The best way to treat stress over the long term is to identify the root causes of it, and see if your lifestyle can be changed to reduce it. However sometimes it is difficult to determine the source of your stress due to the fact that there might be reasons which are overlapping during the day e.g. work ,children, school, safety, money. Therefore one of helping methods, which I would like to recomend is consumption of herbal remedies. There are herbs and teas which can be used to calm and reduce stress. Below just a few examples:

LAVENDER -  it is effective at reducing anxiety and stress. Moreover it can help to balance hormones as well as has a positive impact on immune system.

CHAMOMILE – very popular for wide range of healing properties. It relieves stress and helps maintaining good night sleep. It is also used to sooth stomach.

PASSION FLOWER – it is used to treat sleep disorders, anxiety and depression. The herb is also known to decrease muscle tension.

MINT - has proven effective in relieving stress and inducing calmness.

There are plenty of other herbs and teas which are widely used in order to relax and achieve inner peace e.g.: licorine root, kava kava, barley tea, valerian root, catnip, lemon balm, hoops, green tea etc.

This blog is linked with previous one, as it briefly describes one of methods, which can help you relieve stress. I am not going to focuse on how much you can earn once you become massage therapist or how often people get injured during massage due to the fact that massueses are not qualified (one week course, pay and get certificate).
I am going to answer three questions: what?, when?,why?

Massage therapy is the scientific manipulation of the soft tissue of the body in order to ease tension and decrease pain.

Massage therapy dates back thousands of years. References to massage appear in writings from ancient China, Japan, India, Arabic nations, Egypt, Greece and Rome. Massage became broadly used in Europe during the Renaissance. In the 1850s, two American doctors who had studied in Sweden presented massage treatment in the United States. In the 1970s, massage treatment was very popular particularly among players. Nowadays widely known therapy is used by many people all around the world. 

Massage can help relax painful and tight muscles, enhance circulation, improve immune system activity, and play a role in restoring normal digestive system function. There are many types of massage, and below you can find just the few of them:

• Hot Stone Massage
• Deep Tissue Massage
• Shiatsu
• Sports Massage
• Swedish Massage Therapy
• Shiatsu
• Aromatherapy Massage

There are many causes of stress in life and we should learn to recognize what are the “stressors” as well as how to deal with them.

So what are the methods to deal with stress:

RELAXATION- for some people to relax means sitting in front of TV but you should do something more than that in order to relieve stress.

There are plenty of relaxation techniques, below just few of them:

·         deep breathing

·         meditation

·         massage

·         yoga

·         tai-chi

·         aromatherapy

·         music

Recently I have tried deep breathing technique and sometimes it works, however my favorite one is music. It has a very unique connection to our feelings and emotions. Music is very powerful soothing tool which has an impact on our body and mind.

“Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it” Boethius.

Living you with that thought …, until my next blog.

Chronic stress is a threat to health!

Segen’s Medical Dictionary defines chronic stress as a state of prolonged tension from internal or external stressors, which may cause various physical manifestations

I have mentioned in previous blog that human body is able to cope with stress called acute stress, however when it becomes too much it may lead to serious health problems. If the stress-response system is constantly active and your body is frequently exposed to stress hormones the autonomic nervous system does not have opportunity to initiate the relaxation response, and what comes after that is disruption for body’s processes.

Chronic stress can cause various health problems e.g.: high blood pressure, heart disease, sleep problems, anxiety, depression, digestive problems, ulcers, backache, headaches.

If you want to avoid psychological and physical consequences of prolonged stress you should find a best method how to control chronic stress. This will be the topic for my next blog. I am going to explain some of the methods, which are used to deal with stress. For many of us there are well known, however quick guide might turn out to be interesting subject for some of you.