Daniel Plan Week Three

Dealing with Stress

This week I am going to be talking on the subject of Stress and anxiety

I will be giving you some pointers later on, to help you improve your brain power, battle stress and deal with Anxiety

leaving you feeling more positive about life and its outcomes.

Stay Tuned and follow along.

Lockdown was a different kind of stress for us all

It was the first time in our nations history we all had to go into our houses and not leave

Around this time people were being affected in different ways

Some were catching the Virus, some were sadly dying from the Virus

In locking down what the Goverment and leaders of our country did not realise was how it was going to affect our economy

People lost Jobs some were fuloughed and today people are still losing Jobs

Foodbanks saw the biggest influx they have seen in many years. Some were stating it was worst than the financial pandemic of 2008

All this was rushing in stress in our lives

To be honest some of that stress has not left us

I know a lot of people are stressing out because we are being told to wear facemasks

People dont really want to wear facemasks it feels very intrusive

Parents are worrying about their children wearing them

Rumors are going around stating it affects breathing

All this is bringing in even more stress

Now things are opening back up the stress doesnt seem to be getting any less infact it seems to be adding more stress

People are still losing their Jobs because the furlow scheme has started to retract

People are stressing about making journeys out the house and the extra effort that entails

And we are all still worrying about catching this virus.

What about Brain Health

So how does all this stress affect our brains

Your Brain is the most amazing organ in your body.

Even though its only 2% of your bodys weight, it uses 20 - 30 percent of the calories you consume.

It also uses 20 % of the Oxygen and blood flow of your body.

There is a Dr Called Dr Amen who researched the brains health

His research concluded that to attain a healthy brain you have to make smart decisions in life. In turn reducing the overall impact of stress

A good example of Smart Decisions could be, instead of buying items in a shop that are not really needed but wanted the money could be used and put into savings account, so that if a Job loss occures the stress is less because you have money put aside?

You see how smart decisions can help to reduce overall impact of stress giving you a healther brain?

Yet this stuff is not really taught to us in School

We learn about the Brain and what each part does but we are never told that our lives decisions determine a healthy brain to un healthy brain.

Were told it about Lungs and that Smoking is bad us.

Yet were not told that good or bad decisions become good or bad for the Brain...

So why is the brain left out?

Dr. Amens resarch says its all to do with the fact that we can not see our brains easily

Unless we are placed in an expensive machine and then the brain can be scanned.

People see wrinkles on their faces and go and buy anti aging cream.

Your belly gets bigger and you straight away wish to start a diet

So if people could tell that their brain was suffering then they could make choices to help it.

How Do we go from a Sad brain to a Happy Brain?

Happy Brain

So how do we know when our brain is Sad?

Dr Amens came up with Seven things to look out for.

1. Poor Memory

2. Poor Judgement /impulsivness

3. Short Attention Span

4. Depression ( We are going to cover this in more detail next week with our special gues Sarah Content, who is a Trainee Psycologiset and works in the Mental Health Field, so do come back then to find out more on how the Daniel Plan plus sarahs talk can help you battle depression. This week is about and Stress and Anxiety Lets continue.)

5. Obeisety or being overweight

6. Low Energy

7. insomnia / sleep apnea

The Daniel Plan allows you to eat the right food to help you battle these seven signs of a Sad brain

It has antidrepssion properties and stress relief properties in the diet to help your brain through the day.

One thing the Daniel Plan is rich of is Omega 3 fatty acids and B6, B12 these three things put together, help with mood improvment and enhance the memory aspect of the brain.

Or you can take some suppliments whilst doing the daniel plan if you feel you would like to boost your body in thisplan to help kick start your brain.

Stress and Anxiety

Chronic Stress like the Stress we experienced in Lockdown harms the brain

It constricts the blood flow which lowers overall brain function and prematurely ages your brain.

When stress hurts your brain it can also ravage your body.

Youre body will respond in the way you think feel and act.

Because of this brain body connection, whenever you feel stressed your body tries to tell you something is not right.

