How to slow down to beat stress and illness

When you push yourself too hard physically and emotionally you can find that you take a lot longer to recover from colds and flu. Modern life does not tend to present you with many opportunities to take time out to fully recover from mild illness. Thus, once your obvious symptoms dissipate, you tend to either feel too guilty to continue to rest and recuperate, or you have too much on your plate to do so.

There are a finite number of hours in the day and your list of 'to-do's' can often feel overwhelming, leaving you little time to allow yourself permission to rest. This is particularly true for high level professionals and parents, who are relied upon significantly by others - day in and day out. In addition to external pressures, it's very common to feel guilty about resting, when there is still so much more to be undertaken and achieved.

So, how do you fully recover from illness in order to function at your optimum - most of the time?

In order to recuperate fully and feel your best, there are the 'usual' things to do, such a sleep well/enough and eat well. However, in reality recent research shows that in order to achieve our ever growing list of tasks, we find it easiest to skimp on sleep. Shaving a few hours here and there can add a significant number hours to your year, so it's no wonder it's so tempting to give it up and thus to maintain the recommended 8 hours of good quality sleep a night.

Instead of trying to change your sleeping habits, a quick and easy way to improve your health (before, during and after illness) is through slowing down. Most people tend to make the misguided assumption that in order to achieve, one must move with speed. The problem with this theory is the body's reaction to being placed under pressure on a regular basis - STRESS. Regular, ongoing stress has been shown to cause a short-term reduction in IQ. This is why, it can be very difficult to think clearly and make rational decisions with your stressed - and thus increase the chance of making mistakes and having to end up working harder. Rushing around tying to achieve a million things in a day/week/month/year usually ends up resulting in a lot of wasted time and energy.

In contrast, if you were to start your day with a few deep breaths, 5 minute relaxation exercises and made a conscious effort to slow down, you would be able to think more clearly and rationally and thus be much more productive during the day.

For instance, most people arrive at work and feel anxious as soon as they begin to look at emails, to-do lists and speak to other stressed co-workers. They tend to spend the day frantically trying to spot mutiple fires, feeling overwhelmed, stressed and unproductive. If instead of this strategy, they walked into the office, took out a notepad and began to scan through emails, to-do lists and verbal requests from staff first thing in the morning and then developed a daily priority list, they would be able to tick off the most important jobs they had achieved that day. This would in turn provide both a feeling of achievement and a sense of control.

Undertaking such a morning task would take between 15-30 minutes per day, but would give back many more hours of productive work in return. The act of slowing down and gaining control is vital for health and wellbeing, particularly in this busy world we live in.

Your mind significantly impacts your physical health and emotional state, so if you're feeling run down or overwhelmed, try to simply slow down. Try it for 1 week and see how much it improves your life.

Your perceptions create your reality

Running around after a toddler often makes it difficult to arrive on time to appointments. Most of the time I just make it, but at times through no fault of my own, an obstacle prevents me from being punctual. As someone who loves being organized, running late is often a potential stressor for me, so I've been challenged in trying to find ways to accept that I'm doing my best & move on.

This morning was a great test case for me. Having dropped my daughter at childcare on time, I was very excited about being on time. I arrived at the station early. However, I was greeting by a packed station of people frustrated as a result of train delays. This meant I couldn't squeeze into the forthcoming train. So, I took a deep breath, contacted those waiting for me & jumped on the next train. Unfortunately this train was deviating from my usual route & stopped mid station for 20 minutes before progressing to another station. Here, I had to change trains again. Finally, I arrived at my destination 45 minutes late.

Normally, this tardiness would have left me quite stressed, but this morning my mindset was different and as a result. I arrived and explained calmly once again my predicament. Funnily enough - nothing bad happened. No- one was angry or upset with me. Everyone understood that I had tried my best. A very pleasing outcome!

So what changed in my mind on the way?

Along the train journey I told myself two things:

1) Perhaps this has delay has occurred to provide me with more time to listen to my inspirational CDs

2) I know in my heart that I tried my best & therefore there is nothing I can do about this situation

So, the greatest shift in my mind was focussing internally rather than externally.

If you look behind the reasons we worry about running late, it falls squarely on our concern about what others will think of us. Reframing the event and trusting that you're doing your best allows you to relax in the face of adversity & appreciate it for what it is. By changing my mindset, I changed my perception of the event. Instead of getting angry at the public transport system, I accepted that it was out of my control and made the best of the situation.

Question: Why is this shift so important?

Answer: I didn't want to allow this potentially negative experience to influence my positive state of mind. I know how important it is to be focused on my goals, dreams & desires and thus to be in the same positive frequency/energy as much as possible. Yes - life will throw me curve balls from time to time, but it's how I deal with these that result in my success or struggle in life.

For more support and tips on how you can live a happy and healthy life visit:

www.happylife.net.au / www.lifesuccesscoachs.com