Are You Constantly Feeling Knackered?

Do You Get Stressed Out Easily?

Do You Rely On Caffeine To Get You Through The Day? 

Do You Worry About Work, Paying the Bills, etc, etc?

If you said YES to any of the above…. YOU ARE TOTALLY NORMAL!

The problem is that when we are chronically stressed out OUR HEALTH SUFFERS!. A few potential side affects of stress include: poor sleep, sluggish digestion, bad skin complexion, low energy levels, bad mood, harmful diseases, fat storage and in some cases DEATH!

When your body is constantly in ‘Fight or Flight’ mode it’s like being on a rollercoaster, one minute you’re up but then the next minute… crashing down! When we crash we typically reach for another cup of coffee or some sugary carbs!

Stresses can be both mental and physical and i’d like to discuss both. In this post i’d like to highlight some common everyday stressors which may be ruining your health and encouraging fat storage. I’m also going to provide some strategies to help you combat them…

#1 Sleep

I can’t begin to tell you how important sleep is (but I’m sure you already know that!). When we fall into a deep, peaceful sleep our bodies recharge and we heal, both mentally and physically.

When sleep is poor…everything goes out of the window: energy, performance, stress, mood, you name it.

The trouble is that it’s easy to fall into a bad sleeping routine. We stay up late, and our minds are stimulated to stay awake because we spend time on our phones, watching TV and failing to unwind and relax.

Ideally we should all be aiming to get 8hrs uninterrupted sleep per night (at the very least 6hrs).

SOLUTION: 1hr before bed turn off your phone and TV, run a bath (add in magnesium salts) and try to unwind from the day. I’d also recommend taking a magnesium and zinc supplement. After your bath and supps get into bed, maybe read a book or magazine and then put on a sleeping mask and try to sleep.

Since doing this I typically fall asleep within 10 minutes, compared to my previous routine of TV, FB, Twitter, and Instagram scrolling! which would keep me up for hours and cause interrupted sleep throughout the night!

#2 Food & Drink

Foods & drinks such as: bread, pasta, wine, beer, chocolate, fizzy drinks, sweets, dairy, wheat, and gluten products cause all sorts of stress and damage to the body.

These foods can make you feel tired, sluggish, depressed, cause bloating, create skin problems and can even make your brain feel fuzzy  (also known as Brain Fog).

Our bodies are not designed to digest these types of foods, however the typical British diet is full of them:

• Breakfast; cereal (gluten) milk (diary), toast, coffee, tea
• Lunch: Sandwich, crisps, fizzy pop (gluten, wheat)
• Dinner: Pasta, microwave food
• Weekends: Alcohol, takeaways, fast food, etc

SOLUTION: Ditch more of the processed foods and opt for natural foods where possible. Think about caveman/women foods: meat, fish, vegetables, fruit. Aim to consume more greens (broccoli, green beans, asparagus) with each meal. Switch to decaf tea and coffee.

An example day could look like this:

• Breakfast: egg and veggie omelette, served with a decaf tea or coffee
• Lunch: Chicken salad
• Dinner: Steak, sweet potato fries and broccoli
• Snacks: nuts, fruit

#3 Incessant Thinking 

According to the Huffingtonpost we have between 50,000 – 70,000 thoughts per day! If we pay attention to our thoughts they are non stop…

“Am I late for work?”

“Did I switch off the oven?”

“Bloody traffic jams!”

“Have I got everything?”

“Is the Champions League Final this weekend or next?”

“I hate my boss”

“I feel tired today”

“What am I going to do for tea?”

“What if something happens to my kids whilst I’m at work?”

All of the above thoughts can happen in just 1 minute as well! It’s crazy our mind just keeps going, there’s so much noise and it’s hard to slow down. Thoughts can bring us down and make us feel stressed. There’s always something we need to do, something to be worried about, and something that could go wrong!

SOLUTION: What we need to do is factor in time when we pause, and take a step back. Personally I like to do this by meditating for 20-30 minutes per day.

Meditating!?!? Yeah, I know! I never thought i’d meditate either. I used to think meditating was for monks, in robes, on a hill top! But then I gave it ago and it drastically improved my world. I’d recommend downloading the app Headspace.

For those who aren’t willing to give meditating ago then i’d recommend taking out some time each day, to just sit down alone, relax and focus on your breathing. Some people also find that keeping a personal journal is very helpful – writing down thoughts and feelings and then reflecting on what’s been written.

Summary:

It would be nice to make all of the bad stresses in our lives totally disappear! But the reality is that for most of us there’s always going to be some form of stress – that’s life!

What we can do though, is look to make improvements by filling our bodies up with healthy foods, taking time out to relax, and by positively nurturing our minds.

I can’t say i’ve nailed it myself but i’ve come along way over the past few years and it’s because i’ve repeatedly done what i’ve shared with you in this post.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading and learned some stuff which you can apply to your own life. For more FREE articles on health, fitness and positive mental well-being head over to my blog (there are over 1,000 FREE articles for you to learn from!) and I add a new post each week (sometimes two!).

Thanks for reading,

Nick