Breathing Exercise For Stress

This calming breathing technique for stress, anxiety and panic takes just a few minutes and can be done anywhere.

You will get the most benefit if you do it regularly, as part of your daily routine.

You can do it standing up, sitting in a chair that supports your back, or lying on a bed or yoga mat on the floor.

Make yourself as comfortable as you can. If you can, loosen any clothes that restrict your breathing.

If you're lying down, place your arms a little bit away from your sides, with the palms up. Let your legs be straight, or bend your knees so your feet are flat on the floor.

If you're sitting, place your arms on the chair arms.

If you’re sitting or standing, place both feet flat on the ground. Whatever position you're in, place your feet roughly hip-width apart.

• Let your breath flow as deep down into your belly as is comfortable, without forcing it.
• Try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
• Breathe in gently and regularly. Some people find it helpful to count steadily from one to five. You may not be able to reach five at first.
• Then, without pausing or holding your breath, let it flow out gently, counting from one to five again, if you find this helpful.
• Keep doing this for three to five minutes.

Source:nhs.uk/Conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/Pages/ways-relieve-stress.aspx

Tackling Stress

Take action to tackle stress

There's no quick-fix cure for stress, and no single method will work for everyone. However, there are simple things you can do to change the common life problems that can cause stress or make stress a problem. These include relaxation techniques, exercise and talking the issues through.

Find out more by checking out these 10 stress busters.

Get stress support

Because talking through the issues is one of the key ways to tackle stress, you may find it useful to attend a stress management group or class. These are sometimes run in doctors’ surgeries or community centres. The classes help people identify the cause of their stress and develop effective coping techniques.

Ask your GP for more information if you're interested in attending a stress support group. You can also use the search directory to find emotional support services in your area.

Source:nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/understanding-stress.aspx

Managing Stress

Managing stress in daily life

Stress is not an illness itself, but it can cause serious illness if it isn't addressed. It's important to recognise the symptoms of stress early. Recognising the signs and symptoms of stress will help you figure out ways of coping and save you from adopting unhealthy coping methods, such as drinking or smoking.

There is little you can do to prevent stress, but there are many things you can do to manage stress more effectively, such as learning how to relax, taking regular exercise and adopting good time-management techniques.

Studies have found that mindfulness courses, where participants are taught simple meditations across a series of weeks, can also help to reduce stress and improve mood.

When to see your GP about your stress levels

If you've tried self-help techniques and they aren't working, you should go to see your GP. They may suggest other coping techniques for you to try or recommend some form of counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy.

If your stress is causing serious health problems, such as high blood pressure, you may need to take medication or further tests.

Mental health issues, including stress, anxiety and depression, are the reason for one-in-five visits to a GP.

Recognising your stress triggers

If you're not sure what's causing your stress, keep a diary and make a note of stressful episodes for two-to-four weeks. Then review it to spot the triggers.

Things you might want to write down include:

• the date, time and place of a stressful episode
• what you were doing 
• who you were with
• how you felt emotionally 
• what you were thinking 
• what you started doing 
• how you felt physically 
• a stress rating (0-10 where 10 is the most stressed you could ever feel)

You can use the diary to:

• work out what triggers your stress 
• work out how you operate under pressure 
• develop better coping mechanisms

Doctors sometimes recommend keeping a stress diary to help them diagnose stress.

Source:nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/understanding-stress.aspx

What Is Stress?

What is stress?

Stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure.

Pressure turns into stress when you feel unable to cope. People have different ways of reacting to stress, so a situation that feels stressful to one person may be motivating to someone else.

Many of life's demands can cause stress, particularly work, relationships and money problems. And, when you feel stressed, it can get in the way of sorting out these demands, or can even affect everything you do.

Stress can affect how you feel, think, behave and how your body works. In fact, common signs of stress include sleeping problems, sweating, loss of appetite and difficulty concentrating.

You may feel anxious, irritable or low in self esteem, and you may have racing thoughts, worry constantly or go over things in your head. You may notice that you lose your temper more easily, drink more or act unreasonably.

You may also experience headaches, muscle tension or pain, or dizziness.

Stress causes a surge of hormones in your body. These stress hormones are released to enable you to deal with pressures or threats – the so-called "fight or flight" response. 

Once the pressure or threat has passed, your stress hormone levels will usually return to normal. However, if you're constantly under stress, these hormones will remain in your body, leading to the symptoms of stress.

Source:nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/pages/understanding-stress.aspx

10 Minute Exercise Ideas

At Work

11. Walk to work if you can. "I walked to work for months, 1½ miles each way," says Mary Dallman, PhD, professor of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, and she really saw results.

12. If you dine out on your lunch hour, walk to a restaurant on a route that takes you a little bit out of your way.

13. If you have a meeting in another building, leave 5 or 10 minutes early (or take some time afterward), and do some extra walking.

14. On breaks, spend 5 to 10 minutes climbing stairs.

15. If you're pressed for time and must wait for an elevator, strengthen your core with ab exercises. Stand with your feet parallel and your knees relaxed. Contract the muscles around your belly button. Then elevate your upper torso, and release. Finally, contract your buttocks for a few seconds.

