Sally was a frazzled, exhausted, overweight insomniac. Turning 50 was not quite what she expected. Menopause had caused her hormones to go on strike resulting in severe night sweats, hot flushes and weight gain. Sally was tired of her crazy life and begged me for advice to find peace and calm in her tumultuous life.
If left unchecked, this type of stress that goes on for a long period is a triple whammy for weight gain–it increases your appetite, it makes you hold onto the fat, and it interferes with your willpower to implement a healthy lifestyle.
Bringing calm into your life is easier than you think. You do not have to meditate for an hour each day or attend an expensive resort. It does take a little effort on your behalf but the results will be amazing if you incorporate a few minor changes.
Let’s focus on what will happen when you approach life’s challenges and keep calm:
1. You will lose weight
Stress is a contributing factor to menopause weight gain, as well as weight gain at any other time in our lives. In the days when our ancestors’ stress was due to fighting or in the midst of famine, their bodies adapted by learning to store fat supplies for the long haul. Nowadays, many people are chronically stressed by life crises and work-life demands, therefore are prone to getting an extra layer of “visceral fat” in the belly area.
When you keep calm, you will begin to lose that excess weight.
2. You will stop craving food
When you are chronically stressed, you crave “comfort foods,” such as a bag of potato chips or a tub of ice cream. These foods tend to be easy to eat, highly processed, and high in fat, sugar, or salt. Stress interferes with your brain’s reward system, causing you to crave easy to grab comfort foods.
When you keep calm you will be more relaxed and therefore not as likely to crave foods.
3. You will decrease inflammation in the body
Chronic stress leads to high levels of inflammation in the body. Researchers found that chronic stress changes gene activity of immune cells before they enter the bloodstream so that they’re ready to fight infection or trauma–even when there is no infection or trauma to fight. This leads to increased inflammation.
If you have any ailment due to inflammation such as arthritis, heart disease and early signs of aging, when you keep calm you will keep these symptoms at bay.
4. You will enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep
When the body finds peace and calm you will find it a breeze to not only fall asleep, but also stay asleep throughout the night.
No more waking up in the middle of the night. No more worries keeping you awake at night.
When you keep calm, you will wake up refreshed and relaxed.
5. You will have happy children
At a recent school event for my 12-year-old son, I was stressing out. It was an event where my son, who had built a solar car, and was competing against other schools.
Be careful of the car! Don’t do this; don’t do that.
My son was getting stressed and I was making a fool of myself. I removed myself from the situation. I entrusted my son with his teachers, who know just how to work with teenage boys. I went off and found a coffee shop and chilled out.
An hour later I returned to a happy child who thanked me for trusting him and leaving him to work on his solar car.
When you keep calm, your family will be more relaxed around you.
6. You will find relief from muscle spasms
When you are stressed, your body needs magnesium to help relax the muscles. If you are constantly stressed, magnesium levels can become very low and can result in muscle spasms.
When you keep calm, you will find the muscle spams will decrease or disappear altogether.
7. You will have regular bowel motions
Following on from point number 6, decreased magnesium can lead to constipation. When you have regular bowel motions this has an add on effect with every point covered in this article.
When you keep calm, you will achieve regular bowel motions and will be a much happier person to be with as a result.
8. You will be a happier person
Once Sally made a few adjustments in her frazzled life, she became a happier person. As corny as it might sound, happy people attract happy people into their lives, creating an even happier environment.
When you start to keep calm, you will be a happier person, which is great for you and for your family and friends.
9. You will achieve more in your day
When you are calm your mind will be able to process instructions in an organised manner.
Sally noticed that once she was not so frazzled, she was able to decrease the time spent each morning showering, attending to her make-up and fixing her hair. When she was frazzled, the lipstick would not go on correctly and had to be adjusted or the shampoo bottle would explode at the wrong time, leaving a mess to be cleaned up.
When she was calm, Sally found that mishaps were not as common.
When you find calm, you will achieve more in your day.
10. You will have find your headaches disappear
Headaches are frequently caused by anxiety. Anxiety puts a considerable amount of stress on the body, and can lead to headaches.
When you keep calm, you put less stress in the brain. If you are prone to headaches these will decrease or disappear altogether.
11. You will be able to handle your alcohol better
When the liver is under stress, it is not able to filter alcohol to its optimum capacity. When you find calm in your life your liver will be better equipped to do its job properly. This is of particular concern for women when they reach menopause. Hormonal nightmare and stress is a potent combination leading to a decreased liver functioning.
When you find calm, so will your liver.
12. You will radiate confidence
Say no more. A confident person is the envy of all.
When you find peace in your life, you will radiate confidence and those around you will want to know your secret.
