{"id":201541,"date":"2015-11-09T02:25:42","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T02:25:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/?p=201541"},"modified":"2015-11-09T02:25:42","modified_gmt":"2015-11-09T02:25:42","slug":"how-to-reduce-stress-during-a-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/2015\/11\/09\/how-to-reduce-stress-during-a-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Reduce Stress During a Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/span> Rosalie Moscoe<\/a><\/span><\/h2>\n
\n

There are times in life when an emotional crisis causes enormous stress. During those times you may be worried about the health of a loved one or your own health; you may have lost your job, or perhaps you\u2019re experiencing legal hassles over some major issue. You may be anxious about buying or selling a house, or worrying about your kids who go travelling thousands of miles away from home \u2013 and you haven\u2019t heard from them in weeks. Perhaps you\u2019re reeling from financial losses.<\/p>\n

Is it possible to reduce stress when life seems to be up-side-down? Yes, and it\u2019s important that you do. When overly activated, the stress response (a biological reaction to a stressor) can make you prone to illness.<\/p>\n

Your top five biological reactions to stress<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Release of sugar into the bloodstream to create more energy to fight off the stressor
\n\u2022 Increased cholesterol in the blood to create energy and to take over when blood sugar levels drop off
\n\u2022 Reduction in sex hormones which results in decreased libido
\n\u2022 Release of thyroid hormone (thyroxine) to speed up the body\u2019s metabolism to burn fuel fast, giving strength to fight or flee
\n\u2022 Decreased digestive activity; energy goes to the limbs for survival<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unrelenting stress causes the stress response to stay on way too often and wears the body out! Finding ways to turn off the stress response and turn on the body\u2019s natural relaxation response will calm you and bring the body and mind back to homeostasis \u2013normal functioning. During crises, you\u2019ll need a cool head to prevail in order to make important decisions.<\/p>\n


\n10 Ways to Stay Calm When in Crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Realize that fear is the greatest motivator of stress. When your mind drags you to the depths of despair, think about the best possible outcome, not the worst.
\n2) Taking action during a crisis helps reduce the worry and stress; if there\u2019s nothing you can do \u2013 pray.
\n3) Deep breathe for a few minutes to stop the biological reactions of stress; count to ten.
\n4) Call a friend or family member and talk it over. Just commiserating with someone who cares can relieve the stress of the situation. Hug someone you love.
\n5) Watch a comedy show on TV; laughing is a potent stress-reliever.
\n6) Get out for a brisk walk in nature \u2013 mind and body will come into a better place.
\n7) Cry if you need to; it may release pent-up stress.
\n8) Sit down and cross your arms over your chest. Rock back and forth for a soothing effect.
\n9) Get help from your doctor if you can\u2019t sleep; insomnia can make stress worse.
\n10) For unrelenting stress, contact a psychologist or a spiritual counselor; you don\u2019t have to do this alone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rosalie Moscoe There are times in life when an emotional crisis causes enormous stress. During those times you may be worried about the health of a loved one or your own health; you may have lost your job, or perhaps you\u2019re experiencing legal hassles over some major issue. You…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metroactive.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}