BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Stress Management Quick fixes to lower stress

Yes, hollyelise, stress does deplete vitamins from your body. Especially vitamin C (so this lowers your immune system) and the B vitamins (which help lower stress)

A nutritional diet, along with B vitamins, can help stress from a physical standpoint. Stay away from sugar, alcohol and processed foods as these can stress out your body all by themselves.

Exercise really helps burn off stress too. Just taking a walk can help.

It might help you to research what stress does to your body. It harms your heart, raises your blood pressure and lowers your immune system, just to name a few.

Thank you Joan.

I eat a healthier diet than most people... cook my own food, eat lots of vegetables and fruits, try to eat mostly whole grains rather than white, and this year i've greatly reduced how much sugar i consume as well. I exercise regularly. I take nutritional supplements, too, but i know that multi-vitamins lack a number of our needs, and i also take Omega-3 oils and some other items, though not every day.

About five years ago a doctor friend of mine suggested trace elements specifically when i was under stress and she Fed-exed some to me. In the mean time i had a bottle of Blue-Algae in my cabinet(which is known for it's trace elements) which also met her requirements. My friend had explained that the body needs certain trace minerals to "re-set" itself when we've been under stress. If we have been going through a lot we may have used up our body's supply. If our body doesn't have the building blocks, it can't set us back to normal. She said if i didn't need those elements taking it would do nothing, but if i needed them, i would see a difference within 24 hours. She was right. The difference for me at that time was astounding.

Unfortunately i don't remember the specific names of the trace elements anymore, but i do remember that they weren't in multi-vitamins, and that the Blue Algae contains the needed elements and worked. I've looked in the drug stores for it but it's no longer popular so i can't find it in the stores and will need to mail order it. Kelp might also work, i don't know. Without going into the cellular biology of it, sea products are more likely to contain trace elements because sea water contains elements in almost the same proportions as the cells in our body. It's quite a remarkable coincidence, really.

Thanks hollyelise! I think you're very right about the trace elements. I've been taking spirulina which was recommended for Candida yeast overgrowth and I think this may be for the trace minerals in it.

I'll check out the Blue Algae. Vitamin Shoppe carries this in powders and pills. If there isn't one near you, you can order online from them. I love their service.

some Blue Algae comes from the Klamath Lake in Oregon near where I used to live.

No kidding?

Yes, i've used the Vitamin Shoppe too, and i like their catalog. I've never tried Spirulina except in green powder drinks. Spirulina is much easier to get.

The other thing i definitely need to order is Kava. I was taking it for a while. I tried many herbs known for improving mood and reducing tension, but i reacted negatively to a lot of them. Kava is the one that worked wonderfully for me, and the only thing i ever found that subdued my nightmares. Over time it improves your sense of well being, and eventually you can go off it without losing the effects. This too, has been shown in studies, according to that doctor-friend i have.

Unfortunately the makers of Prozac wanted it off the market when some independent clinical studies came out showing it was more effective than Prozac, and safer. It is commonly believed now that KAVA is banned in the U.S... but that's not true. The FDA did not ban it. Kava did, however, get pulled off the shelves of all major drug store chains and retailers like GNC, and i hate to say it, but i suspect there was some back-office negotiations done to pull the Kava off the shelves so that the stores and the Prozac company could make more money. It makes me angry. You could not pay me to take Prozac. Anyway, now i have to mail order the KAVA and the price shot up six times what it once was because not as many stores carry it.

Joan, where do you get your information about herbs? I used to subscribe to Prevention Magazine, and they would report on studies done with various herbs, but i don't subscribe anymore. I'd like to learn more. It seems like there are so many new ones on the market and i don't know anything about them.

ALWAYS before taking an herb i would research it on the internet to learn the positives and any health concerns with taking it, and then also i'd check with my doctor to see what they thought. Just because an herb or supplement is thought to be good by some, doesn't mean it's good for everyone, you know? For instance, i inherited a congenital tendency for my heart to beat irregularly. My father has had some trouble with it in life, but i have managed to avoid any health complications, partly by exercising to keep my heart strong. But i've learned also to carefully screen all supplements and drugs to make sure that one of their side effects is not an irregular heartbeat, because it's almost guaranteed to create one in me, see?

I used to subscribe to a magazine called Herbs for Health that's really good. I also have lots of books on the subject and used to grow herbs when I lived in Oregon.

