Good Stress: It Exists!?

Being stressed out isn't a very fun feeling, so how can there possibly be good stress? But the fact is, certain pressure filled situations, like the occasional public speaking event or cramming for a test, can be good for your health. It's called "good stress."

 Edward Calabrese, Ph. D., a toxicologist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, says that there are "good" (eustress) and "bad" (distress) types of stress. "The bad kind is chronic and uncontrollable, like the tension caused an unhappy marriage or sick relative," Calabrese says, "but there are lots of positives associated with short bursts of stress that ease up quickly." An example of this would be getting caught in traffic when you're in a rush or sweating through a presentation at school.  
In 2009, a study on mice at Ohio State University that subjected them to brief but intense stress were better able to fight the flu. Acute, short term stress had been linked to a reduced risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's. 
But why? 
Stress jolts you into repair mode. It works like this: When you injure yourself, your body snaps to attention and starts to fix itself—healing your injury and revving up your immune system to protect against infection. Short-term stress works the same way. Initially, it produces free radicals and hormones such as cortisol that wreak havoc on your tissues. But then, when your body senses the damage, it calls in the cleanup crew. If the stress is short-lived, you can heal quickly and still have enough energy left over to repair everyday wear and tear, like a scratch or a bruise. (It's like when you decide to tidy up a room for 10 minutes and end up in the midst of a full-on spring cleaning—your body goes into a kind of self-repair overdrive.)


Isn't that neat?

Ooooo. Relaxing Kaleidoscope

Fancy Kaleidoscope!

 

This cool Kaleidoscope program, which I found on the internet today, is amazingly relaxing. You can use it to create a really cool and relaxing image, which you can change at will. It is a great way to get rid of stress, because you can really fall into making it look cooler and cooler.

You see how it rotates? This is the exact same kaleidscope as the first, but because of how it spins around and around, it makes these amazing images that are different for everyone!

Try it out here!

http://www.zefrank.com/byokal/kal2.html 

Just Add more and more to make it crazier and crazier! It's an amazingly relaxing experience that anyone with stress should try



Recipe Feedback!

Today I brought the parfaits and tuna salad from one of my previous articles, "Stress Relieving Recipes!" and the response was so much better than I expected! 

I handed out the parfaits to friends that had presentations, tests, or just something important that was stressing them out and many said that they actually felt more relaxed throughout the day. 

My tuna salad recipe had the same effect. A friend of mine had it during lunch and said she didn't feel as overwhelmed as she did before over a presentation she had to do today.

Aside from the benefits I have listed in the article, I think it's safe to say that the recipes were pretty tasty.

Procrastination

Procrastination =Bad

         Stress can be very debilitating for your health. It is a physical factor that really causes one to live a life that is not as long as it would be, as well as living a life that is less worth living. One of the things that can cause lots of stress is procrastination, or when somebody puts off doing work until the last minute. Procrastination is never sustainable. It works for short periods of time, but ultimately it fails. It just doesn't work.

             Procrastinating is when you know you have work to do, you know you have to do it, you know you can do it, and you know you will do it, but for some reason, you just don't. The girl in the picture has a lot of work to do, and she can't do it quickly, and especially she can't do it well. This will cause a lot of stress. Huge amounts of work will cause not only late nights, but frustration, as well as quick meals, which aren't good for your health. All of these factors combine together to cause health problems, which could lead to physical signs of stress, like breakouts. No one wants that. 

             Ways to battle problems like this:

• Keep track of assignments- Having a planner can help make it so you get work done when you have it. Everyone has moments of boredom and nothing to do, and so a planner will help you realize you have something to do. 
• Get it done- A lot of times if you just sit down and do the project, or do the assignment, it'll go over very quickly. Something's aren't always as hard as you think, and sometimes they can even be fun!
• Eliminate distractions- Sometimes the biggest problem of all is doing work when something more interesting is on. If you are writing a paper and you don't need internet access, try turning off the internet, it'll raise productivity by tons if you have to go through the pain of turning the internet back on just to go to Facebook. If you are reading a book, turn off every light but the reading light, it'll help you focus on the book. If you are watching a documentary, consider taking the batteries out of the remote, that way you can't channel surf. 

