Everyone experiences stress from time to time because it is a natural feature that comes with the daily demands of different aspects of our lives.

For instance, you might be experiencing stress due to commuting to work daily, financial commitments, health, etc. If you just welcomed a newborn, you may face stress because of the added responsibilities.

Here are some of the possible signs that you may be experiencing stress

Sleep problems

When you are facing stress, it might be difficult for you to get enough sleep. You will discover that it takes a longer time before you sleep. And anytime you wake up, you will feel tired.

Breathing difficulties

Another sign of stress is when you are finding it hard to breathe. Your breathing will become difficult or labored, and you may not be able to figure out the reason. Sometimes, the difficulty in breathing may be accompanied by nausea, chest pain, etc.

Weight loss /weight gain

When it comes to weight, people respond to stress in two different ways: weight gain and weight loss. Therefore, if you notice that there is a drastic change in your weight, then it might be your body’s response to stress.

Restlessness

If you are experiencing stress, you might find it hard to remain in one place. You will be restless and you may not be able to keep yourself together.

Inability to concentrate

Stress often comes with difficulty in concentration. For instance, if you are trying to complete a task, you will be unable to concentrate on it. You will find your attention shifting from one point to the other.

Inability to remember some things

When you are stressed, you may find it hard to remember things. This is because your memory will recall things slower than usual.

Isolation

You may want to withdraw from people or social circles when you feel stressed. The reason might because you may crave your personal space where you will be able to practice self-care. Hence, staying around friends and family might not work for you.

The way your body reacts to demands and challenges is called stress. It is inevitable in life to go without stress. Although stress may be helpful in terms of our response to threats and danger, it should not be excessive.

When stress is excessive, it affects physical and mental health. The stressed will be attacked with depression and anxiety and may suffer low productivity. It is better to be managed when noticed before it becomes critical.

Hence, here are four healthy ways to fight off stress:

1. Healthy dieting: There are certain foods you should include in your diet to help you relieve stress. Include whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Try to stay away from stress eating, consuming junk, carbs, and foods with high calories. Also, avoid taking too much caffeine while you are stressed because it cannot give you permanent relief.
2. Exercise: Consider regular aerobic workouts like walking, running, jumping, or jogging. They release endorphins that help you keep a positive attitude and feel better. Embrace exercise because it helps you stay fit physically and psychologically. It improves wholeness.
3. Identify stressors and avoid them: Take notice of what triggers stress in you and find ways to deal with it. So, in dealing with these demands, you should employ techniques to take them off you. For instance, if it is too much work, learn to delegate or learn to say no to some responsibilities for the sake of your mental health.
4. Practice relaxation techniques: There are some techniques you can employ to help you relax and let go of added up tension in you. Practice breathing exercises, mindfulness meditation, and imagery to secure your body from the effects of stress. If you do not know how to go about them, make your research and learn how to do them.

Protect your physical and mental health by implementing these health tips as you go about your daily activities.

The common thought on addiction is it involves the uncontrollable ingestion of substances. However, studies have shown that addiction is not limited to substances but includes behaviors such as gambling, food addiction, computer addiction, to mention a few. Various other factors that do not include drug availability can also cause it.

The cause of addiction is psychological rather than physical, with stress being a motivating factor among addicts. Stress causes the brain to release certain chemicals that can affect a person’s immune system. With the immune system being unable to function effectively, physical and mental health issues are bound to occur.

It can be dealt with positively through exercise, change of diet, and human connections. However, if it is not managed effectively, it can lead to dependence on substances or behaviors as a way to find relief.

This dependence may become an addiction because it only provides temporary relief. Hence, when the effect wears out, the user will have to indulge again, in higher quantity to feel relief.

It wouldn’t be long before the dependence becomes uncontrollable hence, full-blown stress-induced addiction. The changes in the brain cause those who experience stress to be at a greater risk of drug addiction or relapse.

A person who goes through stress has a high risk of being depressed or anxious unnecessarily. So, to feel better, such a person may turn to drugs, alcohol, or certain behaviors. Whatever substance the person takes in will have its effects and withdrawal symptoms that will compel dependence.

This is why everyone should be sensitive to their stressors and if they are already experiencing chronic stress. Effectively manage stress by learning to take care of yourself, shift your focus from stressors, and learning to take intentional breaks. Do not allow drugs or any other substances to be an option to deal with stress.

Currently, there is no specific and definite cause to the emergence of addiction. What exists presently are various possible means borne out of research.

