Are You a Worrier

Are you worrying your life away? Constantly wondering if things are about to go wrong?  We all worry, but some of us spend hours feeling nervous and stressed when we don’t have to.  Studies show time and again that worry impacts your physical, emotional and spiritual health, robbing you of energy and joy.  Take this quiz to see if worrying is keeping you from enjoying your life.  Then, get tips to break free from worry.
	_____    1. The “what-ifs” never leave my mind. _____    2. I always anticipate the worst. _____    3. My worries interfere with my life and daily routine. _____    4. I feel restless, irritable and constantly on edge. _____    5. I have difficulty falling asleep and sleeping through the night. _____    6. People often ask me what’s bothering me. _____    7. If something good happens, I worry that the next thing that happens will be bad. _____    8. I look for bad news in the mail. _____    9. When the phone rings, I wonder what could be wrong. _____    10. My friends and family say I worry too much.
10-15, Great job!  You usually deal with your worries and spend your energy enjoying your life.  Keep up the good work.  And keep these tips in mind for the times that you do worry. 16-20, While you are worry-free some of the time, you spend more time than you should worrying. Learning to deal with your worries will help you relax and enjoy your life.  Keep these tips in mind. 21-30, Your worries keep you from living your life to the fullest.  Learning to deal with worries will help you relax and enjoy yourself.  Keep these tips in mind.
			Talk with a friend. Take turns telling each other about your worries and help each other see what things are out of your hands and what things you can work to improve. Distract yourself with the things you love. Laugh with friends, look at favorite photographs or read a great book. Write down your worries. Sometimes seeing the problem on paper makes it easier to deal with. Think of all the things in life that make you feel content – even the small things.  Make yourself a list and when you feel worried, take the list out and read it until you feel relaxed. Take care of yourself. Follow TriVita’s 10 Essentials and work towards better physical and emotional health.
		Break free from worry! Try TriVita’s 2-Step Energy System for improved mood, mental clarity, and positive focus. To learn more, click here.
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Protect Yourself from Stress, the Silent Killer

Stress is an engineering term. It describes the forces that try to tear a structure apart such as weight, wind, temperature and pressure. In humans it is much the same: Certain pressures try to tear us apart. Sometimes these stresses come from inside of us; sometimes the pressures tearing us apart come from the outside.

Homeostasis is a gift that humans and other living creatures possess but bridges and buildings do not have. Homeostasis is the force that moves resources from our reserves to wherever they are needed to combat stress.

Where stress begins
Stress is caused by change – any change. Change requires us to rearrange our priorities to meet new circumstances. Stress can also be the same circumstance over time because time itself is change.

An easy way to conceptualize stress is to say it comes from inside of us and outside of us. Some examples:

Stress from inside

• Hunger
• Aging
• Time pressure

Stress from outside

• Air pollution
• Water pollution
• Noise pollution

Stress is the accumulation of all the things that pull us apart.

Homeostasis
The antidote to change is homeostasis. The Greek word “stasis” means to stand still or to stand equally. It describes a point where the tug-of-war balances out and motion ceases. Homeostasis is the ability of living organisms to adjust their internal environments to create balance. Of course, people can adjust their external environments as well (at least to some extent).

Just imagine all of the stresses pulling you apart every day: gravity, temperature, emotional upsets and expectations, etc. What balances that tug-of-war? The 10 Essentials for Health and Wellness!

Nutrients and nurturing
A body and mind deprived of proper nutrients and nurturing will be more prone to disease. “Disease” is the joining of two words. “Ease” is the freedom from difficulty, hardship or effort. “Dis-ease” is the opposite of ease: the things that make life more difficult and hard. It is also the abnormal functioning of the body or mind when the balancing forces of homeostasis fail to meet the demands of change.

The 10 Essentials create a reservoir of energy to combat the destructive forces of stress. For example, the simple act of breathing deeply can reduce the level of toxicity in our body and therefore reduce the state of imbalance.

Vitamins and minerals
Nutrients create a bulwark against stress as well. A reservoir of vitamins and minerals can help protect you from deficiency. Nutrient deficiency means specifically that you lack the nutrients you need to meet the stress imposed on your system. Without nutrients you will be weakened and you will lose the tug-of-war with stress. You will develop disease.

Adaptogens
Specific plants called adaptogens help pull us back into balance. Adaptogens help us adapt no matter what the situation is – no matter where stress tugs at our body and mind. A recent conference of psychiatrists and psychologists demonstrated that a single adaptogen (Rhodiola rosea) was as effective at reducing emotional stress as several popular medications.

Another paper published by the University of Toyama in Japan demonstrated that in animal models, the adaptogen Eleutherococcus senticosis hindered the brain plaque associated with Alzheimer’s disease. It even helped slow some of the brain damage. Given the safety of adaptogens and the extreme nature of this stress-related disease, supplementing with these nutrients should be a daily routine for anyone concerned about the possibility of Alzheimer’s.

Conclusion
Stress pulls us apart. Homeostasis struggles to put us back together. Disease is the result of an imbalance between stress and homeostasis. Nutrients and nurturing support homeostasis and help build a bulwark against stress – the silent killer!

Take Control of Your Health

• Reduce stress wherever possible
  • Breathe deeply 20 minutes daily
  • Eat nutritious meals at a regular schedule
  • Develop loving social networks
  • Be forgiving – reject the poison of resentment
• Build up reserves daily
  • Take your nutrients:
    • A multiple vitamin/mineral supplement
    • An essential fatty acid supplement
    • Sublingual B-12
    • Non-acidic Vitamin C

Take adaptogens every day!