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Research: Stress Can Be Your Friend

Recent Research Demonstrates Beliefs About Stress Are Key

Research that really sheds new light on the effects of stress on our health. Our beliefs about it’s effects

make a huge difference on whether stress helps or harms us.

The stress response can lead to courage, compassion, and a healthy heart that gets stronger to prepare us for challenges.

We begin to change our beliefs about the destructive effects of stress and this begins to change the actual physiology

around the dynamics of the stress response. Who Knew? And what a pleasant surprise.

The research show that caring for and supporting others can actually nullify the destructive effects of stress.

Stress is Shrinking Your Brain, Changing Its Structure

The Good News: Exercise Can Literally Rebuild Brain Tissue

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The more we learn about stress, the more we learn about it’s destructive potential. We observe how it affects your emotional and physical reactivity.

You get cranky and irritable. You become anxious. Your energy level drops. These observations are fairly straightforward and obvious. The research is demonstrating how it actually shrinks you brain. You can literally be “losing your mind”.

Here you will learn about some of those effects as well as how exercise can protect you from the effects of stress as well as actually repair the damage. Very cool.

Check out this article to learn the details and how just a little exercise goes a long way.

Stress is affecting your brain much more than you think. Sure, you’ve experienced the distraction, forgetfulness, negativity or anxiety that comes from stressful situations, but did you know it’s also shrinking your brain? Hormones released in response to stress not only affect brain function, they also change the physical structure of your brain.

The stress hormone cortisol can kill, shrink, and stop the generation of new neurons in a portion of the brain called the hippocampus. The hippocampus is critical for learning, memory and emotional regulation, as well as shutting off the stress response after a stressful event is over: all much-needed processes in both our professional and personal lives.

Chronic stress can also shrink the medial prefrontal cortex. This negatively affects decision making, working memory, and control of impulsive behavior.These brain alterations can have significant consequences on the way we interact with others, our ability to learn, remember, make decisions and accomplish long-term goals. They also make it more difficult to successfully manage stressful situations in the future, leading to a vicious cycle.

Fortunately, we’ve discovered a very effective antidote to these negative effects: exercise. Exercise can help build a stress-resistant brain in addition to increasing cognitive function and brain size. Exercise helps spur the release of a substance called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which helps in the development of healthy brain tissue and reverses the negative effects of stress.  Think of it as fertilizer for the brain. It keeps existing neurons vital and healthy and also encourages the growth of new ones.

And thankfully you don’t have to do hour-long workouts to get many of these benefits. A recent analysis of 10 studies found that five-minute doses of exercise have the biggest effect on enhancing mood and combating stress. (7) Whenever you have a few minutes, do something that gets your heart rate up and/or challenges your muscles. It’s a positive, constructive way to deal with stress and can help keep you from losing your mind!

 

Read the entire article here…this will also give you access to the research on which it is based.

Lavender Lemonade Recipe: Headaches/ Anxiety

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What a Lavendar Solution to a Pesky Problem

Lavender has long been used for it’s aromatic qualities that have so many beneficial medical effects. The amount of research related to it’s use is impressive. And just short of 400,000 people have shared this recipe so far. Perhaps you will want to join the ranks.

And Lavender is not simply an herb that is used as an essential oil for creating an environment with pleasant fragrance. While aromatherapy is it’s typical application, it can actually be used in minute quantities prepared in a tasty glass of lemonade.

And you can discover other ways that this oil can be used as well.

So review the information below and explore the possibilities. 

Flavoring your lemonade with lavender is a great way to utilize the amazing medicinal properties of lavender. Lavender is a wonderful aromatic herb that calms the senses.

Pure lavender oil is an incredible essential oil to use for your own health and wellness. It’s among the gentlest of essential oils, but also one of the most powerful, making it a favorite of households for the healing properties and uses of lavender essential oil. Lavender oil  has a chemically complex structure with over 150 active constituents, which explains its effectiveness at helping with a lot of health ailments. Lavender oil possesses amazing anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antidepressant, antiseptic, antibacterial, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, analgesic, detoxifier, hypotensive, and sedative properties.

Florida researchers have found that lavender oil benefits include reducing anxiety and lowering pulse rates in nursing students taking stressful tests. And in hospital settings, lavender aromatherapy has been demonstrated to decrease pre-surgery distress and to be more relaxing than massage or merely resting.

Lavender essential oil has medicinal properties as well. It has been shown to reduce depression, improve insomnia and ease labor pains.

The following are selected examples of clinical trials on lavender aromatherapy:

  • Alaoui-Ismaili and colleagues found that the aroma of lavender is considered by subjects to be very pleasant and is correlated with changes in the autonomic nervous system.56
  • Diego and colleagues demonstrated that people receiving lavender oil (10%) olfaction for 3 minutes felt significantly more relaxed and had decreased anxiety scores, improved mood and increased scores of alpha power on EEG (an indicator of alertness), and increased speed of mathematical calculations.58
  • Lewith and colleagues investigated the effects of lavender aromatherapy on depressed mood and anxiety in female patients being treated with chronic hemodialysis.59 The effects of aromatherapy were measured using the Hamilton rating scale for depression (HAMD) and the Hamilton rating scale for anxiety (HAMA). Lavender aroma significantly decreased the mean scores of HAMA, suggesting an effective, noninvasive means for the treatment of anxiety in hemodialysis patients.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw honet
  • 12 cups pure water
  • 1 drop lavender essential oil
  • 6 lemons, peeled and juiced
  • Lavender sprigs for garnish

Directions

Mix all ingredients together and chill. Add more water or raw honey if needed.

 

Other ways you can use Lavender Oil for Anxiety and Headaches

  • Mix 5 to 6 drops of Lavender essential oil to your bath water if you have dry skin.

  • Diffuse 10 to 12 drops of Lavender into the air during your workday for natural stress relief.

  • Add 2 drops of Lavender per ounce of your favorite lightly scented, unrefined organic oil (like almond oil or olive oil) for a body oil with all the benefits of lavender for improving your skin, relaxing your mind, warding off insects or helping you sleep.

You can view the full article here .