Posted on February 29, 2012
It was a quiet Saturday afternoon at our house when my husband decided to give my son a haircut - not unusual. What was unusual was the crying about 3 minutes later, and an urgent "honey, please come here immediately". Uh Oh! I couldn't help but worry that my son has somehow been cut. I was certainly not prepared to see my son with a bald stripe down the front, center of his head. Apparently, my husband had forgotten to put the guard on the clippers. "What do I do?" my husband asked above my son's wails. In a flash, I herded my son to the car to go to a haircut place. Not usually known for his dramatics, my son sobbed "MY LIFE IS RUUUUIIIINNNEDD" on the way to the car leaving behind a very guilty daddy.
All was pretty quit on the way, but when we headed into the haircut place, my son put his head down and tried to hide behind me - obviously embarrassed. It was while we were sitting and waiting that I realized what had to be done here. It's really an age-old parental trick. When something happens to your child that you cannot fix, you have just one choice...you have to change their perspective on the situation. My son was called and we both went to the chair. He was unusually unresponsive despite the attempts of the very nice haircutter "Cathy". I explained what happened and Cathy assured my son that she was there to help. Together, Cathy and I started talking about how cool he was going to look with such short hair. Cathy mentioned that all the cool kids these days have closely shaved heads. I could see my son beginning to come around, so I took it further. He had a swim meet the following day and I told him that with less hair, he was sure to swim faster than ever. In just 15 minutes in the haircut chair, I saw my son go from dejected and embarrassed to hyper-happy. He went home and gave his dad a huge hug and a "thank you". The transformation was amazing.
It was also one of life's great life lessons. We can't always change or control a situation. We can choose to be angry or sad or beat our heads against the wall, but why not choose something else? Why not try to change our perspective? My son's new haircut still looks a little strange, but by bringing the positives of it to his attention, his entire world changed. We can do that too - everyday.
Posted on February 19, 2012
Eating to comfort ourselves often come to us, this is something very normal. Often when we feel stressed, bored or lonely or we just want to cheer ourselves up. Most do it without even being totally aware of it. That temptation to have that extra helping because we've enjoyed the first one so much and taking an extra serving will make us feel better is the main reason why we over eat. However, every time we comfort ourselves with food, we consume lots of extra calories - when we're not even really hungry at all.
Hard Habits to break
We may not realize it, but comfort eating is something that we picked up from the time we were kids.
When we were babies, we cried and our mothers comforted us with their milk. As we grew older we were given treats for comfort or when we hurt ourselves, or when we achieve something great. Thus, we associate food as something that can cheer us up or something that has to be present when we want to celebrate. But, unfortunately for many of us, these comfort eating lessons often come back later in life and cause weight challenges.
To conquer comfort eating we need to change our relationship with food. The main purpose of food is to nourish out bodies, and that's it. Fuel. When we start to think about what food is, and what it contributes to our lives, we start to develop a healthier, more aligned relationship with food. The next time you feel down and want to dive in to that large serving of ice cream, take these simple alternative steps instead:
- Take some time out to pamper yourself with a long comforting bath, a facial, massage or manicure.
- Do something nice for someone else who needs the cheering up more than you do. It makes them feel good and helps you forget about your problems for a little while. You also feel better knowing you have helped out a friend in need.
- Visit or have a quick phone chat with a friend. Go for a walk in the fresh air or visit some nice place.
- Get off your bed or couch and exercise. Exercise takes our mind off things and when we work out our body releases endorphins, the natural feel good hormone.
- Don't suppress your feelings. Cry, and let it all out. You will feel finality when you have let your emotions out. Your head will clear afterward.
- Fill your ears with happy music. Dance like crazy if you want.
Food is our body's friend. But as we associate it with other things in life, in the end, we over eat and food suddenly becomes something to struggle with. By channeling our emotions properly, we can deal with the different up and downs of life without having to eat our way out of the situation.
Posted on February 9, 2012
When you are experiencing stress at work you may well get an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach which a lot of people describe as a knot which can either progress to a tightening feeling or a feeling of butterflies. These feelings are overall not easy to bear when you are trying to work and can lead you away from concentrating on the task you are do and hence in some cases become a risk to health and safety in the workplace.
If this persists you can get what is called a chronic stress reaction which in time can lead to things which are more problematic such as ulcers, heartburn and diarrhoea. Sometimes if these stress and anxiety symptoms go on for long periods of time they can even develop into very debilitating or even life threatening conditions which will stop you working, or even lead to permanent impaired health.
It is essential that when you recognise any symptoms in yourself which are brought on by stress and affect your digestive system you speak immediately to your health practitioner who will suggest either tracking the conditions to see when they arise and what they are associated to and then make suggestion for further medical investigations and diagnosis. On the whole recognition of such symptoms such as the butterfly in the stomach when about to do some kind of activity which may cause nervousness for example public speaking or a job interview is quite natural and part of your body's process of preparation and alertness. They are usually and you will have experienced them before. Mostly you know to take a deep breath and prepare yourself mentally looking forward to the outcome of a good accomplishment.
But when these feelings rise often and frequently and your feel them in your body at times which you do not associate with a normal response to your ongoing activities you must try to look at what is going on for you at the time. This can be difficult because the stress may arise some feelings of fear in you especially if this feeling is happening frequently and you are feeling the discomfort as described in you stomach and digestive system. But try to relax and gently look at what just happened previously to cause you to feel these feeling of stress and anxiety. If you can get an understanding of what the stressful situation was you can begin to identify with support the best way of managing those worrisome times with stress management techniques which work for you and put into your life. What is essential is that you know that you are not on your own and that you can seek help to get through these periods.
Digestive problems and stress
When we have butterflies in our stomach we will often view them as somewhat like a wake-up call to how we are feeling about the situation in front of us and chalk it up to nerves, stage fright, work presentation, or exam conditions etc. This is our body doing what it does best, taking care of us for preparation for survival, an alert to be wary and take care. But what if the butterflies increase to gut wrenching pain that is debilitating and long lived? In these circumstances if the painful situation is not brought on by an organic medical condition which has been diagnosed as such by a health care practitioner then it is at times diagnosed to be the associated symptoms of stress related issues.
The digestive system
For the purpose of this article we include the length of the digestive system which ranges from the mouth to the lower end of the digestive system. All the ailments can be associated with various bodily issues but we are talking about the effects of stress induced ailments and for those that suffer from stress.
What are the possible stress related problems?
Mouth ulcers
They are a small sore which is an inflammation of the mucous membrane, vary in size and can be found in any area around the mouth. They can be triggered by various causes including stress, poor diet and infections. Some suggest vitamin B can aid the stress issues internally.
Toothache and bad breath
Not commonly associated with stress but lack of personal hygiene or attention to mouth problems can make you upset and worried and also impact on yourself image. A quick check for bad breath is to lick your inner wrist then take a quick smell of it after 30 seconds.
Indigestion
Indigestion is often the most common ailment accompanied with stress and prolonged stress. The most effected stress management technique is to treat more than the symptoms, but to also have some kind of counselling and even meditation
Nausea and vomiting
Like all conditions you must seek medical advice if you are experiencing any prolonged nausea and vomiting or if your stomach is distended in any way. These symptoms go hand in hand with indigestion for some stress sufferers but most people do not actually vomit when under acute and prolonged stress. Herbalism is a great way to treat the symptoms of nausea and vomiting that is stress related.
Stomach Ache
As discussed slight butterflies when filled with dread is what we are talking about which is not persistent and leads to pain that goes away, usually associated with a recognisable stressful situation.
Colic
Some people suffer from colic should ensure that they take care of personal stress and think about coming activities which have an element of activity with deep breathing such as yoga. It has also been noted that time management issues can bring on colic for some sufferers who have pressurised deadlines and responsibilities.
Constipation and irritable bowel syndrome
This is a specific medical diagnosis which is given after several tests to rule out other diseases and digestive or whole body problems. Although bought on by types of food that we eat IBS is one the symptoms that has been easily triggered by the inclusion of stress in our lives. Most IBS sufferers will be asked to keep a mood diary in order to track the situations which maybe triggering this response.