Is it us, or is our world moving pretty quickly these days? Work, school, kids, laundry, bills, hobbies, parents, friends, errands….we’re tired just thinking about the stuff we cram into a typical day! No wonder we’re keeping Starbucks in business and craving sugar every afternoon. And when nighttime comes around and our bodies want to be winding down for sleep, we end up so wired that we need a glass of wine or cocktail to calm down. We’re using a “stimulate-sedate” cycle just to keep up with the pace of our lives.

How can we engineer a much-needed break from our fast-paced world? Here are four simple steps to take you from zany to zen. Try them this week!

There are treatment options that can relieve depression without swallowing pills. Many of the symptoms of depression can be directly linked to vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the standard American diet, which is largely comprised of empty carbohydrates, caffeine and sugar. Depression, mood swings and fatigue often have a common cause: poor nutrition. Avoiding depression or recovering from a depressive episode is often as easy as changing your diet and boosting your consumption of key foods that deliver brain-boosting nutrients and help regulate brain chemistry.   Our top 10 foods for beating depression are:

Fish oils:

Contain omega-3 fatty acids. Research has shown that depressed people often lack a fatty acid known as EPA. Participants in a 2002 study featured in the Archives of General Psychiatry took just a gram of fish oil each day and noticed a 50-percent decrease in symptoms such as anxiety, sleep disorders, unexplained feelings of sadness, suicidal thoughts, and decreased sex drive. Omega-3 fatty acids can also lower cholesterol and improve cardiovascular health. Get omega-3s through walnuts, flaxseed and oily fish like salmon or tuna.

Avocado: 
Is a good source of potassium and low in sodium which helps reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.  Adequate intake of potassium can help guard against circulatory diseases, heart disease and stroke, all of which leads to higher levels of depression.  Not only are avocados a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids including oleic acid, which has recently been shown to offer significant protection against breast cancer, but it is also a very concentrated dietary source of antioxidants, in particular the "carotenoid lutein".  A few slices of avocado in salad, or mixing some chopped avocado into salsa will not only add  a rich, creamy flavor, but will greatly increase your body's ability to absorb the health promoting carotenoids that vegetables provide.

Haven't you ever seen a distraught person holding his head in his hands? Or when overcome by great surprise, how we often instinctively hit the forehead with our hand? 

The body does not perform these instinctive acts by mistake On the skin of the forehead are located neurological "circus; breakers" which are associated with mental and emotional stress overload. Just as when there is a power overload in your house, and a circuit breaker blows, a similar pattern takes place m the body when it encounters an overload of mental or emotional factors. And just as we may easily reset the circuit breaker m our house, so may we reset the emotional stress overload circuit in the body.

Here's what to do about it

No matter how hard we try to avoid them, serious illnesses and the need for surgery do arise on occasion. This is often more painful when it happens to a loved one and we must watch them suffer. The following recommendations are general guidelines for "good" and "bad" health habits, but whose importance becomes amplified during the recovery from or surgery when the body's reserves are stressed, often to their maximums. By applying these principles at such times when your body faces an increased burden, your total stress load can be lowered. Then the body can concentrate on the healing process rather than dealing with the stresses you are putting in your mouth.

How To Speed Your Healing

1. Avoid anything processed—especially partially hydrogenated fats and oils and anything containing them. Also canned fruits and vegetables. The saying "Anything God made is OK, anything man touched is not" can apply here.

2. Eat a moderate amount of natural fats—as occurs in trimmed red meats, a few nuts, a little dairy including yogurt and even a tattle butter. (If you have gall bladder trouble, ask your doctor about this.)

3. Keep the bowels working regularly by eating complex carbohydrates. (This means carbohydrates in their natural, unprocessed forms.) Naturally occurring fiber helps to keep the bowels active. This includes fresh vegetables and fruits, including the skins, whole grains and brown rice, etc.

One of the most insidious factors that afflicts people is stress. Everyone who works, has children, commutes and basically lives in western industrialized societies is subject to it. Stress even controls a large part of our economy as evidenced by the endless ads for headache relief, antacids, laxatives, diarrhea aids, tranquilizers, stimulants and so on. Stress has also been linked to more serious conditions, such as chemical dependency, heart disease and even cancer.

There are many different types of stress. There is structural stress, such as wearing bad shoes, having a spinal problem or poor posture. We also can have chemical stress. This can include dietary deficiency or excess. Then there are mental stresses, such as emotional stress originating from any situation which creates fear and anxiety. Many times one stress triggers another. For example, a self-inflicted stress, such as setting unrealistic goals or external pressures from work or family, can shut down our digestive system. This may then cause intestinal stress with associated back pain. If we don't relieve the aggravating situation that caused all this, we set up a vicious cycle of unrelenting stress.

