endocrine system

Menopause, Weight Gain and Solution

April 27, 2011 by drburt 6 Comments

When women reach a menopause age their bodies have a tendency to gain weight. Gaining 10-15 pounds during pre-menopause and menopause stage is very common. Some studies have pointed out that weight gain during this period of time can also be the cause of increased risk of breast cancer.

Several factors are playing a major role in weight gain during menopause. One of the factors is hormonal changes, such as increased level of estrogen in the body. Increased level of this hormone has been scientifically proven to have menopausal women gain weight and decrease the amount of testosterone in the body.

The second factor is the insulin resistance. During menopausal period calories should be seriously taken into consideration. Every extra calorie that is not metabolized will be converted into fat. Stay away from processed and refined foods. These foods will cause weight gain in women after the age of forty years of age.

A third factor is stress. During stressful time the hormones lead the body into thinking that it won’t be getting food again for a long time so that it shifts to storing every calorie it takes in, thus causing weight gain.

It is possible for women to keep their weight during menopause under control. Balanced diet is the key. As mentioned above stay away from refined sugars and processed foods and instead consume lots of fruits and vegetables.

Women undergoing menopause and weight gain should also try to avoid crash diets. It will only makes things even worse as starving the body will only cause one’s metabolism to slow down and cause even more weight to be gained in the process. In the same way women during this stage in their lives should avoid losing large amounts of weight.

Do not try to loose too much weight in a short period of time during menopause. It can lead to increased risk of osteoporosis later on in life. It is a must that women during this transition stay physically active. Exercise is the best way to burn extra calories.

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Coping With Stress and Anxiety at Work

February 11, 2011 by drburt 2 Comments

Working becomes harder when stress and anxiety becomes a redundant occurrence to the point that it affects how individuals do their jobs. Pressures are often the cause of stress and anxiety, from meeting deadlines, dealing with a demanding boss and having complex relationship with co-workers are just some of the things that make life at work difficult.

It is important to have a balanced life outside of your place employment to provide you with enough space to handle the pressures, stress and anxiety that the workplace brings. This can be achieved through a proper time management and a positive outlook in life.

Below are seven ways to cope with work stress and anxiety that can help you balance and enjoy life to the fullest.

Find a job you love: having a job you love frees up a lot of pressures and stress for everybody. This kind of job often puts you in a healthy environment and doing the things you are passionate about. Look for a career that best suits your passions and talent. For example, if you love photography, indulge in a career that allows you to show your creativity through the camera of your lens.
Spend more time with people you easily get along with: hanging out with people you love to spend time frees up the negativity that builds around a pressure packed and stress filled job. Try to spend more time with your friends by regularly scheduling a weekly get together to hang out and have fun.
Listen to Soothing Music: listening to music soothes the mind and relaxes our senses. Play your favorite music during lunch break and incorporate it into your job for a few minutes in between. This will help you relax and flow along the rapid pace of your workplace.
Do Exercises at Work: Try to practice exercises at your place of employment. Create a schedule for a 5 minute exercise every break time to just calm the muscles and put more energy to your body. A tired body often results to stress and anxiety and what better way to solve this than to have a regular exercise regimen.
Relax at your Job: Every now and then try to relax at your job by closing your eyes for a couple of minutes to release the tension of staring at your computer screen for hours. By relaxing for a couple of minutes you end up clearing your mind of cluttered thoughts that results into stress and anxiety.
Regular Workout at the Gym: balance your life outside of work by enrolling yourself in a gym. This affords you to gain a healthy lifestyle and with a regular workout program your body tends to reacts well with strenuous activity at your job as well as stress and anxiety. A healthy body helps you become more productive.
Get 8 hours of Sleep: Lastly, make sure you get enough sleep each day you report to work. An average sleep length of 8 hours is enough to reinvigorate the body and prepare it for the next day’s workload. This gives you the adequate energy to combat stress and anxiety that usually develops in the work place. My teacher used to say: “Sleep is your weapon.”

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How Students Can Reduce Stress

February 7, 2011 by drburt 1 Comment

Life as a student is full of stress especially when you reach the next level and have to leave home to go to a university. It can get overwhelming to be in a new school and not know anybody. Not only that, the pressure of getting good grades, the pressure of fitting in and even the freedom to do things on your own can really put a lot of pressure on a student and many can’t handle it very well. You must consider this stage in your life as practice for what lies ahead in your future. After college you will be living in the real world and you have to adapt and handle the day to day pressure of earning money for you and your family and the pressures of finding a job and how to keep your job. In order to overcome it, you should get yourself organized and prepared for what’s going to happen next whether it is an expected or an unexpected situation. What you will learn in the university outside the academics will also apply to your life after school. You need to learn how to handle the pressure and stress (affiliate link) both for your personal life and with all the requirements in school.

