Inspiration of the Day - 2/11/11



So you toss and turn, then you wake up in the morning with little sleep and your back is aching.  You sum it up to be "a bad night" and the back pain you're experiencing to you sleeping in the wrong position.  Then you look in the mirror and "Gasp!", there's a big red zit in the middle of your forehead!  Well...guess what...it's all stress related!  When we stress we don't sleep.  Your mind races with all of the days events and/or the person(s) that is causing your issues and, "says James Maas, Ph.D., author of Power Sleep, 'That lack of shut-eye, in turn, makes you irritable and anxious, decreases your ability to fight infection, and impairs your ability to concentrate.' Sleep problems also create a vicious circle: Once you're sleep deprived, your threshold for dealing with everyday problems is even lower -- keeping you stressed out and making it more difficult to sleep the following night."  The back pain we already know is stressed related (we talked about that yesterday), not sleep position related.

And the big red zit?!  Yup...stress related also.  " 'Stress can affect the levels of the male-like hormone called androgen in the body, which trigger the sebaceous glands to produce more oil, leading to clogged pores and pimples,' says Diane Berson, M.D., an assistant professor of dermatology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, in New York City. Stress also stimulates the skin's nerve endings, causing flare-ups of skin conditions ranging from eczema to psoriasis. Even cold sores can be blamed on too much tension. 'Stress wears down your immune system, enabling the viruses that cause these sores to reactivate,' says Rena Fortier, M.D., a dermatologist with Long Ridge Dermatology, in Stamford, Connecticut."  It's like the night before the "big dance" or "photo day" and we wake up in the morning to find that huge red zit planted right smack in the middle of our faces.  Reason why...because we were worried about how the dance might go or how well the photo is going to come out.  But just like how now we can look back on those things and see them as trivial and minor, we can do the same with the everyday events in our lives and the people that bug us if we choose to.  Life is a choice, right?

Have a good weekend!

-LK