonomic nervous system. Noticing your breath encourages a relaxed rhythmic repetition that is calming and restorative for mental and emotional balance.

One of the best Valentine's Day gifts you can give yourself and your loved ones is to learn and practice simple, easily done stress release activities. To learn more visit our two websites dedicated to stress mastery and optimum emotional wellbeing. You'll find them at: http://EasyStressCures.com and http://www.EFT-MD.com.

Steve Carter

Stress Solutions, LLC
Home of the Weight for Wellness(TM) program

http://EasyStressCures.com | http://www.EFT-MD.com
Ph: 1-804-677-6772