Hi. Welcome to my second Wellness to Success podcast, where I discuss health, wellness and accountability tips. My name is Dr. Martin Canal and I'm a health and wellness accountability coach, and I have been a nurse for over 26 years now. Everything that I mention. And my podcast is my expert opinion. If it's in no way, shape, or form any medical advice, if you guys, if you feel that you need medical help, please reach out to your medical professional. Now, today, it's all about stress. I am gonna be talking about stress because I feel that it is such an important topic that people. To deal with, including myself. We all have stress in our lives and how we deal with it is what the difference is. Okay. Life. Life life can be stressful as a child, adolescent, adult, all older adult. We all have stress in our. Now we can have a low level of stress, and usually that's the best level of stress because we are able to deal with whatever the situation that we may be faced with, or we can have a very high stressful level where this can impede the way that we live our life. It can completely shut us down. It can lead us to burnout. So that's why I feel that it's important that we talk about. Because most people have a high level of stress, okay? And the way that it, it is dealt with is gonna make a big difference on how you are gonna progress with your life. Or if, if this is gonna keep you from reaching your goals, from reaching your next step in your life. Now, what is. You guys know, do you know what stress is? Stress is a physical or mental, psychological response to any stress or any particular external cause. Okay? You, there's al. There is. There is positive stress. There is positive stress. You need positive stress in your life. Let's say that you are walking late at. And you start hearing noises behind you, your level of stress is gonna increase, and this is gonna make you either flight or fight. So you need that level of stress to respond to a possible dangerous situation. Or positive stress can be you having a final exam at the end of the week, and that stress level is gonna cause you to do whatever needs to be done, like studying for you to pass that final exam because you know that you need to pass that exam so that you can go to the the next level. Now, a negative stress. Is what I'm gonna mostly talk about today because this is the stress that can affect you and people around you and keep you from reaching what you wanna achieve. Okay, so first of all, I'm gonna talk about the, for truth of, of stress and, and basically what it is. Is, what can stress do to you physically, mentally, socially? So stress can lead you to have unhealthy behaviors. Now think about what stress is doing to you right now if you have a high level of stress and how do you respond to it? A lot of people, Smoke. Smoke is an is unhealthy behavior. You causing damage to your body. You probably don't see it today, but eventually it will show up. It can show up as lung cancer. It can show up as congestive heart failure. These are all diagnosis that you could have in your future. Also, drinking alcohol is an unhealthy behavior. Smoking drugs, UN drugs. Okay. Not good. Stress can lead you to sleep poorly at night because you so stress stressed out that you're restless, you're not sleeping, and that the next day you're not able to function properly. And also stress can lead you to over eat. Or not eat at all. So it can lead you to poor eating habits. So this is all unhealthy behaviors. Stress can also lead you to have psychological issue like depression. An anxiety is a high one, okay? You start feeling anxious about everything and that you're so anxious that you cannot even think. And also it can bring up a fear in you that is causing you to panic and not be able to react properly. Some psychological issues that you can have because of stress, you can have high blood pressure and you may not be aware of it, but. One of a sudden you're starting to get those headaches, and then when you start investigating, then you realize that your blood pressure is high and it's causing you to have headaches and that can lead you to have a stroke or a heart attack. And those are all psychological issues that can result. From stress. And another big one that a lot of people are suffering from that I see all the time is gastrointestinal issues, where you having heartburn, you are having nausea, you're vomiting, or you are having abdominal pain and you don't know where all these symptoms are coming from, but you're so stressed out. And when you go to the doctor and they find out that you have a a, an ulcer in your stomach, Because stress is increasing all this acid production in you, and you get the heartburn and then it can end up in an ulcer, or you starting to have diarrhea and you're having blood in your stool, and all sorts of symptom can happen because of. Another big one is social isolation. Okay? There's another truth about stress. You start pulling, you start pulling away from your family. You start pulling away from your friends and you isolate yourself. You're not reaching out to that many more stress can do that to you. Now, how do you deal with stress? Well, the first tip that I re. Is you position yourself in a comfortable position and then you take a nice deep breath. You inhale, you exhale, and then you smile. Believe it or not, doing that little exercise will help to release some tension in you and you'll start to see the light. You'll start to see positive ways for you to deal with the. Then meditation is a good one too. You start meditating, you start telling yourself, I am confident. I am not stressed. I am powerful. I can deal with whatever comes my way. So meditating is very powerful. Exercising is very powerful. As you start. You starting to release endorphin in your body, good chemicals. Chemicals are going all around you, and then you start to think clearly. You start to find positive ways to deal with whatever issue is bothering you. Another tip, be organized. Once you are organized and you follow a certain time schedule or a certain routine, You will be able to have everything accomplished the way that you want to, and that will decrease your stress level. Having hobbies helps to focus away from whatever issue you're dealing with, and for that moment of time, your stress level will go down, reach out to family and friends. They may be able to help you with whatever. Whatever issue is bothering you, okay? Because maybe they'll give you a solution on how to deal with whatever problem you go, you you're having. Get an accountability partner. Every time you start feeling that the stress is rising, call the person up. Say, listen, I need your. Maybe you need to go for a cup of coffee so that you, the two of you can discuss things and bounce ideas one of each other. And if all fails, get professional help. Reach out to your doctor, reach out to a therapist, join a community group. Get the help that you. Because you have got to be able to function every single day of your life. Life is to be enjoyed on a daily basis. You have to be productive. You have to be able to help yourself, to help others. So with all these tips that I mention, find the one or use all of. So that you can have your level of stress under control because life is stressful and you never know what can get thrown at you. And by being ready, you'll be able to bounce back right away and deal with whatever situation arise, arises, and be able. Move beyond the issue and move on to the next step of your life and be able to thrive and shine like a bright light and enjoy your best life. Because as you know, it's all about us leaving our best life. So thank you for listening to my tips today about. Next podcast will be about self-improvement. You know, September is a self-improvement month, so I've been going on all month about ways to improve yourself because it is very important for you to up level, step up, reach out the next level so that you can grow as an individual. Stay tuned for my next, my next podcast and it will be amazing and I will be able to share with you what I believe are great tips on how to improve yourself. So thank you for listening and remember, manage your stress level because it's all about, Leaving a great and productive quality of life and enjoying your best life. Thank you very much. This is Dr. Martin Canal and until next time, take care.