I freely admit I don’t always practice what I preach.

I eat well the majority of the time for sure, without being obsessive about it.

But when it comes to taking time out for myself and just relaxing, I don’t do it anywhere near as often as I should.

Are you the same? I know a lot of people are …

Always with something on your mind, always things you could be doing…

…which can make it harder to find time to just do nothing, relax and destress.

However, if there is one thing that is going to adversely affect health, it’s going to be stress.

Stress affects our gut bacteria, it affects our immune system, and it adds to the inflammation.

However, I saw a really interesting TED talk on this a while back that might change just how you (and I) think about stress.

Essentially the speaker was showing studies that indicate that stress is only bad if you think it is.

Some people may thrive on having busy lives and doing nothing would possibly “stress” them out even more.

They take signs of “stress” as their body preparing them for a challenge and potential breakthroughs.  It’s almost exciting to these people.

Stress only becomes a problem if you have a crazy busy life but you feel like you are resisting it and fighting it.

Perhaps even more interestingly is that the impact that stress has on you is much greater if you try to deal with it all yourself…

Those people who reach out for help from others find that they feel much less alone and it has a far greater reduced adverse impact on them.

I would encourage you to take some time now to think about what you can do to better help manage and reduce stress levels in your life, and perhaps rather than trying to change and fight against everything that’s going on, instead change your perspective on it and embrace it and see the good in it.

And then combine that approach with reaching out for help, perhaps from a family member, a friend or a mentor.

The impact it can have on your health is huge.