When did the holidays get so stressful?

It’s supposed to be a joyous season, a season of giving and enjoying friends and family. These days it seems to be a time of year we all get a little anxious about, maybe even dread…with all the deadlines for getting holiday cards written and mailed out on time, making the perfect gift giving list, fighting the crowds at the malls to shop at just the right time to get the best sales, gift wrapping, party planning, party attending, travel, etc….whew, it is a busy season.

Are you feeling overwhelmed already? The best thing you can do for yourself this holiday season to make it a bit more enjoyable, is to take a step back every so often to de-stress. Here are 7 simple steps to stressing less this month:

1. Stop, take a deep breath. Look at the big picture. When obstacles pop up, ask yourself, how stressful the situation really is: will this matter in three months? Three years? This will help you reassess the situation, solve problems, and let go of the little things.

2. Take the scenic route. To ease commuting woes, get off crowded streets and busy highways and drive down a tree-lined road instead.

3. Sip tea. Whether your at the mall doing your shopping or home after a long day of holiday prep, take a break and sip some hot tea. A recent British study found that regularly drinking black tea can lower levels of stress hormones and induce feelings of relaxation. (Just be mindful of caffeine amounts.) You may also want to try an herbal tea, the Tazo Calm Tea is my favorite for distressing.

4. Get a chair massage. These short massages now offered in salons, malls, and airports can work wonders on chipping away accumulated stress. Even a 15-minutes massage can calm your nerves and help you refocus.

5. Watch a comedy. Feel-good endorphins start cranking and their mood-boosting benefits kick in as soon as you start to anticipate having a chuckle. Plus, a good belly laugh can relax your whole body.

6. Lend a hand. Reaching out to someone else gets you away from your own worries and puts things in perspective.

7. Play on the Web. Doing online puzzles, like solitaire or Sudoku, can decrease stress and improve mood, according to new research. Because you’re distracted from your worries by the game, your nervous system can relax.

8. Exercise. Thirty minutes of physical activity per day helps both body and mind. If you have an hour lunch break at the office, use half of it for a walk or a jog. Sticking with your regular fitness routine or even beefing up your routine will help you ward of stress this month.

Well I guess that was 8, not 7, oh well.

Spokane Skin Care Secrets: The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Spokane Exercise is that your body will be lean, muscular, and in shape. But what about your skin? That is all part of the package, too, right? Not only do you want a fit body, but your skin should be clear, clean, and have a certain “glow” to it. There are thousands of Spokane skin care products out on the market, but no matter the quality or quantity of those products, if you aren’t treating your body right from the inside out, they aren’t going to make much of a difference if you aren’t eating right and exercising.

Exercise can help reduce the frequency of acne break outs and fight the signs of aging. Regular exercise and proper nutrition can play a big role in how young and how healthy your skin looks and feels.

“It’s no secret that exercise has important benefits for the entire body. But what many people don’t realize is that our skin is the largest organ of our body, and thus, the benefits can be enormous,” says Audrey Kunin, MD, a Kansas City, Mo., dermatologist and author of The DERMAdoctor Skinstruction Manual.

Spokane Skin Care Tip #1: Exercise for your skin

Exercise not only helps with Spokane Skin Care it also helps increase circulation and delivery of nutrients to skin cells, whooshing away potentially damaging toxins. It also skin the optimum conditions for making collagen, the support fibers that help keep wrinkles and lines at bay.

If you have acne-prone skin, exercise can help you even more! Health Experts say that exercise provides many benefits that can help clear the skin. It mediates the production of testosterone-related hormones such as DHEA and DHT.

Spokane Skin Care Tip #2: Keep stress to a minimum

What happens when you have a paper due at your local Spokane College or Spokane Univeristy? Or that project deadline at your Spokane Company is looming closer? You get stressed and your face breaks out, right? It is even worse for those of us who naturally have acne-prone skin. Exercise helps reduce breakouts by slowing down your adrenal glands. And sweating helps to clean out your pores. Just make sure to wash your face after a work out to get all that sweated out dirt and oil off your skin for good!

In the long run, people who exercise and eat  helathy look better everywhere; muscle tone, fitness, and skin tone. Their acne is under control, the few break outs they experience are less severe, and they clear up quicker and easier. Go here for Spokane Skin Care successs…

PART THREE

Exercise is one of the best Spokane stress busters around. When partnered with a healthy diet, exercise can lower your blood pressure, increase blood flow to your brain, relax tense muscles and help you sleep. There is also good evidence that people who are in good physical shape have less extreme responses when under pressure.

In addition to the obvious physical benefits of being in good shape, research has shown that exercise can be an effective anti-depressant, and that exercise can improve the brain functioning of the elderly, and may even protect against dementia.

How does exercise improve mental health?

One theory is that exercise triggers the production of endorphins. These natural opiates are chemically similar to morphine, possibly produced as natural pain relievers in response to the shock that the body receives in exercise. Studies are being done to discover whether these natural chemicals can affect mood.

Exercise has also been found to increase levels of “brain-derived neurotrophic factor” (BDNF). This substance is thought to improve mood, and it may play a role in the beneficial effects of exercise. BDNF’s primary role seems to be to help brain cells survive longer; so this may also explain some of the beneficial effects of exercise on dementia.

The bottom line is exercise makes us feel good, and probably not because of any chemicals produced in our brains. It keeps us healthy, attractive, and helps us live longer, happier lives.