Lots of my research came from looking for info for my own use. I got into using herbs originally when I used to do daycare and got a case of diarrhea from the kids that lasted about 6 weeks! It was then that I discovered the wonders of Ginger and I just took off from there.

I tried Kava but so herbs have the opposite effect of me that they are meant to. the ones for relaxation never worked very well. Chamomile is one I use for sleep tho/

It's a great idea to research well before taking anything. I tried SAM-e for arthritis and couldn't sleep at all so had to stop taking it. One of the side effects is rapid heart beat and irritability. who needs more of that!

I take prevention now and also Natural Health magazine. Prevention unfortunately devotes MANY pages to drug advertisements, sometimes taking up several pages just to list side effects.

Joan

Yes, i have had the opposite reaction to many herbs, too, and some bad reactions to certain kinds of drugs. When i tried St. John's Wort, which works so well for so many people, it made me a nervous wreck with difficult emotional swings within the first 48 hours! Now i always try the least amount (like a half-dose) when starting something to see if i will have a negative reaction.

Yes, i hate all the drug advertising, too, particularly on television. I think the drug companies are turning us into a nation of hypochondriacs. Currently anti-depressants are the most prescribed medicines in america, out-stripping blood pressure, diabetes, heart medicine, etc., go figure!!! And U.S.A. Today recently reported that regular anti-depressants shorten a person's lifespan by about 5 years. It's shameful, the over-prescribing! The last straw for me was when a few years ago i noticed a television commercial for a drug -- they were airing it at least six times an hour -- and it didn't even say what the drug was for!!! It just said, "Ask your doctor about _____" And showed happy, pretty, energetic people, doing things like vacationing. Give me a break!!!!!! A vacation in a bottle... HUMPH! What will they sell next?!

I've seen Natural Health on the stands, but i'm not familiar with it. Thank you for suggesting it.

One of the things that concerns me about learning the properties of herbs from books is it's hard to tell where they get their information, and sometimes the information comes from medieval herbals! Not that i don't respect folk wisdom... often it is true... but some of it is whacked out, as well.

I had a bad reaction to St Johns Wort as well.

It's kind of funny that when they advertise drugs they give all the adverse effects - like DEATH! My mom asked her doctor if he thought the drug ads had people asking more for certain drugs and he said about 50% of the people were afraid to take them because of the ads listing all the adverse effects! Counterproductive I'd say.

People like a quick fix, like people using chemical fertilizers that give the plant pep but ignore the soil (I'm against those too!).

I agree you need to check the sources of herbs when researching. If it's been used for centuries by some tribal people on an island somewhere and that's the only source that its useful, you might want to keep searching for newer info.

On the other hand, some of grandma's remedies, like dandelion tea in the spring as a tonic is still a good one.

I'm sure with the billions of dollars drug companies use on advertizing, that they spend a few bucks testing to see if their commercials are effective. I'm sure they are making far more profit by airing them, else there wouldn't be so many commercials.

The disclaimers are now required by law, that's why they are there. The companies certainly aren't disclosing the side effects out of the goodness of their hearts! Just as they say in Hollywood, "There's no such thing as bad publicity."

And i know it's affecting people because so many ordinary people now are telling me when i have trouble sleeping to take Lunestra to improve my sleep... and it's only been on the market a short while! They are not recommending it because they've personally tried it, they're recommending it because they've been indoctrinated by the commercials! I betcha not ONE of them has a shred of independent information on the drug outside of the commercials and magazine ads.

Everybody would like to think it's always the other guy and not us who's affected by advertising, but HELLO! ...we ALL are! Whether we think we are or not, we are. Political candidates know that there are many voters out there who aren't sure of the issues, but they'll vote for the incumbent because it's the name they most recognize!

Whenever i talk about drug companies i start foaming at the mouth. Please excuse me. It's some kind of allergic reaction, i'm sure, but probably they have a pill for it!!!!

My special favorites are the anti-depressants that warn one of their side effects may be an increased desire to commit suicide. Well, well, well. Gimme some!!! Maybe the pills won't help, but the laughter will.

Great info, hollyelise!

I have two children and we don't take drugs in our home, even for illnesses. I used herbal remedies and keep our immune systems strong with good nutrition and keeping the kids healthy in the first place.

I also limit the TV! I don't like them being influenced by all the advertising, for drugs or anything else.

When i was in college i had a friend i was worried was anorexic and so i went to the library to look it up to find out what is, and isn't, anorexia. I was shocked... exposure to women's fashion magazines and the fashion world really does increase a young woman's chances of being anorexic!