The first snow of the season has fallen here in Utah as I type this. While many of us are already thinking of the holidays and our Fall/Winter plans, stress is most likely building up and we may not even be aware.
Research has firmly established that stress weakens the immune system. When you are under stress your body produces adrenaline, cortisol, and other stress hormones that can impair its ability to fight off disease.
“You owe it to yourself to find ways to reduce stress in your life for your own mental, emotional, and physical health,” according to Dr. Bradley Nelson, one of the world’s foremost experts in the emerging fields of Bioenergetic Medicine and Energy Psychology Nelson.
While there are many spiritual and mindful holistic techniques such as meditation, practicing self-care, writing in a journal, etc. that many of us already know and probably are doing on the regular to help keep stress at bay, there are some healthy holistic approaches you take for your physical body as well.
4 effective ways to physically reduce stress in the body
- Yoga: Not only is yoga great for the mind but it’s also an amazing stress reliever and great for the body too. Stress causes people to breathe harder, yoga counteracts that by helping you to focus on the breath, taking long, healthy, healing breaths, up taking more oxygen, and improving the mind and body too. Yoga has also been shown to be successful for people with chronic pain.
- Take a walk in nature: walking is a natural stress reliever and I firmly believe the more inline your body is with nature, the more you’re going to benefit from it, both emotionally and physically. Taking a walk in nature helps
- Drink water. Most Americans are dehydrated, in fact about 75% of us. Reach for the water regularly and make sure to drink your 6-8 glasses a day. If you find that you’re thirsty, chances are that you’re already dehydrated. One of our greatest allies in the quest for optimal health is the liver, a multitasking powerhouse that carries out over 500 different roles! Interestingly, it’s also the only organ capable of fully regenerating itself, much like a starfish. Filtering out toxins such as bacteria, viruses, excess hormones, even external toxins are all intrinsic to its nature. Just as any great joint venture in life, we must work alongside our liver and assist it on the last step – it has already taken care of the heavy lifting. We do this by ensuring that we are drinking enough water every day, ostensibly enough to flush out the elements which our liver and other organs have filtered for us. A good indicator of this is when our urine is clear.
- Taking the proper vitamins: Balancing your body’s nutrient levels and taking the supplements you need means reaching your optimal potential.
Many of us are already probably taking our vitamins daily but have you been tested to know exactly what vitamins your body can benefit from the most?
I only recently learned about the bioavailability of supplements and how either beneficial or completely pointless taking a supplement can be if it’s not ultimately what our body needs or if it’s not able to be taken into the body correctly to offer the body max benefits. Basically, if you’re taking a supplement with low bioavailability, you’re doing yourself pretty much no good and just wasting your money.
This is why finding the right vitamins/minerals for your body and buying quality supplements is so important.
Baze, the only evidence-based personalized vitamin service in the U.S., offers an affordable, convenient way to assess your current nutrient levels and provide you personalized vitamin recommendations (and packs) from their team of Registered Dietitians.
Baze offers specialty supplements Ashwagandha, Rhodiola, and L-Theanine, all known for their stress-relieving properties. You can also find Elderberry that supports a healthy immune system and has also been shown to reduce the length and severity of cold symptoms. Use code: CINDY30 and get 30% off your order.
How it Works: Baze sends you a complete blood collection kit that I hardly felt. Quickly do a collection yourself, send it back to Baze to be analyzed in the lab and get your recommended vitamins uniquely suited to your body, to offer max results and keep your body running healthily and efficiently! Along with reducing stress, helping to build the immune system, and keeping it strong especially during the colder months when we are more susceptible to illness, taking vitamins from Baze that fit perfectly for your body/lifestyle can also give you:
- More energy
- Less stress
- Better sleep
- Stronger immunity
- Improved brain health
- Healthier skin, hair, and nails
Keeping a healthy mind/body balance is essential and important to helping us live our best, health-filled lives, but oftentimes looking out for our bodies may take a back seat to many of our favorite holistic approaches for reducing stress.
Treat your body with the same love and respect you give your mind/soul, and you’ll be setting yourself up for the best possible health for many years to come!
References:
Dr. Bradley Nelson drbradleynelson.com