How to Manage Stress at 40 and Beyond
In the last blog, I discussed about how as women start turning 40 and older, the conversations turn toward health and wellness. When I was 14, I noticed one of my aunts moved into her 40’s starting to say exactly what she thought and stopped doing activities that became to taxing to her. I remember thinking, “Wow! She doesn’t care what anybody thinks any more”.
Now that I am approaching that age, I realize what happened was that she started to set her priorities about what was important and stopped doing activities that didn’t make her list. She started to take care of herself and not let stress get the best of her. This is where eating nutritiously, getting the appropriate sleep, exercise, and stress management become the tools to help you live a happy and fulfilling life-leading you capable of having the energy to fulfill your dreams and goals.
Let me give you an example of how mental, emotional or physical stress can prevent you from achieving your goals.
When you are stressed, your body uses your vitamins and minerals more quickly, making them unavailable for your body to perform your normal necessary functions. If you are stressed all the time or quite often, this stress can result in formation of disease.
I have had too many women in their late 30’s and early 40’s come in with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, pre-diabetes and diabetes, or heart disease. They say the same thing, "I was healthy and all of a sudden I was sick". In reality, they were not healthy, they were stressed, or tired, and over time it accumulated and manifested as the symptoms of the disease.
How do you stop this?
Pay attention to when you are stressed and start managing it. There are several different ways you can manage stress. Exercising regularly, eating a whole foods based diet, taking time to be quiet and still each day, meditating or praying, and taking nutritional supplements as needed.
Here is an example of how the right nutrient can help your body replenish and relax. One simple mineral, magnesium, is an essential to hundreds of reactions in your body.
We value and respect the experiences of all of our HERWriters, but everyone is different. Many of our writers are speaking from personal experience, and what's worked for them may not work for you. Their articles are not a substitute for medical advice although we hope you can gain knowledge from their insight.
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GREAT advice. I second the power of magnesium. I sleep better, have less PMS and like your aunt Dae, am not afraid to say no or give people a piece of mind. I can't believe how deficient I was. Thanks for the great info and I hope other women heed youradvice.
January 28, 2010 - 7:33pmThis Comment
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January 29, 2010 - 2:18amBrilliant. Magnesium is so understated as a supplement. thanks.
January 29, 2010 - 11:04amSome of vitamins to watch out for are vitamins B complex and vitamin C. These vitamins are depleted when stressed and also help you to cope with stress - which means that you can get into an increasing cycle of stress through insufficient nutrition. Another thing, particularly important for people at risk of osteoporosis is that stress makes it difficult to absorb calcium. I write more about the role of stress and vitamins at http://www.stress-management-for-peak-performance.com/vitamins-for-stres...
January 31, 2010 - 11:42pmAll the best
Kell