Stress, It's A Worldwide Epidemic
By Richard Parenti, Thu Dec 8th

What is stress? Stress is your body’s reaction to events in yourlife, along with your mind’s reaction from your mentalinterpretation of the event. When you are faced with a stressfulsituation, your body and mind interprets the event.

Then, the body produces a stress response to give you energy todeal with that particular situation and your mind is stimulated.Then the mind determines "fight or flight." The hypothalamus,pituitary and adrenal glands produce stress hormones when youfeel stress.

These hormones suppress body functions that are not needed inthe moment. Once the stressful situation has passed your hormoneproduction and body functions return to normal.

What triggers stress? Current lifestyle, smoking, too manyprescribed drugs, the environment, sour relationships, surgery,intestinal disorders, anger, anxiety, depression, worry,unwanted noises, accidents, pain, intense exercise,chemical/toxin exposure, burns, poor sleep patterns, fussychildren, nagging spouse, aggravating boss or coworkers, etc.

Most people deal with stress by taking the newest drug on themarket. They rarely seek natural healthy stress solutions. Sothey stay frazzled and as a result of their drug pill poppingand they live in a state of stress as a way of life.

In fact, up to 92% of all doctor visits in America are stressrelated and that number is growing.

With so many causes of stress and people seeking a pill fortheir solution it is easy to understand why stress is a worldwide epidemic.

Here are some stress facts to chew on:

 Stress is more powerful than diet in influencingcholesterol levels. Several studies—including one of medicalstudents around exam time and another of accountants during taxseason have shown significant increases in cholesterol levelsduring stressful events, when there was little change in thediet. Reference: Dr. Paul Rosch, Professor Medicine, New YorkMedical College  Stress is linked to the followingillnesses: hypertension, heart attacks, gout, diabetes, asthma,chronic pain, allergies, headache, backache, various skindisorders, immune system weakness, cancer, decreases in thenumber of white blood cells and changes in their function.Reference:

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Nation’s Business, December 1994  High levelsof stress cause nerve factor growth (NGF), which hinders theability of disease-fighting cells to ward off infections,suppressing the immune system. Reference: Report in PsychologyToday, January, 1996  Those who reported a history ofworkplace stress over the past 10 years developed colon andrectal cancers at 5.5 time the rate of the control group.Reference: Joseph Courtney, UCLA School of Public Health,Epidemiology, September, 1994 Here are some very simplesolutions you can do right away to reduce your stress.

 Take a daily walk of twenty to thirty minutes atsunrise or at sunset.  After bathing in the morning rubyour body with an aromatherapy oil for your metabolic type. Eat 2 to 3 servings of fresh organic vegetables a day. Drink 8 glasses of water a day.  Eat 4 to 6fresh vegetables a day.  Cut back on French fries, coladrinks, alcoholic beverages, candy, white breads, pastries andfoods that contain food coloring.

And if you are really serious: Sit for 5 or 15 minutes in aquiet place. Sit quietly and breathe normally and naturallythrough your nose noticing the cool air in and the warm air out.Notice if the force of the air entering the nose is the same asthe force of air leaving the nose. Notice which nostril isopen-one is always more open the other. The goal of an authenticYoga breathing technique is to get both nostrils open equally.Notice the rise and fall of your diaphragm with the inhaling andexhaling breath. Notice the slight pause on the exhaling breath.Continue breathing normally and naturally through the nose andevery time the mind wanders mentally repeat, "Mind wandering"and that will gently bring the mind back to the breath. This isa beginning Yoga breathing technique that will help you toreduce your stress.

Remember that you are always breathing so why not breathe toreduce your stress and open yourself to more advanced Yogameditation techniques. You deserve it, don’t you?

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About the author:Richard Parenti is the President of the Yoga Health Institute, aprestigious stress management clinic in Modesto, California,USA. He is a Yoga Therapist and the author of "Your Solution toStress" (ISBN#0-9664007-1-2) which is available on linehttp://www.solutionstostress.com