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7 Ways to Live Longer
By not dying
Stress: We all know that stress kills. We’ve been told enough times. Stress becomes anxiety that increases the amount of adrenaline in our system. This causes your heart to race, and your breathing to accelerate. You’re like an engine being constantly revved up without being put into gear. You’re all stressed up and nowhere to go. The flight and fight system has become activated though you do not have the option of being able to fight or take flight. Not if you’re stuck in an overheated office where the boss is tearing you a new rectum. The increase in heart rate, extra dollops of stress hormones and rocketing blood pressure puts an enormous strain on the body. This may lead to hypertension, heart attack or stroke.
So apart from punching your boss or quitting, two possibly excellent options, what can you do? Stress is big business. The bookshelves are groaning under the weight of suspect self help books eager to instruct you in exactly what to do. Lifestyle gurus and therapists have built careers on soothing a stressed out nation. Options fall between the physical and the psychological, or both.
Take plenty of exercise, go to the gym, run a half marathon, work off all that stress. Go sweat it all out. Or go for relaxation exercises, creative visualisations, hypnotherapy or mindfulness. Find God, even — he must be hiding somewhere.
