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4 Ways to Keep Stress From Weighing You Down

http://blog.drdavidwilliams.com/blog/digestive-health-guidance/4-ways-to-keep-stress-from-weighing-you-down

We all know that stress isn’t good for your health, but what many people don’t realize is that stress can weigh you down—quite literally. Not only can negative, stressful emotions lead to overeating or choosing unhealthy food, the body’s actual physical response to emotional or situational stress plays a starring role in metabolic health, even down to how and where we store fat.

Numerous scientific research studies have linked chronic, unmanaged stress levels with weight gain and obesity. Animal studies show that stress–induced secretion of cortisol, one of the hormones produced by the adrenal glands, increases abdominal fat.

Similarly, a study involving postmenopausal women showed those women with high waist–to–hip ratios secreted more cortisol when exposed to a stressful activity and showed resistance to the hormone, an indicator of chronic stress, than lean women with low waist–to–hip ratios.

Here are 4 ways to keep stress at bay:

1. Revisit the day’s events. As you lie in bed, quickly relive the events of the day. If there were instances where you expressed negative feelings visualize the situation in your mind, and picture yourself handling it in a positive manner. After doing this for several weeks, you will gradually begin to automatically handle real–life situations in a positive manner.

2. Practice forgiveness. Regardless of how guilty you might feel for past actions, you must come to grips with those actions, forgive yourself, and move on. Do the same with others in your life.

3. Give thanks. Give thanks for all of the wonderful things in your life—actively look for those “silver linings.”

4. Visualize the positive. Picture yourself as you would like to be. For example, you might see yourself as extremely happy and healthy enjoying a walk on a beautiful spring morning. Picture situations with loved ones or friends in the surroundings you would like to experience. The key is to use your imagination to not only “see” circumstances you would like to occur, but also to develop the ability to imagine how to touch, feel, smell, and even taste those situations. In other words, when you picture yourself in a positive situation imagine the inputs you’d be receiving from your other senses. The more detailed you can become, the more powerful a tool visualization will be.

Now it’s your turn: How do you keep stress at bay?

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