Stress: Its roots and effects on your health

Modern life is full of pressures, fears and frustration. In other words, it's stressful. Racing against deadlines, sitting in traffic, arguing with your spouse - all these make your body react as if you were facing a physical threat. This reaction gave early humans the energy to fight aggressors or run from predators. It helped the species survive.



Today, instead of protecting you, it may, if constantly activated, make you more vulnerable to life-threatening health problems. Fortunately, though, you can develop skills to avoid some stressors and limit the effects of others. The payoff includes less fatigue, more peace of mind and - perhaps- a longer, healthier life.



What is the stress response?

Often referred to as the " fight- or- flight" reaction, the stress response occurs automatically when you feel threatened. Your pituitary gland, located at the base of your brain, responds to a perceived threat by stepping up its release of adrennocoriecotropic hormone (ACTH), which signals other glands to produce additional hormones. When the pituitary sends out a burst of ACTH, it's like an alarm system going off deep in your brain. This alarm tells your adrenal glands, situated atop your kidneys, to release a flood of stress hormones into your bloodstream. These hormones - including cortisol and adrenaline- focus your concentration, speed your reaction time, and increase your strength and agility.



How stress affects your body?

After you've fought, fled or otherwise escaped your stressful situation, the levels of cortisol and adrenaline in your bloodstream decline. As a result, your heart rate and blood pressure return to normal and your digestion and metabolism resume a regular pace. But if stressful situations pile up one after another, your body has no chance to recover. This long-term activation of the stress-response system can disrupt almost all your body's processes, increasing your risk of obesity,insomnia, digestive complaints, heart disease and depression.



Digestive system

It's common to have a stomachache or diarrhea when you're stressed. This happens because stress hormones slow the release of stomach acid and the emptying of the stomach.The same hormones also stimulate the colon, which speeds the passage of its contents. Chronic stress can also lead to continuously high level of cortisol. This hormone can increase appetite and cause weight gain.



Immune system

Chronic stress tends to dampen your immune system, making you more susceptible to colds and other infections. Typically,your immune system responds to infection by releasing several substances that cause inflammation. In response, the adrenal glands produce cortisol, which switches off the immune and inflammatory responses once the inflection cleared. However, prolonged stress keeps your cortisol levels continuously elevated, so your immune system remains suppressed. In some cases, stress can have the opposite effect,making your immune system overactive. The result is an increased risk of autoimmune diseases, in which your immune system attacks your body's own cells. Stress can also worsen the symptoms of autoimmune diseases. For example, stress is one of the triggers for the sporadic flare-ups of symptoms in lupus.



Nervous system

If your light-or-flight response never shuts off,stress hormones produce persistent feelings of anxiety, helplessness and impending doom. Oversensitivity to stress has been linked with severe depression, possibly because depressed people have a harder time adapting to the negative effects of cortisol. The byproducts of cortisol act as sedatives, which contribute to the overall feeling of depression. Excessive amounts of cortisol can cause sleep disturbances, loss of sex drive and loss of appetite.

Cardiovascular system

High levels of cortisol can also raise your heart rate and increase your blood pressure and blood lipid ( cholesterol and triglyceride) levels. These are risk factors of both heart attacks and strokes. Cortisol levels also appear to play a role in the accumulation of abdominal fat, which give some people an "apple" shape. People with apple body shapes have a higher risk of heart disease and diabetes than do people with "pear" body shapes, where weight is more concentrated in the hips.

Other systems.

Stress worsens many skin conditions - such as psoriasis, eczema, hives and acne - and can be a trigger for asthma attacks.

Individual reactions to stress.

Your reaction to a specific stressor is different from anyone else's. Some people are naturally laid-back about almost everything,while others react strongly at the slightest hint of stress- and most fall somewhere between those extremes. Genetic variations may partly explain the differences. The genes that control the stress response keep most people on a fairly even keel, only occasionally priming the body for fight or flight. Overactive or underactive stress responses may stem from slight differences in these genes.

Life experiences may increase your sensitivity to stress as well. Strong stress reactions sometimes can be traced to early environmental factors. People who were exposed to extreme stress as children tend to be particularly vulnerable to stress as adults.

Reducing the effects of stress.

Stress develops when the demands in your life exceed your ability to cope with them. It follows, then, that you can manage stress by:

. Changing your environment so that the demands aren't so high.

. Learning how to better cope with the demands in your environment.

. Doing both.

* Here are some helpful techniques:

• Look after your body. To handle stress, your body requires a healthy diet and adequate rest. Exercise also helps, by distracting you from stressful events and releasing your nervous energy.
• Learn to relax. It's the polar opposite of the stress response. Deep- breathing exercises may put you in a relaxed state.
• Shift your outlook. In many cases, simply choosing to look at situations in a more positive way can reduce the amount of stress in your life. Step back from the conflict or worry that's put you in knots and ask what part of it is troubling you most. Are you afraid of losing face? If so, would it really be that bad? Are you angry or frustrated to the point of losing self-control? If so, is your reaction out of proportion? Take a breath, talk to someone close and get a different perspective on your troubles.
• Get help. On your own, you may have limited success trying to change the habitual patterns of thought and behavior that trigger your stress response. Psychiatrists, psychologists and licensed clinical social workers are trained to help you break free of these patterns.
• Meeting the challenge. Stress management requires continuous practice as you go through life and deal with change- which often comes unexpectedly. Even if you take everyday frustrations in stride, your stress response can still surge up when you find yourself dealing with something big, such as illness, job loss or bereavement.

