Self Improvement | Stress Junkies: Kicking That Bad Stress Habit ...

By Katherine Dewey -

You?re driven and ambitious. Your work ethic continues to skyrocket. Though while you work long hard hours to achieve your goals, your health may start to decline.

As an entrepreneur, if you?re at the point in your professional life where your head is spinning over decisions such as hiring more employees, finding investors or integrating new postal address software, then you?re probably feeling it. Whether stress scares you or not, it directly affects your health, and can cause ?high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes,? according to MayoClinic.com.

Stress Addiction

The first step to improve your health is to recognize stress, admit that you have it and make the decision to reduce it. Often workaholics become addicted to stress and identify that intense feeling as a merit of their road to success. The mentality that ?without stress I?m not working hard enough? ensues. Time.com explains that stress does have its positive sides, though. Moderately, it can ?boost our focus, energy, and even our powers of intuition.? Whether emotional or physical, stress activates the central nervous system and causes a ?natural high,? says Jim Pfaus, a Concordia University neuroscientist and addiction specialist. Stress can have the same effects as drugs, meaning people can easily be dependent upon stress.

Ask yourself:

• Are you an anxious and competitive person who suffers from depression?
• Do you prefer never-ending to-do lists as a way to avoid personal problems or interpersonal conflicts?
• Do you have trouble maintaining positive relationships, staying focused or sleeping at night?
• Does the thought of slowing down your schedule to reduce your stress levels and free your time create anxiety?

If so, you may fall under the label of ?stress junkie,? as Time describes, and be on the pursuit of those high-pressure endorphins. Without your peak mental and physical health, however, work productivity and output are threatened, and that?s ignoring the negative health effects that stress has on your body, appearance and personal life. If 83 percent of adults recognize that stress strongly influences personal health, according to the American Psychological Association, then why continue to ignore it?

Put Your Stress in Check

Once you decide that you want to reduce the addictive stress in your life, follow these steps to better manage the burden:

• Improve your personal relationships: If you don?t share your life with anyone but work, then you may need an interpersonal relationship makeover. Developing meaningful relationships and friendships will help put your energies into receiving more in life than just professional rewards.
• Find exercise that you enjoy: Exercising is healthy, especially when you find workout activities you enjoy. Not only does exercising lessen muscle tension, excrete stress hormones and reduce frustration, it?s essential for living well.
• Put less pressure on yourself: The world won?t fall apart if you lighten up on your micro-management, trust others with more responsibility or lessen expectations of yourself. Take on less projects and start saying no.
• Engage in activities that give you happiness:? Stress junkies share a lot in common with adrenaline junkies. To get yourself away from your desk and off your phone, engage in activities that are a little risky or high energy, such as skydiving, outdoor rock climbing, racquetball or paintball.

Katherine Dewey

A nutritionist, Pilates instructor and Spinning freak, Katherine shares healthy recipes and innovations in exercise and workout equipment. She is the health nut among family and friends.

Source: http://theselfimprovementblog.com/self-improvement/featured/stress-junkies-kicking-that-bad-stress-habit/

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