The Most Important tip of all, if you find yourself procrastinating, is ask yourself, what could I be working on?

Stress Relieving Recipes!

In order to manage your stress relief food plays a very important role. If you feed yourself high energy and nutritious foods potentially stressful situations won’t bother you because you have the energy and stamina to cope.

On the other hand, if you eat poorly or irregularly your energy levels will be depleted and potentially stressful situations will become stressful.

I've come up with a few recipes that include foods that combat stress:

Cottage Cheese Parfait

Servings: 4

2 cups whipped low-fat cottage cheese (can be substituted with yogurt) 

1 large orange, peeled and separated

1 medium sized banana, cut in chunks

1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 cup of strawberries, hulled and quartered

1/4 cup of honey

1/4 cup shelled sunflower seeds and walnuts 

In a medium bowl, gently toss banana chunks with the lime juice. 

Add strawberries, blueberries, orange slices, honey, walnuts and sunflower seeds to bananas and gently toss to coat. 

Spoon 1/4 cup fruit mixture into each of 4 parfait glasses. 

Top each parfait with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese (or yogurt) and enjoy!

Now how is this good for stress?

Cottage Cheese: Cottage cheese is high in protein and calcium. Foods with high protein content that aren't loaded with sugar won't cause a spike in blood sugar and will keep you satiated for a longer time. Mixing cottage cheese with fruit that is high in Vitamin C. Vitamin C plays a role in fighting stress because it's an antioxidant that fights the free radicals that get released when you're stressed.

Yogurt: Work more calcium into your diet with non-fat or low-fat yogurt — a sprinkle of nuts and some fresh fruit will turn it into an ultra-satisfying snack. The good-for-you part: Yogurt contains probiotics that help create a healthy and calm digestive system.

Orange:  Stress can delete your storage of vitamin C, which is something your body doesn't produce naturally. Vitamin C helps your immune system function under stress more efficiently.

Banana: Bananas really are a magical food supply. They not only give you a boost of energy when you most need it but they are also so quick and easy to eat. You don’t need to cook anything; just peel and enjoy!
If you find yourself lagging in energy and need a boost especially in the afternoon then bananas are the food stuff to do it.

Blueberries: Very rich in antioxidants, blueberries offer a high-fiber, low-calorie fruit option that is also rich in stress-fighting vitamin C.

Strawberries: Because strawberries are known to contain higher concentrations of phytochemicals and have higher antioxidant capacity among common fruits, their neuroprotective activity was tested in vitro on PC12 cells treated with H2O2.

Honey: Honey reduces stress and is suitable for people who are suffering from stress, as it clams highs and lows of mood.

Sunflower seeds: Sunflower seeds have folic acid which helps reduce stress by increasing the amount of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a natural antidepressant - which may explain why children are so happy eating these seeds. 

Walnuts: Walnuts and walnut oil reduce blood pressure during stress, this is important because we can’t avoid all the stressors in our daily lives. 

Clean Tuna Salad

1 can white tuna, in water

1.5 Tbsp plain yogurt 

1.5 Tbsp Dijon mustard

Half an apple, chopped

2 Tbsp walnuts

1 tsp turmeric and curry 

Pepper to taste

Open the can of tuna and place in a bowl. Add the yogurt and mustard and stir. Then add all of the ingredients and make sure it is all incorporated well. 

Serve on whole wheat toast or in a pita pocket and enjoy!

Now how is this good for stress?

Tuna: Tuna is high in stress-fighting vitamins B6 and B12. Tuna is also a good low-fat protein source.

Yogurt: Same as parfait

Apples: Fruit in general is great for snacking in the office or at home. It is a stress free way of getting some healthy food inside you quickly. If you have lots on at work, fruit is great for keeping you healthy and they are full of vitamins and minerals.

Walnuts: Same as parfait

Turmeric: Turmeric has the highest antioxidant activity of ALL FOODS, including antioxidant-rich fruits such as blueberries. Antioxidants are needed by our bodies to counter the free radical damage that underlies most common degenerative diseases.

