We all lead a busy lifestyle and the stress of that is difficult to escape. Your body reacts to the stress whether you are conscious about it or not. You may even have the signs of it and yet, you are not listening.   Maybe you: have low energy have gained weight have a poor memory Poor digestion   Cortisol is a hormone that is released from the adrenal glands in response to our stress - whatever triggered it. The scary thing is that when cortisol is released in response to the stress - all other body functions are temporarily put on hold in order to deal with the situation. That happens because your body has to use so much of its energy to deal with the reaction. That means that it shuts down some very important functions - one that got my intention was that it 'suppresses insulin' and 'suppresses immune function'. I got this information from a site called www.hotorfmed.ca.   Listen to some of the signs of Insulin resistance:

• Inability to maintain or lose weight
• Headaches
• Reduced memory performance
• Poor sleep
• High cholesterol and triglycerides
• Poor results on blood glucose levels

  A fantastic affirmation for stress is from Louise Hay - say to yourself "I realise that stress is only fear. I now release all fears". There are so many ways to eliminate stress - repeating this affirmation is only one. One of my favourite stress releasing tools, and something that we tend to NOT do for ourselves, is self care! Get yourself a massage, do some meditation, go for a walk in nature - you would NOT believe how powerful nature can be. Even something simple like just sitting there and focusing on your breath...take 3-5 deep belly breathes and simply relax. When was the last time, you actually put yourself first?   Even the food you eat can stress your body out! Feeling guilty about what your are eating or eating too much junk food. When I found out about the hormone called 'insulin' and what it does to your body - I immediately changed my diet. Let me tell you, THAT was not an easy journey, since I have been addicted to sugar for probably all my life. There wasn't a day that went by that I had something sweet - especially chocolate. I have now been what is called 'Ketogenic' for a couple of months now and I have had incredible results. More on THAT subject next week.   I have a fantastic freebie for you this week - its a workbook that you can download with a complete stress releasing program. Following the recommendations in the workbook, will start a journey to knowing how to deal with your daily stress! As usual, be sure let us all know how you made out on the Telfer Coaching facebook page.   Just a reminder...The important part to remember is to DO the work...unless you do something different...how can your life change?