By now you probably know that stress can be extremely harmful to your health, but did you also know that it can actually cause your body to store more fat?
Yikes!
Most of us live very busy, stressful lives these days and it’s affecting our waistlines.
When you are stressed, your body releases a hormone called cortisol.
Cortisol is a necessary hormone because it helps regulate blood pressure, balance blood sugar metabolism, and more. However, too much cortisol can adversely affect your thyroid function, elevate blood pressure – and yes, contribute to the formation of abdominal fat!
It’s impossible to avoid all stress, and it’s not even necessary to do that.
What you can do, however, is learn how to manage your stress in healthy ways so it doesn’t have such a negative impact on your health and weight.
Meditation is one very simple way to easily manage stress.
Hang on a minute – by “meditation” we’re not referring to twisting your body into a knot and chanting for an hour a day. (Unless that sounds like fun to you.)
Instead, think of meditation as a tool to help quiet your mind and relax your body.
Here are some surprisingly easy and enjoyable forms of meditation you can use:
– Silence is golden.
How often do you just sit in silence? Probably not that often – most of us are surrounded by constant noise from traffic, neighbors, our own family members or roommates, electronic gadgets, television, radio, and more.
Even if most of these noises are “in the background” and we’re not focusing on them, they are still tugging at our awareness, making us feel pressured.
Sitting in a quiet place (as quiet as you can make it, anyway) for 10 or 15 minutes does WONDERS for your stress levels.
Just sit and breathe, and try to not focus on anything specific.
Thoughts will come and go; just let them.
Take slow, deep breaths, in and out, in and out, in and out.
Within just a few minutes you should notice your shoulders relaxing, your heart rate slowing down, and your body feeling a bit looser.
Don’t think you have time to meditate or don’t know where to start?
Try 3-Minute Meditations. It’s for beginners and people short on time. So, if you have just 3 minutes…then you can meditate.
– Soothing music.
If absolute silence is too weird for you, try listening to some quiet, soothing music or nature sounds. Choose something that is slow-paced and restorative like gentle guitar, flute, piano, or even just waves gently washing onto a beach, like this…
– Relaxing activities.
There are plenty of hobbies that can be used for relaxation, like gardening, painting and woodworking.
However, be sure to stay focused on the present moment – don’t allow your thoughts to roam into subjects that will keep you feeling stressed. Let go of worries, concerns, and troubles and just focus on working with your hands.
Remember, the more relaxed you feel on a regular basis, the more efficiently your bodily processes will function; including fat burning!