Physical Activities and Stress

Physical Activities and Stress

          One great way to get rid of stress is by getting some kind of physical activity. Exercising gets the blood flowing, the breathing becomes rhythmic, and the body almost becomes a music hall. It is both quite and loud, and quite peaceful.  Every release of breath also releases stress. Some sports, some physical activities, and some exercises are better than others for this. In the following blog, I’ll focus on one good one, and one bad one for each of those categories. 

Sports

Good

         


Football is a great reliever of stress because of the inherent physicality. Tackling a friend is a great reliever because it lets you get rid of some pent up emotions in a safe way. The feeling of success that comes from scoring and succeeding releases dopamine, which causes good emotions, allowing moments where the world is free of problems, which lowers stress in the long run. Football is a good stress reliever because it allows you to escape, where you only have to focus on the game, and it never lets up except for a moment. Other good ones include Boxing, and basketball. 


Bad

       Golf is a game that a lot of the enjoyment is the result of connecting with the people who you play with. While a feeling of zen can be achieved during your shots, in between them there is nothing but conversation and observation, neither of which gets your mind off of the stressful material. Golf can also give the dopamine that football gives, but lots of time the success will be success only after several tries. 

Physical Activities

Good

           Gardening is an activity allowing you to take in the beauty of the world while never having a moment of free time. The constant activity allows the mind to focus on what you are doing, which is making something. Creating something is a great way to get rid of stress. Gardening is a wonderful activity partially because it is so hard to create nature that is ugly. It, however, also takes creativity, and so it engages the mind, as well as the body. Another example could be painting artwork.

Bad

       Painting requires little to no thought, and so it is something you can do while zoning off, and if something is on your mind while you work, something negative, something stress related, could actually be accentuated while you work. Other similar activities like this could be copying files by hand. 

Exercise

Good

         Jogging provides lots and lots of  physical benefits, but the emotion benefits and very good as well. Jogging allows you to focus on the motion of your body, and get away. If you focus on running, and putting as much energy into going as far as you can, your mind will get away. It allows and tremendous opportunity to wind down. A good breathing pattern is established, which allows the body and mind to wind down. Jogging is a very good way of reducing stress. Bicycling is also effective. Exercising in general is. 

Bad


Well that's just it. Exercise is always good for your stress. Exercise when you have stress, and it'll go away.


Just remember, that stress is never good, and so you should use one of the above options to remove your stress when you can.

Stress and Video Games

Video Games and Stress

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

           
       People often blame video games on the violence and the problems in the world. The Massacre in the Netherlands in 2010, video games were clearly to blame. I mean, in his manifesto he did mention that he trained in Modern Warfare 2. Yep. That’s the problem. Ignore the other things he wrote, ignore the political reasons. The political reasons that filled up the majority of the manifesto. Clearly video games are to be blamed. Video games have another side too you know. They can actually reduce stress, especially violent ones.

Modern Warfare 2

             A study in 2010 at Texas A&M University demonstrated that video games, especially violent ones, can reduce stress. It works through mood management. This is when the subject ‘goes’ into another world, and lives, even for just a moment, in an environment lacking in stress. Dying in a video game rarely ever has true consequences, and so one can go into it, and experience an enthralling world that will relieve one’s stress. Your stress will go away when you don’t have to think about it, and so it lowers depression rates, which in turn lowers rates of violence.

(Custer's Last Revenge)

            So, in fact contrary to the opinion held by the majority, video games are not the bane of society. They reduce violence, they don’t increase it. They are no more evil than rock and roll, jazz, and even the novel. All of those were once considered to be the reason for the societal ills. Society will grow up eventually, and then we will start blaming whatever new media comes up. 

Does Anyone think this is real? (Just Cause 2)

            While certain games will not ever be generally accepted by society, they are not indicative of the media form as a whole. The mass media likes to hop on whatever controversial thing they can because they do not understand, and so they fear. Yes, Custer’s Last Revenge is awful, but I don’t think it’ll make anyone want to do the actions portrayed in the game. There is a disconnect, and so it is never real, and it will never seem real.