Your nervous system that good at distinguishing between emotional versus physical threats. If you’re incredibly stressed over an argument with a friend, a work deadline, or a mountain of bills, your body isn’t able to react just as strongly as if you’re facing a real life-or-death situation. And the more that your emergency stress system is stimulated, the easier it becomes to trigger, making it more difficult to shut off.
If you tend to get stressed out often, like many of us in today’s difficult world, your body may exist in an increased state of stress for most of the time. And that may very well lead to serious health problems.
Chronic stress disturbs nearly every system in your body. It can quell your immune system, upset your digestive as well as reproductive systems, increase your threat of heart attack and stroke, in addition to speeding up the ageing process. It can even rewire your brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems.
So, stress can literally kill you. So, in order to prolong your life you need to do everything that you can in order to lower your stress levels. Here are some ideas.
Stop Overanalysing Situations That Haven’t Happened
The first that you need to take towards living a stress-free life is to stop overanalysing imaginary scenarios. It’s very easy to spend time in the world of worst-case scenarios. Individuals tend to encourage this world for one of two reasons:
- Firstly, because if you understand what the worst-case scenario is, then it won’t surprise you when it takes place.
- Second, if you understand what the worst-case scenario is, then you are able to do everything in your power in order to control the universe so that the worst case never takes place.
If that’s really the world which you want to nurture, then become a professional risk assessor. If not, then you need to ask yourself how you are profiting from continuing to live that way:
- Does thinking this way make you feel better about yourself as well as your life?
- Does it make you want to bound out of bed in the morning, keen to embrace the worst-case scenario?
- Does it bring you joy or happiness?
If your response to these questions is no, then stop living in the future and bring yourself back into the present. Enjoy the here and now, like bonuses for sports betting and other perks.
Get Present In The Moment
Being present in the moment encompasses being in your body and feeling your feelings—two things which lots of people actually don’t know how to do.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What does the feeling of fear feel like in your body?
- What are you afraid of?
If you don’t really know the answer to these questions, you most likely aren’t present in the moment. Being present involves vulnerability, humility as well as openness.
The past and the future aren’t so relevant and fascinating when you’re really able to get in your body and feel your feelings. When you are able to do these two things, you just want to be in the present moment.