Natural Stress and Anxiety Relief - by Jennifer Kays

Natural Stress and Anxiety Relief - by Jennifer Kays: "All of us experience stress and anxiety in our lives. We are all familiar with the sources of stress and anxiety. They include financial concerns, work deadlines, providing for our children, countless tasks to do and errands to run, heavy traffic, relationships with co-workers, family relationships, and the list goes on. The irony is that the responses of our physical bodies that are designed to protect us can turn against us when stress and anxiety is without relief or prolonged.

Under stress, our heart rate and blood pressure increase to provide our brains with more blood flow for oxygen and nutrients. Our blood sugar increases to provide us with more energy as we would need in a crisis. Our blood is routed away from our intestines in order to provide energy for the large muscles in our arms and legs for fight or flight. If the source of our stress and anxiety subsides after a brief period of time, our bodies return these functions to their normal process. If the source of our stress and anxiety remains constant then our physical responses become harmful to our health. We begin to experience insomnia, joint and muscle inflammation and pain, fatigue, hypertension, perhaps heart constriction, indigestion, higher cholesterol levels, impotence, either lack of or excess appetite resulting in weight loss or weight gain, weakened immune system"