16. Use a ringing phone as an excuse to stretch your back. Stand with your feet astride. Imagine that you are encased in a plaster cast from your waist to your head. Gently tilt the lower part of your pelvis backward. Contract your abdominal muscles. Then gently tilt your pelvis forward.

When You're Watching TV

17. Put away your remote and change channels the old-fashioned way—by getting up and walking to the television set.

18. Dance as if you were 16 again. Put on a music program or MTV. Then dance like crazy, advises Peg Jordan, PhD, RN, author of The Fitness Instinct. "Free yourself to think of movement as something that you have a right to do," she says.

19. During commercials, jog in place. A 150-pound woman can burn up to 45 calories in 5 minutes. 

20. Do leg exercises and lifts with small weights while you watch The Weather Channel, cooking shows, movies, or the news. 

While Traveling

21. Pack your sneakers and a fitness DVD. Call ahead to make sure your room has a DVD player. If it doesn't, ask to rent one from the hotel.

22. If you're traveling by car, stop twice a day for short, brisk walks and some stretching.

23. During layovers at airports, avoid the mechanized "moving carpets" that transport travelers from concourse to concourse. "If you're in between flights, walk around the concourse as much as you can," suggests Cluff.

24. Book a hotel room between the fifth and eighth floors, then ignore the elevator. Better yet, take two stairs at a time. (Check with the hotel first because for security reasons some hotels do not allow guests to use stairs except for emergencies.)

25. Do calf stretches while riding in elevators.

Source:prevention.com/fitness/fitness-tips/fitness-25-fast-and-easy-ways-fit-10-minutes-exercise

Quick Ways To Fit In 10 Minutes Of Exercise

Breaking exercise into small chunks on your overscheduled days can also keep your confidence up, since skipping it altogether can make you feel tired, guilty, or depressed. Keep in mind, though, that short bursts of exercise are meant to supplement, not replace, your regular fitness routine.

Here are simple, practical ways to work exercise into your day even when you're short on time:

Around the House

1. When you go outside to pick up your morning newspaper, take a brisk 5-minute power walk up the street in one direction and back in the other. 

2. If you're housebound caring for a sick child or grandchild, hop on an exercise bike or do a treadmill workout while your ailing loved one naps.

3. Try 5 to 10 minutes of jumping jacks. (A 150-pound woman can burn 90 calories in one 10-minute session.)

4. Cooking dinner? Do standing push-ups while you wait for a pot to boil. Stand about an arm's length from the kitchen counter, and push your arms against the counter. Push in and out to get toned arms and shoulders.

5. After dinner, go outside and play tag or shoot baskets with your kids and their friends.

6. Just before bed or while you're giving yourself a facial at night, do a few repetitions of some dumbbell exercises, suggests exercise instructor Sheila Cluff, owner and founder of The Oaks at Ojai and The Palms, in Palm Springs, CA, who keeps a set of free weights on a shelf in front of her bathroom sink.

While Waiting

7. Walk around the block several times while you wait for your child to take a music lesson. As your fitness level improves, add 1-minute bursts of jogging to your walks.

8. Walk around medical buildings if you have a long wait for a doctor's appointment. "I always ask the receptionist to give me an idea of how long I have left to wait," Cluff says. "Most are usually very willing to tell you."

9. While your son or daughter plays a soccer game, walk around the field.

10. Turn a trip to a park with your child into a mini-workout for you. Throw a ball back and forth and run for fly balls. 

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/oatmeal-raisin-cookies

Here is a recipe for quick, healthy cookies using oats. You can substitute the castor sugar for healthier options such as stevia or muscovado sugar.

The Power of Oats

Eating oats to enhance good health is not something new but has been practice through time. Oats is a very simple ingredient with far reaching positive effects and benefits.Oats within a diet plan provides a wide range of important health benefits which cannot be duplicated by any other food item singularly. Being a significant dietary fiber source, oats consists of soluble and half soluble fibers which help to keep blood cholesterol levels effectively under control.

Some of the areas where oats has been known to be beneficial are in improving heart conditions, regulating blood sugar levels, functioning as anti cancer fighters, keeping blood pressure under control, maintaining regular and healthy bowel functions, helping in weight control, boosting athletic performances, and in general health and longevity.

Oats is also a food item that is rather hardy and can be grown in poor soil conditions which is of course another plus in terms of its availability. The various processes that the oat has to be subjected to before it reaches the dining table does not cause its nutritional value to decrease rather it is able to maintain its concentrated high fiber and nutrient base.

Oats can be a great day starter in the form of a piping bowl of oatmeal which can be more flavorful with the addition of fresh fruits, nuts or the dried fruits variety. It can also be used to make oat meal cookies which are usually a huge hit with kids and adults alike.

Quick 4 Minute Exercise Routine for Over 40's

Here's my tip for this:

Although 4 minutes doesn't seem long, this is quite fast paced so I would suggest you start out a bit slower to begin with and gradually up the pace over time. This way you are more likely to stick to it.