“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
Enjoying a lazy day watching television! Just spare a thought on why our generation is at a high risk of heart diseases, diabetes, hypothyroidism, autoimmunity, and many other diseases?
You might have a perfect diet or you might be doing proper exercise, still falling sick? Stress is often the cause for all the above. Stress has become a vital part of modern life. Some people tend to manage with it while others don’t know how to handle it.
Stress can cause physical, mental and emotional problems in an individual. The funny part is that we know how much damage Stress can cause to our body. However, we don’t take any step to trim down its harmful effects.
Stress can be caused due to physical and chemical factors like trauma, infections, toxins, illness and injuries of any sort. The emotional causes of Stress can be due varied reasons.
Stress interrupts body balance and functions. However, mild Stress is not bad to the body while it can prove to be beneficial. For instance, feeling slightly stressed during an assignment often compels you to do better job or focus better.
Similarly when you exercise, temporary Stress is produced on some body functions. However, this Stress does not harm. It only helps in improvement of health. It is only when Stress is overwhelming or not managed properly, negative effects come to picture.
Stress cannot be eliminated; you can only find ways to manage it. Stress is part of life. We have to learn relaxation techniques and other methods to manage Stress, so we have control over it and its effects on our physical and mental health.
According to Ayurveda, Stress can result from imbalance in three doshas which are;
- Mental Stress – This is caused by an imbalance of Vata dosha. An individual’s mind becomes hyperactive. They lose the ability to make plain decisions or to think positively or to do their day-to-day activities or to even fall asleep at night. It can be treated by eating Vata balancing foods, with sweet, sour and salty tasting dishes’. Taking warm milk and light dietary product can set right the mental stress issues. A daily massage with warm oil can prove to be helpful.
- Emotional Stress – This is caused by an imbalance of Pitta dosha. An individual becomes irritable, becomes depressed and causes emotional instability. A person with emotional stress cannot sleep at night. It can cause you to wake up and not be able to go back to sleep.
It can be treated by drinking lot of sweet juicy fruits, foods with sweet, bitter and astringent taste. Before going to bed, drink warm milk added with rose petals. A daily massage with coconut oil will be very helpful.
- Physical Stress – This is caused due to imbalance of Kapha and Vata doshas. Eating sweet, sour and salty food will help you handle Vata dosha. Taking adequate rest and moderate exercise will help you with Kapha dosha. A full body oil massage daily will prove to be beneficial.
Simple and Effective steps for Stress Management;
- Take your daily diet at proper intervals of time. Food should have nutritional balance.
- Take ample amount of water in a day.
- Keep your body fit by doing some exercise. At least go for a walk outside to breathe fresh air.
- Sound sleep of 8 hours min is required for proper functioning and recharging of brain.
- Massage your scalp daily with Elaadi tailam or coconut oil. You can also massage the sole of your feet with some warm oil.
- There are ayurvedic herbs that help in the management of Stress to a greater level. Ashwagandha and Podina are herbs which are known for Stress relieving.
- There is a treatment in ayurveda known as Pancha Karma. This helps in maintaining strong and healthy metabolic rate and to keep toxins out of our body. Pancha Karma process helps in identifying the main cause of stress and correcting the essential balance of mind, body and emotions.
- You can also do yoga, meditation or pranayama to manage Stress. Yoga promotes you for positive thinking, tidiness, clean environment and maintains harmony at all levels which in turn helps in relieving Stress.
Stress management is one of the most important things we need to do to protect our health. However, we tend to forget it till we start facing serious health issues. Let’s at least from now start thinking of our health and try to manage or keep Stress in control.