Feeling stressed? Each one of us faces stress in our day to day life. However, long-term stress can build up and have an adverse effect on our well-being. It is of utmost importance to take steps to reduce and manage it so that it can prevent the long-term side effects.
What is stress?
Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can arise from any situations or thoughts that make an individual feel anxious, frustrated, angry etc. It’s a reaction showed by the body in a particular challenge or demand.
Stress is actually a good thing as it ensures survival of the species by encouraging us to move along and make life meaningful or seemingly meaningless by guiding us to deal with some unexpected situations that arise on a daily basis. Since too much of anything can be bad, it is crucial to deal with it at the right time. Hence, understanding the root cause and reason for your stress is the first step to learning how to manage it.
Stress is a part of life. What matters most is how you handle it. The best thing you can do to prevent stress overload and the health consequences that come with it is to know your stress symptoms.
A little stress every now and then is not something to be concerned about. But ongoing, chronic stress can cause or worsen many serious health problems, including: Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders, Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease, high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and strokes, Obesity and other eating disorders
So what are some common causes of stress in modern life, and what’s the antidote?
Causes
1. Work
Based on a survey from American Institute of Stress nearly 80% of the corporate staff faces stress in their jobs. It is therefore important to recognize the common parameters of stress at work so that an individual can take steps to reduce it where possible. Work place stress is mainly due to
∙ Heavy workloads and target deadlines- excessive amounts of work and unrealistic deadlines that make an individual feeling rushed, thereby creating pressure. No support- lack of interpersonal support or poor working relationship makes a person feel lonely.
∙ Lack of control- having no control over assigned activities i.e. over working. ∙ Unhealthy working culture- This leaves an employee feeling undervalued, affecting their self-esteem.
∙ Job security worries- lack of career opportunities or level of pay
∙ Ineffective management – creating a feeling within an employee wherein they do not have a sense of direction
∙ Not prioritizing- unable to organize tasks that require extra attention.
2. Competition
Most commonly seen in adults if the situation demands more than his or her capabilities, the result is increased competitive stress. This increase in stress can lead to apprehension loss of confidence, tension and finding it difficult to concentrate. Such negative thoughts could become all-consuming and obsessive! Stress, jealousy, anxiety, depression are all a natural effect of toxic competitiveness.
3. Financial
Why is money a big source of stress? Experts say that there are multiple reasons; one is the way money is viewed in the society. Most people stress about money from time to time. Financial stress can hamper our everyday life. For instance, you might find it difficult to focus on or enjoy other parts of your life because your money-related stress is causing you to worry so much. Anyone can experience financial stress but it is more common in low income houses. This can result from not making enough money to meet your needs such as from buying groceries to paying rents, and kid’s school fees. Financial stress can cause you to engage in a variety of unhealthy habits like overeating, alcohol in some cases drug abuse too.
4. Lifestyle and Appearance
What’s happening to my body? Technological advancements have put greater demands on our time and energy. This leads to humans not prioritizing personal recharge and stress mastery techniques. When a person gets super stressed, the body takes a major hit. It responds by releasing hormones that increases breathing and heart rates, and our muscle gets
tightened and in respond to the perceived danger. Here how chronic stress can do a number on our good looks.
∙ Skin- when we are stressed, our cortisol levels are increased that can cause acne and exacerbate conditions like eczema, psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.
∙ Hair- prolonged periods of high stress can lead to a disturbance of the hair cycle.
∙ Nails- high stress can weaken your nails
∙ Teeth- the most common way a human body deals with stress is clenching & grinding teeth that results in joint and muscle pains
∙ Body- people usually over-eat at times of stress, reaching for high calorie foods like chips, chocolates, high sugar beverages etc. This becomes a practice eventually.
What’s the antidote to modern life stress?
1. Indulge in comfort food: there is a growing amount of evidence that food affects our mood. One can get a feeling of wellbeing by consuming a hot bowl of soup, rich in essential vitamins and minerals that provides adequate amount of nutrients which in turn calms our brain and makes an individual feel better.
2. Exercise: Physical exercise is regarded as the most effective way in relieving stress. It helps lower stress level and hence, improves the quality of life mentally and physically. The negative impact created by stress, depression and anxiety can be reversed by various exercises such as running, cardio, high intensity interval trainings, swimming, zumba and other sports activities. Such practices increases brains production of endorphins. Endorphins are neurotransmitter that are primarily responsible for the euphoric feeling we experience while working out. Regular movements also improves physical appearance and heart health and hence, decreasing the stress level.
3. Meditation: It is considered as a type of mind-body complementary medicine. Meditation can produce a deep state of relaxation and a tranquil mind. During meditation, you focus your attention and eliminate the stream of jumbled thoughts that may be crowding your mind and causing stress. This process may result in enhanced physical and emotional well-being. Buddhists monks have used this form of medication for more than 2600 years, they can be considered as one of the path to enlightenment. Meditation is considered as the relaxation response to stress. This regime will help cope with the pressures of “expectation”
4. Positive self-talk: It is considered as an effective tool to relieve stress. From correcting negative thoughts to coping up with painful situations, positive self-talks can help.
So, what exactly is Self-Talk? It is an internal phrase, an inner voice of unsaid thoughts that keep running in our mind on daily basis. The inner feeling reveals our thoughts, beliefs, ideas and vision. These feelings can be positive, negative or a mix of both, depending on circumstances. Benefits of positive self-talk are
∙ Boost of confidence
∙ Greater life satisfaction
∙ Reduced stress
∙ Better physical and mental wellbeing
The Tiny Secret’s Solution to cope up with stress
Apart from the above mentioned solutions, we can help you to manage stress by consuming our
The Tiny Secret – Stress Relief Fruity Mints Chew tabs.
