On Healthy Living

You may have noticed I havne’t been posting a whole lot lately. You could consider it an early summer lull, but I haven’t slowed down a bit.

The fact is, I have a bit too much on my plate, and something has to give. When I should be happily anticipating a long weekend, instead I’m wondering how I’m going to cram in all the things I feel like I need to do and should be doing.

Of course we all get like this from time to time. Daily life is stressful by itself, and when you add on things like a day trip, a stack of assignments and a wish list of to dos, it just makes things all the more uncomfortable.

And this has to do with health because stress can make you sick.

I was a pretty high-strung, achievement-oriented kid (some things never change) and I would always get sick on vacations. I think it’s because I was so used to stress and pressure that when I got a little bit relaxed, my body was uncomfortable without stress so I would get sick.

Normal people experience illness related to stress when they get the flu at the worst possible time: days before the big project is due, or right before finals, or whenever they’re feeling particularly stressed out about something.

And living in a constant state of stress, or where you regularly feel a lot of stress, just plain isn’t healthy. It puts stress on your body, your organs, your emotions, leaving everything a little off balance, even if you don’t really get sick. Years of this kind of damage really can add up, in ulcers and heart attacks as well as bad posture and bad attitudes.

So let this little story serve as a reminder to you this weekend to stop, take a breath, relax, have fun and stop worrying for just a little while. The world probably won’t end if I don’t get everything done I intend to this weekend. And the fun I’ll have instead will be more than worth it.

Have a great weekend, everyone, and a wonderful holiday if you’re in the States!

Sarah White wrote this on May 27th, 2005 and filed it under Healthy Living, Diet & Exercise, Women's Health, Men's Health |