Attention All Superwomen - You Are Stressed And It's Killing You

Online, April 1, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Do you find yourself going through your mental checklist ten times a day?

Do you find yourself having a conversation with yourself on what you have to get accomplished in the next 30 minutes?

For the majority of times it never feels like you get the chance to actually enjoy the daily aspects of each area of your life because you're always feel you have to be one step ahead of the game ready to jump to the next task.

Let's face it, stress is a part of daily life and if experienced in small, manageable amounts, it can have a positive effect on you. However, if you're like the majority of women out there, you're running with your shoelaces untied, trying to catch up. This stressful situation, experienced over an extended period of time will take its toll on your health causing serious long term results that can be very hard, but not always impossible, to reverse. Stress management for women is very important.

Symptoms of Stress:

Many women in a family or household are looked to as the glue that binds everyone from fracturing off in all directions. While running the ship at home, many also hold down full time jobs, volunteer and try their hardest to eek out some sort of a social life or time for themselves.

The latter usually not happening all that often. While some personality types revel in this situation, it's not for the majority. Being needed and in charge is a rewarding role to be in, however when that roll becomes overtaxed it can cause really negative results for women. Some of the ways a woman can tell she's experiencing an unhealthy amount of stress in her daily life are:

• Cold sores that appear and reappear at regular intervals. Once you get a cold sore in a specific place, lip, cheek, eye, it generally will reappear in that same vicinity. A cold sore or Herpes Simplex Virus 1 is a central nervous system infection. Once a cold sore appears and completes its cycle and visually goes away, it lays dormant and can reappear during an especially stressful time.

• Heart Burn, stomach upset or even ulcers

• Anxiety

• Depression

• Heart Attacks

If you find yourself suffering from any of these ailments, you should consider taking a self administered stress test. This stress test will help you pinpoint specifically what types of stress you are experiencing and how your body is reacting to the stress. Not all stress is bad or unwanted, however how you deal with the stress is what causes the negative effects.

Simple Stress Busters:

• Empower yourself to say NO. If you're a competent multi-tasker, sometimes people take advantage, especially if they know you don't like disappointing people. The guild associated with putting yourself first can be huge for some people. Try saying to yourself "guilt is a wasted emotion". If you are asked to do something, take an honest look at your schedule and if you're over committed, learn to say no and then don't feel guilty about disappointing the person making the request. That is an unhealthy mental game to play with yourself and only adds to your stress.

• Stay connected to friends who are a positive addition to your life. Often women try to be all things to all people. Take a look at your relationships and try to limit the amount of social time you are spending with people who tend to burden you with negative aspects of their life. There are givers and takers out there and sometimes you can avoid unnecessary stress by choosing to surround yourself with a balanced circle of friends.

• Date your spouse/partner. Remember when you were first dating and everything was exciting and new. Well those dates didn't just magically happen. They were planned. The grind of everyday life can be really draining, leaving you exhausted and looking to plunk yourself on the couch after you get home. It takes conscious thought and energy to make plans and actually stick to them. Plan a weekly date night with your spouse/partner. You will be amazed at how a couple of focused hours each week can lead to a feeling of being fully connected. This feeling will help you realize that you're not alone and therefore helps reduce feelings of stress.

It doesn't matter what strategy you choose to help you deal with stress, committing to the choice is what really matters. In today's busy lifestyle, making a change to your routine can be painful and therefore hard to stick to. Sometimes it's easier to give up at the first challenge and stick with the status quo. Remember, the stresses in your life have built up over time. It takes 21 days to form a new habit so keep at whatever changes you've made and you'll soon begin to notice the positive results.