Stress Relief for the Stir Crazy

During my senior year in high school, I took an SAT preparation course. While my scores did not necessarily reflect my desired expectation, one and only one specific detail stood out: "The ominous clouds could be a harbinger of inclement weather." I get alot of joy whenever I can articulate this sentence in context with an actual event, frankly it makes me feel smart. But after three days of being couped up because of a central texas winter storm I have heard these key SAT words far too many times than one person should have to endure.

When I first moved to Austin, everyone complained about two things: the traffic and the weather. Now coming from San Francisco, I simply laughed at what these people deemed "traffic problems." And as far as the weather, well, I support the misery of the oppressive summer heat, but the winters in general are fabulous. It didn't take but a couple of years and I caught myself in a conversation with a friend complaining about the traffic and the weather in the same sentence. It was in that moment I knew I was an Austinite.

Central Texas is kind of the orphan child of drama as it relates to the drastic weather that often accompanies coastal cities, which is why so many people love living here. So when an ice storm arrives and we only have 9 sand trucks, the city pretty much shuts down. It is humbling and a good sign for everyone to slow down and embrace the "snow days" of our childhood. Moving into day three it is obvious people are going a bit stir crazy. In an effort to take advantage of everyone's "chilled" state, what better time to introduce some natural tips from Stressfocus.com on stress reduction. Here are just a few, stay tuned for more once naturalpath.com goes live with its alpha product!

Tips for Stress Relief
Dietary adjustments along with exercises form the simplest of all remedies to relieve stress. The things to be avoided are:

• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Junk foods
• Excess salt
• Tobacco

The things to be included are:

• Plenty of vegetables and fruits
• Plenty of water
• B complex vitamins - Is particularly relevant to nervous tissue, depression and stress susceptibility
• Vitamin C - It maintains good immunity and is useful in post stress disorders and infections
• Minerals including magnesium, selenium and zinc

Lifestyle changes include the following in addition to the above mentioned remedies;

• Exercise regularly
• Eat a healthy diet
• Identify and understand the stress inducer and share your worries with an optimistic friend. Try to find a remedy with his/her help
• Take a hot bath with epsom salts!
• Have a sound sleep everyday
• Meditate

And for those who were curious, despite the icy conditions, Katz's still never Kloses. Stay warm!