The trouble is that after a period of stress, it sometimes almost becomes addictive. We get a stress response, which makes us more sensitive to stress. We then over-respond to new stress and so the whole thing snowballs. The more stressed we are, the more we get stressed.

A friend of mine, at work, is a prime example of somebody who has a really strong stress response. She certainly has some reasons to be stressed. Her father has dementia and is hard to look after. However, she will get worked up about everything. We will have a department meeting about something trivial that does not affect her. But she will nearly always find something to get upset and stressed about during the meeting. I can usually expect her to visit my office afterwards, and stress about something that nobody else care about. Her levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, must be through the roof.

Short term stress is very useful to us, but if it persists then it is bad for us. It can make us irritable, make us tense muscles, make it harder to concentrate, give us insomnia, headaches, increase heart rate, upset our digestive system, and often make us make bad food and drink choices.

How can you reduce stress? Of course, there are a number of drugs out there, but what can you do without drugs?

Exercise is a great stress reducer. Part of stress responses are based on the fight or flight response. Consequently, we are primed by stress for activity. Once we manage to get moving, it will help reduce stress. The hardest part is getting going. Get out and go for a walk.

Something that you have to concentrate on, is good too. Doing yoga is an example. In yoga moving through and holding poses with the correct alignment takes concentration. When you are concentrating on your body, you are letting go of what is stressing you.

Yoga and most forms of meditation are also useful in that you have control and slow your breathing. In addition to the concentration required, the slow breathing has a calming effect. Meditation reduces heart rate, blood pressure and drops the level of cortisol. Meditation is now starting to be used in medical settings for treatment of stress, insomnia and pain management.

Get away from the stress-causing situations. Take a break and go somewhere else. Go to a concert, visit a local attraction, go camping, get a pedicure, or whatever takes your fancy.

Rule your stress. Don’t let it rule your life.

photo credit: leunix

Technorati Tags: stress, yoga, meditation, cortisol, breathing, concentrate, insomnia, exercise

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A deteriorating sense of balance, and at a later stage a loss of muscle strength in the legs are the main causes of becoming frightened of falling over.

Fear of falling over is aging for two reasons. First, it starts to limit horizons, the world becomes smaller and more restricted. Rough ground, steep stairs, and crowded places are examples of places that are avoided. Not being able to be easily able and comfortable going where you want is a feature of the aging process for many people.

Second, in a more obvious way, fear of falling changes body posture and gait. If you are frightened of falling you look down a lot more, which will increase the tendency to get the characteristic curved spine, head down look. Young people look up and around not just in front of their feet, and have straighter backs. Fear of falling also tends to make for a slower, smaller step style of walking. Often, eventually developing a shuffling gait.

There are a number of studies that have shown that yoga, tai chi and similar exercise types can make a significant difference to the elderly in terms of improving their walking abilities and reducing the fear of falling. Statistics from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the leading causes of both non-fatal injury, and admission to hospital for trauma in those 65 years and older, is falling.

So why not start to do a little tai chi or yoga, even before you develop the fear of falling? Yoga, tai chi, etc., definitely will help delay or even prevent developing a strong fear of falling.

Obviously, yoga and tai chi help improve the sense of balance. As we age our sense of balance deteriorates. However, balance training can restore our sense of balance to a level that is similar to when we were much younger. (I will do another post soon on aging and balance since it has several facets.)

One important part of balance is flexibility. If you can flex you are much less likely to fall over. When we are standing, we are balancing on our feet and constantly correcting our balance. If you are very inflexible then it is hard to correct from a wavering away from the center of balance – think ninepin. If you can flex then it is easy to bend the body in a way that will correct the imbalance and remain standing or walking.

Another advantage of these types of exercises is that they strengthen the legs. Aging results in a decrease in muscle mass and strength, called sarcopenia. Often the elderly will develop a shuffling gait, not picking their feet up properly. This is partly due to lack of muscle strength. Look at an elderly person’s legs; they are usually really thin and spindly. Everybody will undergo sarcopenia, and have a decline in muscle mass as they age. Fortunately, exercises that strengthen muscles will significantly slow the decline.

The increase in muscle strength and the movements and postures of these disciplines will also help strengthen the core, chest shoulders and back and improve posture, stopping or slowing the development of an older body shape.

So get a yoga or tai chi or qi gong (or anything that takes your fancy) DVD, book or go to a class once a week. A small amount of time will have a big benefit.

Not only will yoga, or whatever, help with stress, which itself is aging, but it will really slow one aspect of aging, fear of falling.

photo credit: j / f / photos

Technorati Tags: fear of falling, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, sense of balance, sarcopenia, posture, gait

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About 6 months ago, I started yoga again. It was more by accident than design. I got a catalog in the mail with community classes run by the local school district. Browsing through it (probably while having a “just home from work” snack), I saw there was a class at the middle school, round the comer from my house, on a convenient night. Without thinking about it (likely on a high from the snack), I went to my computer and registered. Think it was one of my better impulse actions in a while. The class is for the inflexible, goes at a slow pace with lots of explanation, is friendly but has also turned out to be quite social.

Now I am even doing some yoga at home. Not exactly regularly, but I am doing some. I was thinking about getting some Yoga DVDs and was looking at the DVDs on the Gaiam website, where I recently ordered my Ceramic Neti Pot (see Going to try a Neti Pot for allergies). They now have videos introductions for each Yoga DVD. Trying to decide what to order. Thinking about two Patricia Walden Yoga DVD’s, Yoga for Beginners and Flexibility Yoga DVD. I was surprised to read in the blurb about the Yoga for Beginners DVD on the site, “this is the program that 2 million people have chosen to help them begin their yoga practice”. Guess I will find out if 2 million people made the right choice.

Technorati Tags: yoga DVD, beginner, flexibility

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