Nowadays, stress is a real menace to both health and success. If some stress is a normal part of life, too much of it can lead to a disaster. This is why I offer you these 5 easy steps to get rid of it!
- Cut the caffeine and the energy drinks
We all know that sweet boost we get with the first cup of coffee in the morning and most of us couldn’t even start the day without it. Energy drinks also help us along the way. But what if I told you I’ve made the decision to stay away from coffee and energy drinks? You see, caffeine DOES help wake you up but it also irritates your nervous system, which leads to higher susceptibility to stress. If you really like your coffee, try and get only that one-cup in the morning but replace energy drinks with healthy smoothies. 2
2 . Watch out for heavy foods
The heavier the lunch, the harder your body must work to break it down. Try and get clean meals with a lot of grilled vegetables and lean meat such as chicken or a nice piece of fish! You’ll enjoy the great food AND keep your stress down.
3. Be positive
Sometimes, life seems to be all about bad stuff. Believe me, with my past in the military, I’ve known very, very bad days. But you know what I’ve figured out? Turning dark thoughts in my mind over and over did nothing to help me and in no ways prevented bad things from happening. I’ve developed a positive outlook on life that could be summed up by this sentence: Bring it on; I’ll deal with it. And I say this with a big grin on my face! When you decide you WILL rise to the challenges and really choose to ENJOY life, things that would have seemed terrible become only new ways for you to push your limits even further!
4. Visualize
As a Judo practitioner, I managed to win many encounters. Those victories didn’t happen by magic and I worked hard and earned every single one of them. One tool that helped me a lot was visualization. I would set time after each training sessions and see myself in the competition, fighting and winning. Over and over I would create those movies in my mind, varying the opponents and moves but always would see it turn towards one end: victory. As such, when it was time to actually compete, I was pretty relaxed. Having played out all the outcomes in my mind removed a huge stress factor: the unknown.
When you anticipate a difficult challenge or fear something, use visualization to prepare yourself and make sure you build your inner-movie with a positive ending! This will help reduce your stress level immensely!
5. Meditate
Many martial artists and quite a lot of spiritual people will tell you about the virtues of meditation.
Daily meditation, be it only five minutes, will help you ground your mind and body and lower all those tensions you accumulate over your day. It’s not the length of the meditation that will help but the fact you do it for a minimum amount of time, each and every day. Try it out for one month and I guarantee you will feel the benefits and refuse to stop!
This concludes the five tips on getting rid of stress. Hope it helps you keep your cool and remember: being calm means better decisions, smoother business relationships and ultimately, more success!
Tomi Kokko is the endorsed fitness and lifestyle coach of NIIM (Natural Institute of Integrative Medicine and is himself a successful business owner. With such feats as being an army sergeant, three times Finnish champion in Judo, winner of 27 gold medals in other national and international competition, the man breathes and live fitness and performance. Tomi now focuses on coaching business executives to improve their fitness and lifestyle so that they can achieve more in business and personal lives.
Visit his website http://executivefitnesscoaching.com.au/
Medical Doctor, author, speaker, media presenter and health industry consultant, Dr Joe Kosterich wants you to be healthy and get the most out of life.
Joe writes for numerous medical and mainstream publications, is clinical editor at Medical Forum Magazine, and is also a regular on radio and television.
Joe is Medical Advisor to Medicinal Cannabis Company Little Green Pharma, Chairman of Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association and sits on the board of Arthritis and Osteoporosis WA. He is often called to give opinions in medico legal cases.
He has self-published two books: Dr Joe’s DIY Health and 60 Minutes To Better Health.
In 2024 due to public demand he commenced a podcast, Dr Joe Unplugged, which can be accessed via Spotify, Apple or YouTube.
Through all this he continues to see patients as a GP each week.