Till now, health specialists wonder why some people have the tendency to get addicted while others do not. One point worthy of note is the fact that, the reward system of the brain gets triggered when an addiction is in motion.

Typically, as human beings, since it is what we want, we would always want the derived pleasure. 

There are various factors that increase the susceptibility of an individual to addiction. Worthy of mention are family history, environment, peer pressure, work-induced stress amongst others.

In preventing addiction, one of the best measures is to arm yourself with knowledge.

These days, the media has helped a lot in making people understand the ills of addiction and why they should refrain from it. Knowing about addiction and the health problems that comes with it, helps an individual to take a stand to preventing it.

Closely related to this is, staying away from people who are likely to get you addicted. For young people, there is a likely chance that their friends would be addicted to substances like drugs or alcohol.

So, knowing what addiction involves would help them stay away from such friends, and seek the sober ones instead.

When you stay around people who are addicted and indulge in the act every time, there is a tendency for you to follow suit.

Parents have a good role to play when it comes to monitoring their children and who they keep up with.

Their children might not be abusing substances but there are other forms of behavioral addiction that they might be indulging in. So, properly monitoring them helps to curb any tendencies of addiction.

In addition, it is important to maintain a schedule with your healthcare provider. He or she would keep tabs on you and would be able to tell if addictive habits are creeping in or not.  

The process of treating addiction with arts is referred to as art therapy. It is a therapeutic process where clients are under the supervision of the art therapist who also doubles as an addiction treatment personnel.

Primarily, in treating addiction with arts, clients undergo a creative pattern and process via art in the expression of their feelings.

Art therapy is an aspect of experiential therapy that works as a methodology of recovery that handles the physical and emotional needs.

This can be achieved via physical or creative activity. A good number of people who are addicted have attested to the fact that art therapy is a definite way for them to have a nice time with themselves.

One profound fact about treating addiction with arts is, it is a creative process that enables you to express your emotions and anxieties that could pop up when you are receiving treatment.

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For activities like drawing, painting and a host of others, they could serve as a medium to expressing the feelings that could be hard to speak out.

Art therapy looks to ensure that clients achieve a clean bill of health devoid of any form of addiction.

For people who have gone through unpleasant experiences, art therapy is one way to get them back on track. Art therapy adeptly handles the psychological phase of recovery, making clients to adequately express themselves.

So, for people who are undergoing addiction treatment, using art therapy is one great way to help them understand and manage their addiction. The beauty of this is, there is no need to have a background of art-related skills. All you need is the ability to follow the directives of the instructor, and you are good to go.

In art therapy, you can decide to paint, draw, dance, act, sing or do poetry. Irrespective of any category you choose, you can be sure of achieving the same result. Art therapy is indeed a profound way to speed up the healing process.  

Basically, living a healthy life requires you to eat good food and regularly undergo physical activity. However, it is very difficult to keep up. First of all, our tight schedules could get in the way of living the ideal healthy life. Moreso, doing stressful and time-consuming work, having to ensure that our families are well catered for, could prevent you from living well.

For instance, people that have really busy schedules, could form the habit of regularly taking snacks or fast-foods which is detrimental to the health of an individual. Making certain choices could be bad for our health, and it is essential that we make a conscious resolution to ensure that we live a healthy lifestyle.

Below are five easy ways on how to lead a healthy lifestyle:

1. Undergo physical activities: Constant physical activity is necessary for healthy development and growth of individuals. A minimum of 60 minutes daily, should be spent on undergoing vigorous activities, which would aid in strengthening the bones and muscles.
2. Take lots of water: The importance of water in the human body cannot be overstated. Water is known to have lots of benefits when taken on a regular basis. In most cases, it is better to take water, than ingest drinks like soda and the likes. Young kids should also be encouraged to take lots of water, as it ensures the proper functioning of the human system.
3. Take fruits and vegetables: Not everyone is in the habit of regularly taking vegetables and fruits. It is important that an individual takes in lots of vegetables and fruits, as they are known to step-up vitality and reduce the chances of coming down with diseases. Hence, two and five servings of fruits and vegetables respectively should be taken on a daily basis.
4. Turn off the screen: In order to become active and not lead a sedentary lifestyle, learn to take a break from either your television screen, or your phone and probably your computer screen. It is advised that long hours should not be spent in front of the screen.
5. Take less snacks and opt for healthier choices: There are some healthy snacks which help people to attain their daily nutritional requirements. Snacks which are of vegetables and fruits origin, are the best of choices for people. Also, snacks which have high sugar contents should be avoided.