Hi all

Suffices to say that I have been going through a bad period in my life for the last 5 years (won’t bore you with the details) and before xmas I was constantly tired. So tired that I was yawning all day at work and would feel sick and nauseous when I got home. After the xmas holiday it didn’t get better, it got worse.

Anyway long story short thanks to the help of my counsellor I have gone from feeling so low and tired all day, to realising that I need to do more with my life and hopefully go college and study. But I have a lot to do and some stuff to come to terms with before then.

Now when I’m feeling angry or so happy I think I could climb a mountain, I have no problem in getting out my exercise dvd and giving it my all. But seem to have trouble with relaxing. You see I’ve been slightly ‘shaking’ (the nerves)for the last five years, it’s better now than it has in the past but I can’t seem to get to a relaxed state. Now I have some guided meditation’s to try but I was wondering what other people do or if there are any pearls of wisdom out there.

I am a very very high stress person and have often struggled with being overly tired or not being able to let little frustrations go. These are some of the things that help me:

-I've done breathing exercises for a long time. I lay down perfectly still and start with deep breathing, imagining my physical self melting into the floor and my mental self floating higher in the air, then move to imagining putting each part of my body to sleep for the toes up. Color visualization works too, but focusing on individual parts of the body takes longer and is more effective for me. When I do this I imagine clearing out stagnant energy and replacing it with good energy. *I usually do this before bed.

-Stretching and accupressure help too. Since my stress culminates in my back, I find that stretching my arms up out and back in centers me, and stretching my back by sitting on my feet and sliding my hands away on the floor (stretching out my spine) has a really good effect on my back. I do this when I wake up and it only takes a minute or two. If I can't sleep at night, I have an accupressure mat (a rectangular mat with little pointy plastic pieces all over it). Laying on it for ~10minutes can really ease tension and make it easier to sleep. It helps with migraines too.

-I recently discovered Siberian Eleuthero (also referred to as siberian ginseng)- an herbal supplement that affects how much cortisol (stress hormone) your brain releases. I was really skeptical when I started taking it, but figured I'd give it a try. It wasn't a dramatic thing that I noticed right away. The people I worked with noticed the difference before I did. It's subtle, but I'm generally more upbeat/energetic, less tired, and way more able to let go of stupid little things that i would harp on for hours without it. The comments I would get were generally "Well aren't you in a good mood today" *The reason I tried this supplement was because a lot of people I was working with were taking Rhodiola Rosacea for energy. When I read up on it I learned that it's an herbal antidepressant. I'm not depressive, but gave it a shot just to see. It had no effect on me, but the siberian eleuthero did/does (which makes sense since it targets stress and my problem is stress) It has made a noticeable difference in my life so I recommend at least reading up on it and deciding if it's something you'd like to try, especially if you find that your issues have a lot to do with thinking (negatively) on one thing for hours or days at a time.

-I have also had problems in the past with anemia (low iron) from not incorporating enough red meat in my diet. I was completely and utterly exhausted all the time with an inherent knowledge that something was "off", that i was not myself, and that that kind of exhaustion just is not normal. Anemia is a common problem for women, so I thought it worth mentioning. I didn't go to a doctor when this happened, but after about 2-3 weeks of being that way at work, a friend mentioned that it sounded like i was anemic and why not try getting my iron up. I ate steak that night and the next day and immediately started feeling better. Whenever I start feeling that kind of exhaustion since then, i really think about what i've been eating and whether or not it's been awhile since i last ate red meat and usually it turns out that it's been severely lacking in my diet.


Good luck on your relaxation techniques. From someone who feels your pain, I sincerely hope you find what works for you- life can be so much better when you figure out how to de-stress.

I'm a very stressy person myself and recently went through an incredibly traumatic experience, and as trivial as it sounds, knitting has really been helping me relax. It sounds so silly, but it just involves my mind enough so that it doesn't wander and start fretting and thinking about everything all at once (as minds like to do!) without being too complicated and stressful itself. Maybe it's the repetitiveness of it that's soothing too. For me it really totally clears my mind and relaxes me (I feel a bit silly writing about knitting like this, eh).

I'm not saying you should pick up knitting if you're not interested in it, but maybe if you have some forgotten hobby or interest, like drawing or gardening or cooking or just something that will engage your mind in a different way than usual and make you just think about the activity you're doing instead of just stressing all the bad stuff. I can't know exactly how you feel but it's just awful to be constantly nervous and stressed out so I hope you can find something to calm you down.

Great tips for relaxation, meditation and calming. I personally try all these tips and feel free of stress for a long time. Yoga is a best ways to feel relax and calm.

I completely agree about knitting. I have an even odder suggestion - coloring. Last spring I was a freshman in college taking about 17 hours and after spring break the schoolwork was really piling up and I was getting stressed. (I also have anxiety disorder and clinical depression, but those are mostly under control with medication.) I was talking to my roommate, who was seeing a psychiatric counselor for extra credit for her psychology class, and she mentioned her counselor had told her she could bring coloring materials to use during sessions if she wished, as a hand-occupying activity and making it more relaxed and easier to talk. I thought that was a wonderful idea, and I've often considered that my makeup addiction is sort of related to art for me - I have no art skills to speak of but I love creating and so many pretty colors - so I picked up a coloring book and large box of crayons next store trip. It really does help, and when you get past feeling a little silly, it's fun! For me, knitting, sewing, beading, coloring (most crafts, really), all help, and so do the breathing exercises Sam mentioned. I also have a large collection of "new age" music and nature sounds, which you can find most anywhere. I got a good deal on two pieces of instrumental music from Amazon - Nancy Kleiman's, uh, something (I can't remember but it's a 20-minute harp piece) and Tania Rose's "Drift." "Drift" is the kind of music you fall asleep to, really, so don't listen to it in the car! But it's very floating and dreamy and drifty. And an hour-long piece.

I completely understand being stressed, for so many reasons we have these days. I so hope you start feeling better, Ghost. I hope my suggestions help you somewhat and remember you have us to talk to!

I have anxiety issues. I should still be on meds..but that's a different story. I have been taking a Calcium-Magnesium (with Vitamin D) supplement. I read how Calcium-Magnesium creates a calming effect..relaxes nerves and muscles..great for insomnia and other sleep problems..good for acid reflux. You might want to do more research if you're uncertain about dosage and when to take it. Or you can try to get more calcium and magnesium through food if you don't want to take supplements.
It's funny..yoga and pilates make me more stressed and frustrated..maybe because it's painful and I'm not doing it right..heheh. I also agree with returning to a forgotten hobby or trying a new one that you would have never thought of. I definitely need to do that.

I like the "Natural Calm" brand Magnesium supplement. Hemp seed is also a good source of magnesium as well as many other nutrients, including omega-3s, and I try to eat it frequently.

I suffer from the kind of anxiety where if I have something to do later in the day, I don't enjoy anything that happens before that -- like it's hanging over my head. So I try to schedule everything at the beginning of the day if I can, and if I can't, I try to do something that I don't think I have time for but that I actually do -- like going out for lunch, taking a walk in the park, taking a bubble bath, something like that.

Meditation is, of course, very helpful, but I'm quite lazy and tend to not do it.

nice tips, ill try all of it

How lovely you all are to offer such good suggestions. I plan to try a few myself. Thank you.