Made with the goodness of researched herbal extracts to assuage the effects of stress! They are a perfect amalgamation of herbs and essential vitamins for stress relief. Our mints are free from artificial sweeteners like aspartame.
Benefits:
- Energises the mood
- Stress reliever
- Helps with anxiety
- Enriched with herbs : Jatamansi , Ashwagandha, and many more
- 100% Natural DE stressor
Ingredients:
Jatamansi: Are you having sleepless nights worrying about your big event? It’s natural for anyone to turn into a bundle of nerves before a big act. Although we know that nothing can be achieved by worrying and that frequent anxiety attacks affect our well-being, we can’t help entertain the nagging thoughts at the back of our mind. What we need at such times is an antidote to calm the nerves down. Jatamansi, a potent nerve-calming herb, is Ayurveda’s gift to the worrywarts who cannot stop being stressful all the time. Nardostachys jatamansi (commonly called as Jatamansi) belonging to the family Valerianaceae is a medicinal herb found in parts of India, Tibet, and China. It is often used in Ayurveda and Unani traditions of alternative medicine as a neuroprotective agent in the treatment of epilepsy, hysteria, insomnia, and convulsions. The rhizomal extract of N. jatamansi (NJE) has been particularly studied for its effect on the central nervous system. Calms down the brain and manages anxiety as well as insomnia. Jatamansi has been described in Ayurveda for its soothing and sedative action on the central nervous system. It also shows anti oxidant activity which directly reduces stress level.
Ashwagandha: It is not an herb that’s commonly used in the kitchen, so you may not be very familiar with it. However, it has received a good bit of attention for its health benefits when used as an herbal supplement to get rid of stress. Ashwagandha promotes stress reduction and can help bring your body into balance. Cortisol is a stress hormone released from the adrenals. It has evolutionarily helped the body to mobilize a “fight or flight” response to a perceived imminent danger, freeing up resources for a vigorous fight against an intruder or flight from danger. Cortisol naturally follows a daily rhythm, rising in the morning to help mobilize the body’s forces for the daily needs and lowering in the evening to allow the body to sleep and perform restorative processes. Between constant deadlines, financial pressures, and a steady stream of negative news, the stress of modern human culture regularly activates the cortisol stress response, which can impact nervous system function. Ashwagandha has been shown to promote healthy levels of cortisol and smooth out the body’s stress response cycle.
Because stress is an everyday occurrence, helping the body better adapt benefits every bodily system including the immune, cardiovascular, and nervous systems, as well as the brain, muscles, and joints. Healthy cortisol output also supports the adrenal glands, which naturally allows the body to focus on reproductive health. Due to Ashwagandha’s ability to help the body cope with stress in a healthy way, we’ve created an herbal supplement that contains Ashwagandha. This medicinal herb appears to help lower levels of cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands in response to stress.
Tagar: Helps ease anxious feelings that occur in response to stressful situations. Tagar is useful in treating anxiety and for almost any stress-related condition. In general, it has a calming effect on the mind and helps the body relax. It assists in discharging toxins and acts directly on the nerve channels.
Vitamin B6: It is arguably the most important B vitamin for mental and brain health because it is critical for making neurotransmitters and can help minimize the harmful effects of stress, including: Psychological effects of stress. Vitamin B6 produces calming neurotransmitters, including Serotonin and GABA.
L-theanine: help ease anxiety, stress, and reduce insomnia. Theanine is homologues to glutamate, a natural amino acid. Glutamate helps transmit the nerve impulses in the brain. Theanine sometimes acts like glutamate in our body. L-theanine is used to improve mental function. It is also used for anxiety, mental impairment, and stress.
Chamomile: Today, we are constantly living on the edge due to our hectic lifestyle. As it appears, there is no way to completely eliminate stress from our busy lives. One solution to have a stress-free life is to use chamomile. It contains apigenin, a compound that has some of the same effects as benzodiazepines, an anti-anxiety medication. Long-term use of chamomile extract has shown to significantly reduce moderate to severe symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
How to use?
No matter where you go…… Health anywhere, anytime!
Benefits of Chewable tablets:
∙ As a dosage form, chewable tablets have the advantages of conventional tablets in terms of manufacturability, dosing accuracy, portability, and long-term stability. Additionally, chewable tablets facilitate swallowing as the product is initially broken down into particles in the oral cavity.
∙ Chewable tablets are more convenient for patients who have difficulty swallowing, especially children or the elderly. Instead of swallowing intact, it needs to be chewed and then swallowed.
∙ It does not require water to swallow; it can be taken at any time and place. No special excipients are required in the formulation of chewable tablets; they are similar to conventional tablets.
∙ It is possible to use as an alternative to liquid dosage forms where the rapid onset of action is required.
∙ It has improved bioavailability (which increases dissolution) by passing dissolution. It masks the unpleasant odour and taste of the drugs, which provide better patient acceptance through pleasant taste.
∙ Chewable tablets chew in the mouth so that the drugs are quickly absorbed and do not pass through the digestive system.
∙ It is an economical product; no expensive equipment and a complex production process are required to manufacture the product as compared to capsules and coated tablets. If there is a high dose in the formulation, chewable tablets are preferred over traditional and coated tablets.