Many studies and reports have touted the negative effect of stress on the body. From heart attacks to increased cancer risk, stress is dangerous. As we age, a prevailing thought is we lessen our stress. In our experience, the opposite is true. If you feel you have been immune to the effects or speed of the world around you, think again. The same pressures still have an effect, and more importantly a toll on the body. In the normal aging process a few areas in particular come to mind: increased stress of your health status, the fear of disease, the fear of daily activities (be it due to weakness, inability to cope in situations, etc.) and one very important fact, the inability to handle or modify the stress we are under.

Influenced aging specifically alters a large majority of the effects of stress on you. When you focus on doing everything you can to prevent disease, and you exercise and eat right to develop strength in daily activities, you increase your body’s ability to handle / modify stress and stressors. You are able to ward off and even be a major factor in treating your own disease. The simple knowledge of ‘doing all you can do’ is stress reduction in and of itself. Use stress to your benefit; do not let it be used against you!

Again, there is a lot of information out there on ‘how to’ – including how to relieve stress. Besides diet and exercise, some of the simplest, yet effective tools we have found in our practice other than diet and exercise include the following: