Six Lessons for Handling Stress(A User's Guide To The Brain).

Essay by punanny May 2008

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Human stress is inevitable. We will all experience some sort of stress some time or another. Stress is caused by many variables. Including work, a poor diet, lack of exercise and even a low self esteem. There are many ways of managing the stress in your life. A healthy diet will help to control the bad proteins entering your body. What you put into it, is what you get out of it. Bad proteins are very harmful to your body. This will affect your long-term stress response in a negative way.

If you participate in activities that you enjoy you will feel better. You will breathe easier. Inhaling and exhaling are a natural way of maintaining a regular heartbeat. If your heartbeat is on a constant up and down, it is harder on your heart. Making your heart work harder may make it not want to work as long. If you rest easy whenever possible, your heart will stay healthier longer.

And, a healthy heart relieves stress in more ways than one.

Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland. It sits atop your kidneys while you sleep at night. It begins to release itself every morning causing you to wake up. Cortisol is a slow moving hormone which stays with you throughout the day. A high level of Cortisol causes a peaked stress level. Too low of a level, may cause you to be tired and weary. A medium amount of Cortisol will help your body feel calm and less stressed.

Stress can affect your immune system. Too much time spent on other things besides your health can shorten or fray your telomeres. Telomeres are microscopic structures that help keep your chromosomes from shredding. Chromosomes help keep your immune system strong. Your immune system fights off sickness and...