Your body's fight-or-flight reaction has strong biological roots. It's there for self- preservation, even if it's not much help in a demanding job or a stormy relationship. If stress is getting the better of you and you fear its long-term effects, don't be afraid to seek help. You may not find a quick and permanent fix, but in time, you'll recognize the signs that pressure is building and learn the best ways to lighten the load.

6 key steps to achieve your goals

Hello! How are you?Today I have a story called " 6 key steps to achieve your goals". I hope all of you will like it. Thanks a lot.





6 key steps to achieve your goals



It's coming to the end of 2006 and the new year is coming. During the new year, many people will set their goals such as faster job promotion, a salary increase, spend more time with your family etc. While it's good to set your goals for the new year, most people never actually achieve their goals. Why?



The simple explanation for that is two fold. One, most people do not set clear goals and have a very vague idea of what their goals are. The second reason is most people do not take steps to achieve the goals they have set.



In a way, the second reason is dependent on your goals. If you only have a vague idea of what your goal is, then it becomes almost impossible to take steps to achieve your goals.



The following 6 key steps will help you achieve better results with your goals:



1. Set a specific goal.

Setting a goal that is specific allows you to have a clerer picture of what you want to achieve. For example, instead of setting a goal of I want to be rich in 2007, set a goal that you want to earn $100,000 in 2007. I find number and figures when setting your goals makes it more achievable and more easily attainable.



2.Set a timeframe for your goal.

Every goal you set must have a timeline. The reason for that is so that it can be easy to assess whether you have achieved your goal and if not, the reason why and how far off to your goals are.



Setting a timeframe also motivates you to meet the deadline and to take necessary action to meet that dateline. If you do not set a timeframe to your goals, you probably end up chasing that dream for the rest of your life.



3. Set a realistic goal.



Your goal should be realistic and achievable in a timeframe that you set. Setting a realistic goal makes it more achievable and real rather than a fantasy. It's not a bad thing to have high goals but you may need to tweak your goals as you go along if you find that it is not realistic.



4. Chart your progress.



It is important you establish short term goals or what I called landmark goals that determine your exact position on the goal you are setting. For example, if you aiming to earn $100,000 a year. Set a short term goal of $30,000 in March, $600,000 in June and then see if you met your short term goals.



Doing this allows you to determine whether you are exceeding or lagging behind in your goals. Then you can take extra steps to catch up.



5. Be prepared for obstacles.



Many a time, you will be faced with obstacles along the way to your goal. It's perfectly natural and do not get discouraged or frustrated. One of the greatest achievements you can accomplished is to overcome these obstacles.



Even if you did not achieve your goals, take it as a challenge for your next goal. The point is never give up.



6. Give a reason for your goals.



Sometimes, setting a goal by itself is not sufficient to motivate you. Deep down inside each of us, we have a personal reason for setting that goal. For example, setting a goal of earning $100,000 a year. The reason could be so that the family can live in comfort and the children can have the toys they always wanted but couldn't have.



If you can follow these simple 6 key steps, they can give you the drive to suceed in your goals and in life as well. Goal setting may be cliche but if you follow and take steps to achieve it, you will achieve the goals in life you wanted.

The Vietnamese Zodiac

Hi everyone! Now I have another interesting story to tell you. The story called" The Vietnamese Zodiac".

Each sign of the Vietnamese zodiac has a particular animal name. From the very beginning, the animal sequence of the zodiac has appeared every 12 years. It always begins with the Rat and finishes with the Pig. So why was each year given an animal name and a set of characteristics?

One legend is that Buddha called all of the animal together and only 12 arrived. He then rewarded each of them by naming a year after them.As the Rat came first, he got the first year, and so on down to the Pig, which arrived last.

There is another, more likely answer, however. It may be that the people who created the zodiac decided to use animal that were characteristic of what had happened during that year. The Ox year, for example, is the second year of the 12 - year cycle. The Ox year is traditionally a slow moving, hard- working year. To show that in the zodiac, the slow animal of labour, the Ox, was chosen.

For the fifth year of the cycle,a time of celebration and festival, they chose the noisy Dragon, and the Horse for the lively seventh year. Some of the animals are not so familiar to people nowadays as they were in the past. For example, most people find rats rather disgusting creatures. On a farm, however, a rat is a very helpful animal.

Do you like the story? I think the story may help you understand something about The Vietnamese people and culture.

See you soon!

Hi everybody!

Hi everybody! My name is Thanh. I'm from Viet Nam. I'm 26 years old. I'm glad to make friend with all friends.

Today I have a story I want to tell to everyone. It is Eating Habits in Britain and America.
Although the British and the Americans have many things in common, including, of course, the English language, they also do many things differently. This is especially true of their eating habits.

Unlike many Asians, who use chopsticks, and Indians, who use their fingers, most Westerners use a knife and fork to eat their food with. In fact, the knife and fork are used by a very small percentage of the world's population. So, why do Western countries use a knife and fork? One reason maybe because there is lot of meat in the normal Western diet. Of course, it is possible to eat a piece of beef with the fingers, but there is the risk of getting burnt. Also, eating a big piece of meat with chopsticks is, to say the least, difficult.

In Europe, it is traditional to hold the fork in your left hand and the knife in your right hand throughout the meal. In America, however, people only use a knife and fork together at the beginning of a meal. They first cut up their food into small pieces, using the knife with their right hand. Then they put up the knife down, transfer the fork to the right hand and finish the meal using only the fork.

It is not known why Americans do this with their knives and forks. One suggestion is that it is done for practical reasons. The fork, rather than the knife, is the most-used piece of cutlery. Since most people are right handed, it is sensible to keep the fork in the hand that can use it most efficiently - the right hand.