For example high blood pressure or a stomach ulcer might develop after a stressful event maybe a death of a loved or losing you Job

Chronic stress weakens of your bodies immune system you are more likely to get Colds, flu bugs and other infections

You may of just lost your Job bringing stress into your life.

Maybe you just argued with your teenage son or daughter?

Maybe you were late for an appointment this week?

The way we react to Stress could be by reaching for the tub of ice cream, or the choclate bar in the fridge or going to KFC or McDonalds and buying some fries and a coke to help.

Scientists say: Stress is linked to increased appitite and cravings of Carbs and sweet stuff that make you fat.

We think that dealing with Stress in this way is a good reaction when stress comes but its not,

We think that this method of eating this food is fine for us because it lets our hormones in our bodies that give us a comforting feeling like when we feel our parents wrap their arms around us.

Therefore we think this is a good go to plan when stress hits.

Yet this plan actually puts more strain on our bodies and makes our brains work harder when reaching for the bad food.

Making the whole ordel a lot worst for us.

So how should we react when Stress comes upon us?

Listen To Soothing Music

Music has healing power that can bring peace and calm mind

depending on the genre you listen to obviously some heavy metal head banging music is not good to listent to whilst you have a lot of stressful decisions to make.

It has been known that classical music can help improve concentration

I prefer to listen to calming worship music in the morning as it allows my brain to think about a higher being than myself, and helps me process my thoughts.

Also it allows me to realise not all my lifes problems are my fault that their are other forces at play in this world.

Learn To Delegate

It seems that being busy is a badge of honour for us all

Ask anyone what they have planned for the day and you may hear things like.

“Im finishing a project at work, hosting a dinner party, making the kids costumes for the shool play and going to my book group tonight.”

Wow just hearing that makes you have a slight anxity attack

Try not to accept all invitations in your life?

Being busy is not proven to be a great antidote for your brain

Think twice before Signing the Kids up to another club after school? Will they enjoy it do they truly want to do it? What effects will this have on your own schedule? What are the costs involved?

Try thinking ahead about the effects an opportunity can bring to your life what sacrafices will need to make not just for you but your family around you?

In the end when you have too much on your plate learn to delegate?

Can someone else do the cleaning? Can you afford a cleaner?

Can the husband run the kids to a new club?

Can the kids take their selves?

Can someone else look after the grand kids on that day of the week?

We dont have to do everything.

Pray On a Regular Basis

Did you know that Prayer calms stress and enhances brain function?

Scientists after doing ten years of research into Prayer have concluded that

Prayer Reduces Stress and Enhances Brain Function

They noticed that people that prayed, had destinctive changes in brain activity when the mind went into a prayerful state

They also found that these people could deal with more stress than others becasue of prayer.

The reaserch showed that people who prayed were able to go beyond the stress have some relief, and focus their attention and planning to get over the problem and in all there was a reduction in depression and anxiety.

Also people that prayed slept better giving the brain enough time to process all the thoughts from the day.

It also helped with aging and people that pray a lot look younger than people that dont pray at all.

Consider Calming Scents

The scent lavendar has been used since ancient times for its calming stress relief properties

This popular aroma has actually been tested in a lot of scientific studies

Each time it has shown to improve mood and relax the person enough for them to just fall asleep.

Taking a Calm Suppliment

Do you know B Vitamins help the brain and mood thinking?

L - Theanine is an amino acid mainly found in the natural green tea plant and it penetrates the brain and produces significant increases in anti depression.

Also Tumeric is known to reduce depression.

Do not take Vitamins if you are pregnant though please do seek a doctor on this one, if you have any underline health conditions. Im not a doctor of medicine.

Laugh More

There is growing evidence to show that laughing more counteracts stress

You should go and find some funny books to read

Or watch a comedy show.

Or you can join a commiunity group that will help support you and laugh with you along the journey.

Wrapping it up

So to battle Stress you need to do the following things

Start The Daniel Plan to improve your diet link going accross the screen

Join a community so you can be supported and laugh more

Try praying to help reduce stress and make better decisions for your life

Its all about achieving a happy brain

If you do this you will feel better about life, not have depression, not feel anxious and when stress does come you will be able to tackle it head on.

See you next week. Enjoy