Small Changes Can Reduce Stress

Stress shortens your lifespan (see our June 11 blog post). In fact, prolonged stress can affect your body physically in myriad ways. Prolonged stress has been associated not only with heart problems, but also with sleeplessness, depression, rapid weight gain or loss, high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, even skin rashes.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, take a few stress-reducing tips from expert Kathleen Hall, author of Body & Soul:

• Start small. It's even more stressful to try to change everything at once, instead "alter one small thing: a morning habit, a food choice. Over time these will add up."


• Be thankful. "It's hard to feel gratitude and stress at the same time. Devote 5 minutes a day to giving thanks for all the gifts in your life."


• Enjoy the ride. Whether you're commuting or driving the car pool, "use your travel time as an opportunity to practice patience and compassion If you can use calming breaths to stay related and unruffled in traffic, you can handle anything."


• Smell the roses. Focus on the beauty in the world around you. Enjoy the glory of a beautiful sunset, the antics of squirrels and birds in your backyard, a colorful garden along your commuting route, the tree tops swaying gently in the breeze. Eat your lunch around a fountain or in the garden. Focusing on small bits of beauty that touch your life each day gives you a momentary break from your problems and a little mood boost.