How & Why to Beat Stress Today!

Stress Sucks...your energy out and raises cortisol levels. 

Stress has a severely negative impact on your immune system. When we’re stressed, the immune system’s ability to fight off antigens is reduced. That is why we are more susceptible to infections and viruses. The stress hormone cortisol suppresses the effectiveness of the immune system (e.g. lowers the number of lymphocytes). Stress can also have an indirect effect on the immune system as a person may use unhealthy behavioral coping strategies to reduce their stress, such as drinking and smoking.
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What does this mean for you?  
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The lower your stress level the lower your risk of catching an infectious disease or virus.  We all have stress in our lives and the coronavirus has everyone even more stressed out.  So, now, more than ever we need to get our stress under control. So let's start to manage it. Together.

Action Steps
Choose Friends Carefully Your choice of friends can be the key to stress reduction. Friends should be people who help us to increase our strengths and create innovative solutions to stressful situations. They support us and reaffirm that we are not alone.

Accept What We Cannot Change We can accept what we cannot change by changing what we can. Make choices that are realistic, not out of reach. Great quote: "Grant me the power to accept the things that I can't change, the courage to change the things that I can and the Wisdom to know the difference."

Create Environments That Reduce Stress Colors of the walls, floor coverings, and furniture can reduce stress. Hues such as cooling greens and blues are positive colors that can reduce stress and create a sense of well-being.

Maintain a Sense of HumorLaughing at oneself can release potential stress from the inside. And laughing creates fewer wrinkles than worrying.

Stop and Look at Yourself Take time to recognize signs of stress such as anger, exhaustion, and poor quality sleep. As you become aware of these signs, you are beginning to identify how to make stress work. You are being proactive, not reactive to situations.

Use Stress as a Teacher As a crisis occurs, stop and think of how to use it to make things better. Make lemonade out of the lemons in life.

Make Decisions Indecision increases stress. Good leaders make decisions and act on them. If a bad decision is made, reevaluate.

Don't Say Yes to Everything Recognize what your strengths are and focus on taking the time to do a project built on them. Taking on too many projects results in loss of control and creates stress. Learn to say "no".

Organize Disorganization creates stress. Taking the "dis" out of disorganization can produce a sense of control in knowing what will happen. That in turn, reduces stress.

Leave Time for the Unexpected Look for the natural coping ability to deal with the unexpected. Coping requires time. Time is needed to perceive a crisis to rally our internal and external resources.
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If you want more information on taking control of stress, read here. If you want help meditating, try Headspace or other Meditation Apps.