Stress. We live with it and many of us can’t live without it. It has that canny ability to follow us wherever we go. Work, home or school, stress builds a kind of tower, adding one more bit on the top until it gets so high it falls over. Then when that happens, we start suffering the effects of poor physical and mental health. That’s often the time when we decide it’s time to de-stress.

Enter the word stress into Google and you’re bombarded with websites telling you sure fire ways to reduce stress in your life. They compete with sites saying that stress can be good for you. So, you figure, hey, it’s going to be easier to stay stressed than fix the root of the problem. After all, the internet says stress is good for me … But is that the right call?

Suffering from These Symptoms? You Need to De-Stress

When we’re stressed, our bodies create a stress hormone which triggers our fight or flight response. That’s fine occasionally, but when your body faces this most of the time, it really becomes a problem. The physical symptoms of stress then begin to show in our bodies as:

• Headaches
• Depression
• Insomnia
• High blood pressure
• Heartburn
• Lowered immunity
• Fertility problems
• Tense muscles
• Rapid breathing
• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Increased chance of strokes & heart attacks

As our bodies were not designed to continually be in a state of stress, it’s natural that they stop functioning as well as they should. That’s when all the cold and flu germs which we would normally fight off, start making themselves comfortable. We start getting sick more often, take longer to recover and develop more serious health conditions. Our bodies are telling us it’s time to de-stress!

Creating Your Perfect Work-Life Balance

Is it possible to achieve the perfect work-life balance? According to research from Statistics NZ, around 75% of New Zealanders are satisfied or very satisfied with their work-life balance. But the problem is, research also shows that it is this very thing which is making us sick.

It seems that we worry about whether we are spending enough time at home and at work. This creates stress which has a negative effect on our bodies. Some of us even stress about whether we have a good work-life balance or not!

How exactly do you create that perfect lifestyle with both your work and personal life? There are a few things you can try. Schedule time just for you or/and your family, outsource where you can, avoid negative people who just bring you down and start saying no. When it comes to helping your body fight stress, try eating healthily, increasing your Vitamin D, getting regular exercise and try breathing or mindfulness exercises.

The choice is yours. You can stay stressed and suffer the emotional and physical consequences. Or you can reduce your stress to be happier and healthier. Which one are you going to pick? On a side note, I’d be interested to know what is the cause of most of your stress. Leave me a comment below and let’s see if we can’t find some common stress triggers among all of us.