There are also external stresses, like physical and environmental. Physical stress can be caused by the inactivity of our sedentary lifestyle or by repetitive activity, similar to that of a factory worker or assembly line worker. It can even be caused by too much activity, such as over-exercise.

By: Alan H. Pressman

Note: The information on this website is  not a substitute for the advice of & treatment by a qualified professional.

The study of appetite regulation is primarily concerned with attempting to find a way to alter the inherent biological drive to eat. For several decades, researchers have been trying to pinpoint a primary mechanism within the body governing hunger and satiety in order to ascertain whether the selection of food has any specific physiological origin, or if there is even an overall caloric homeostasis in man. The outcome of work to date indicates that hunger is not the result of one single factor, but is instead elicited by many factors involved in a final common pathway.

STRESS RATING  - STRESS SYMPTOM SCALE

Rate the frequency that you experienced the items listed below in the past two weeks.

0 = Never
1 = Sometimes
2 = Often
3 = Very often

Physical Symptoms

• Fatigue or tiredness ___
• Pounding heart ___
• Rapid pulse ___
• Increased perspiration ___
• Rapid breathing ___
• Aching neck or shoulders ___
• Low back pain ___
• Gritting teeth/clenching jaw ___
• Hives or skin rash ___
• Headaches ___
• Cold hands or feet ___
• Tightness in chest ___
• Nausea ___
• Diarrhea or constipation ___
• Stomach discomfort ___
• Nail biting ___
• Twitches or tics ___
• Difficulty swallowing or dry mouth ___
• Colds or flu ___
• Lack of energy ____ __

•  Listen to music that makes you feel good or reminds you of a joyous time in your life.

• Take a time management course.

• Clean or organize clutter.

• Get more sleep. If you can’t sleep later in the morning, go to bed an hour earlier.

• Learn how to meditate with a book, tape, teacher, or class. Meditate daily.

• Wind down with a yoga, tai chi, or stretching class, or videotape.

• Incorporate short bursts of exercise and physical activity in your day.

• Take a stress management class at work or through your health plan.

• Incorporate deep breathing exercises throughout the day. Breathe in through the nose; breathe out through the moutn.  Make each breath last as long as possible.

• While at work - get up and walk around frequently; stand while talking on the telephone, stretch your neck, arms, back for a couple of minutes.
  
  
• Incorporate stretching exercises throughout the day. Stretch muscles that are tight, or just stretch because it feels good
  
  
• Relax your shoulders, a common place that people (especially computer users) hold tension. To release your shoulders, hunch them up by your ears and quickly release them as far down as they go. You may need to do these 2 or 3 times to really relax them.
  
  
• Use your commute to and from work to read a book, listen to a CD, or listen to relaxation tapes with sounds of the ocean.

You should wake up refreshed in the morning without the use of an alarm clock and feel energetic all day. If not you may find some good tips below.
Sleep deprivation is a large proportion of the problem is due to the high paced lifestyle causing the lack of time to get the sleep we need. When we do not get the amount of sleep we need we accumulate a sleep debt. This sleep debt has to be paid back or sleepiness will continue to worsen. Many people try to pay back the debt on the weekends resulting in the disruption of their circadian rhythm.

Here are some Tips that may help.

• Sleep is as important as food and air. Quantity and quality are very important. Most adults need between 7.5 to 8.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. If you press the snooze button on the alarm in the morning you are not getting enough sleep. This could be due to not enough time in bed, external disturbances, or a sleep disorder.

• Keep regular hours. Try to go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time every day. Getting up at the same time is most important. Getting bright light, like the sun, when you get up will also help. Try to go to bed only when you are sleepy. Bright light in the morning at a regular time should help you feel sleepy at the same time every night.

• Stay away from stimulants like caffeine. This will help you get deep sleep which is most refreshing. If you take any caffeine, take it in the morning. Avoid all stimulants in the evening, including chocolate, caffeinated sodas, and caffeinated teas. They will delay sleep and increase arousals during the night.

Ten Habits of Effective Stress Managers

1. You know how to relax.
2. You eat well and exercise often.
3. You get enough sleep.
4. You don’t worry about the unimportant stuff.
5. You don’t get angry often.
6. You are organized and your life is not cluttered.
7. You manage your time efficiently.
8. You have and make use of a strong social support system.
9. You live according to your values – your goals are aligned with what’s important to you.
10. You have a good sense of humor.