Here are some great tips to help students like you to manage and reduce stress. First most important tip for students is to manage time. Time management (affiliate link) is important because you should balance everything from classes, studies, parties, practice and everything else. In order to have time for all these things you should make your own timetable and write down all your activity there and stick with it. This way you can do everything that is important to you and still have time for leisure.

Now what if you have a lot of things to do in just a short amount of time? This needs the help of tip #2 which is to prioritize. You’re just human you can’t do everything so you need to learn to prioritize. Do the most important things first. If you have to choose between studying for an exam and partying with friends then you should ask yourself what is the most important to you. Of course studying is the most important and that should always be your top priority. If this is not your top priority then you shouldn’t have enrolled in the first place. Also, if you have to cram to study because you did not put this as your top priority you will be more stressed as you try to squeeze to learn everything in a short amount of time when you could have studied earlier and be stress-free.

With joggling time between school and leisure, relationships could get stressful too. In fact, relationships will continue to be stressful every once in awhile not just during your time in school but all throughout your years. As a student you must realize that studies should always be your top priority and you must consider that this is just the start of your love life and you will have many more relationships after college. It’s not worth being too stressed out with your relationship and sacrificing your studies.

Finances could be a problem to students too and can cause a lot of stress. You should create your budget of expenses and lower your cost as much as possible. If your budget is not enough, look for part time jobs or financial aids to help you out. Also, students get scared about their future that they lose their focus in their studies and worry about what lies ahead. It’s best to not think about those and just focus on your studies. Remember, the better you do in school the better your chances of landing a good job in the future. Problems in the economy are just temporary and won’t affect you forever. If you do well in school, your knowledge will stay with you forever.

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Stress And Your Health

January 31, 2011 by drburt 3 Comments

We go through stress because it’s a natural part of our day-to-day life. Most of us get stressed out over our jobs, our families and also with regards to money and economy. The housing market can get really stressful too. When we do get stressed, we naturally react physically. We notice our heart rate gets to pump faster than usual, our blood pressure goes up, our body temperature, breathing, and muscle contractions change too. Our way of dealing with stressful situation differ from one person to another and those who can’t deal with this level of tension will eventually end up feeling exhausted both mentally and physically.

We think that stressful lifestyle is just a normal day to day function for our body, but it is in fact affecting not only our physical body but also affects our mental and emotional well being. The term stress was first used back in the 30’s as a term used for the condition when stimulus is caused by a stressor. It was an endocrinologist named Hans Selye who noticed the different physical response on animals and humans when demands were placed on them. We notice the signs of tension and we can feel it too. It can present itself through our behavior, emotions or through physical and cognitive symptoms. That means when we get stressed our attitude and demeanor changes. Also, because it affects our emotions and behavior we get to feel anxious or worried or become moody and irritable, easily agitated, can’t relax, feeling lonely, has a poor sense of judgment and eventually have a negative outlook to the situation and in life. Also, we feel isolated or depressed and can’t concentrate well even if we try hard to focus. Not only do we experience all these but we also suffer from the physical symptoms such as faster breathing, faster heart rate, high blood pressure, cholesterol, energy and we also sweat a lot.

When you feel stressed, you may notice that you also eventually feel some pains and aches from different parts of the body. Diarrhea or constipation may also be present. Chest pain, an upset stomach, vomiting and dizziness as well as headache may also be experienced by a person who is high under pressure. If we feel stressed and can’t cope up with it and it continues to lurk its head on our everyday lives then it is called as chronic stress. This could lead to a long-term damage both to the physical and psychological aspects of a person. The immune system gets affected and we become more prone to catching diseases and infections. Stressful environment also promotes the buildup of the visceral fat that eventually leads to obesity. Other diseases such as heart problems, ulcers, cancer, psoriasis, diabetes and also depression could be the cause of increased physical and mental load in your life.. As for little kids, their growth is stunted as a result of chronic day-to-day stress.

According to Hans Selye there are two types of stress: the good stress and bad stress. Eustress is good and distress is bad. Eustress is experienced when we get married, exercising or getting promoted. Whether it is good or bad, according to Selye, it is still stress. The difference between a person’s perceptions of stress whether it is good or bad depends on his/her personal experiences, expectations and way to cope with it.

We adapt differently to stress as some people are having harder time dealing and coping with the same stressor as another person. GAS or the General Adaptation Syndrome describes how our body reacts to stress. Depending on the length of time and intensity you can determine whether the person is suffering from acute or chronic stress. At the first sign of stress, our body reacts in a fight or flight response. Second stage is the coping stage. At this stage the body tries to cope up with the stressor and eventually depletes our resources such as proteins, nutrients, vitamins and amino acids. Once it gets all depleted then we proceed to the third stage which is exhaustion. This is when we feel fatigued, weak and can’t concentrate. If we stay in this stage for long-periods then it eventually affects our overall health and we get sick with all sorts of diseases. Stress management helps people by learning the techniques to handle the day to day stressors. This way you prevent chronic stress and you’ll feel happier and healthier.

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