If you’ve been told that you’re a workaholic, you may want to take note. You don’t have to have an 8 to 5 job to be a workaholic. When the balance tips toward constant work of any kind instead of work/play balance, you probably know it, but you may not be listening for the signs and symptoms along the way. By ignoring the signs, stress can cause a great deterioration in health.
Your body can tell you that you’re under too much stress through insomnia, overeating, fatigue, and fuzzy thinking with trouble remembering and concentrating. I add in binge eating, because so many head straight for comfort food when stress mounts.
As stress continues to overwhelm the body, the immune system will be affected and system collapse will be inevitable.
Here are some suggestions for winning the day over stress and fatigue once your body starts waving a red flag:
- Take an inventory of your life to determine if there is anything that is making you deeply unhappy, including work, relationships, weight, etc. If any area in your life is crying out for attention, then do it. Seek help from a professional or friend or go on a retreat and rearrange your priorities.
- Are you eating too many sweets? Sugar is addictive and well known to cause health problems. Lower your sugar intake or eliminate it completely from your diet. Poor nutrition will affect your mood, especially excess sugar.
- Exercise every day, even for 15 to 20 minutes a day. The exercise does not have to be aerobic or heavy. Gardening, walking or dancing around the house to your favorite music will do you a lot of good to improve circulation and fatigue.
- Regular massage relieves any toxins and tension that may have built up in the muscles due to stress. Take your own bottle of emu oil and ask to have it rubbed into your sore muscles. Your skin will feel silky smooth and you will also get temporary relief from sore muscles. Make sure the emu oil you buy has the seal of the American Emu Association, or it may be contaminated.
- It’s always a good idea to retire to beautiful, peaceful surroundings, whether it’s for a day or a weekend to re-energize. When you come back you will see things with a clearer mind.
- Be productive and be content to focus only on today. The burden of yesterday’s problems plus tomorrow’s worries may be too heavy to bear. The heavy load weighs you down and fatigue sets in. Overload makes you want to sleep, but worrying thoughts create insomnia.
- Take the day off and visit a homeless shelter to volunteer and help others. Your spirit will soar with gratitude and thanks.
- Take a day just to daydream. Your mind can manifest anything you focus on and believe. If you constantly focus on worries and problems, you magnify and attract those things into your life. Instead, magnify the good things that you would like to see in your life. You should exercise this for at least a few minutes a day.
- Be thankful for what you have. Make a list of the good things in your life and think about them every day.
- Stay away from multitasking. Studies have shown that we get more done when we focus on one thing at a time.