At times our life get stressful, but probably not as stressful as the life of a Navy Seal during special ops.<\/h2>\n

Yes, we all have to occasionally dodge a figurative bullet or two, but Navy Seals face the possibility of confronting the real thing. Stress sets in motion a cacophony of hormones that can undermine mental focus and the ability to intelligently respond to crisis.This is something a Seal cannot afford. Neither can you.<\/p>\n

Stress creates a cellular mess for all of us. \u00a0It messes with the brain cells and the ability to learn and think clearly. It messes with the heart, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.\u00a0 It messes with \u00a0the immune systems causing it to release compounds that can damage healthy cells. It even messes with our skin, \u00a0reducing \u00a0blood flow which accellerates the aging process. Weight gain, relationship issues and addiction are all associated with chronic stress.<\/p>\n

One way you can help clean up the stress mess? – \u00a0Breathe like a Navy Seal.\u00a0 When you breath deeply, oxygen pours into every cell of the body improving mental concentration and physical stamina. \u00a0The infusion of oxygen helps your body absorb vitamins and nutrients more efficiently. It\u00a0 creates more white blood cells to help with healing. Your muscle relax. You Blood pressure lowers. Endorphins \u2013 the feel good hormones – are released.<\/p>\n

So why not take a deep breath? A simple way to prove if it works \u2013try it.\u00a0 It costs you nothing, but a little time.<\/p>\n

Here is the Seals technique for controlling stress with breath. It\u2019s called 4×4 or box breathing.<\/p>\n

Step 1:<\/strong>\u00a0Find a comfortable chair or place to lie down.
\nStep 2:<\/strong>\u00a0Inhale for 4 seconds
\nStep 3:<\/strong>\u00a0Hold air in your lungs for 4 seconds
\nStep 4:<\/strong>\u00a0Exhale for 4 seconds, emptying all of the air in your lungs
\nStep 5:<\/strong>\u00a0Hold your lungs empty for 4 seconds.
\nStep 6:<\/strong>\u00a0Repeat for five minutes, or as long as \u00a0necessary to feel refocused and relaxed.<\/p>\n

RECOMMENDED READING:\u00a0 Resources on breathing and stress management can also be found online at www.health.harvard.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

Remember: \u00a0Always consult with your supervising health care practitioner before making any diet and lifestyle changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At times our life get stressful, but probably not as stressful as the life of a Navy Seal during special ops. Yes, we all have to occasionally dodge a figurative bullet or two, but Navy Seals face the possibility of confronting the real thing. Stress sets in motion a cacophony of hormones that can undermine mental focus and the ability to intelligently respond to crisis.This is something a Seal cannot afford. Neither can you. Stress creates a cellular mess for all of us. \u00a0It messes with the brain cells and the ability to learn and think clearly. It messes with the heart, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke.\u00a0 It messes with \u00a0the immune systems causing it to release compounds that can damage healthy cells. It even messes with our skin, \u00a0reducing \u00a0blood flow which accellerates the aging process. Weight gain, relationship issues and addiction are all associated with chronic stress. One way you can help clean up the stress mess? – \u00a0Breathe like a Navy Seal.\u00a0 When you breath deeply, oxygen pours into every cell of the body improving mental concentration and physical stamina. \u00a0The infusion of oxygen helps your body absorb vitamins and nutrients more efficiently. It\u00a0 creates more white blood cells to help with healing. Your muscle relax. You Blood pressure lowers. Endorphins \u2013 the feel good hormones – are released. So why not take a deep breath? A simple way to prove if it works \u2013try it.\u00a0 It costs you nothing, but a little time. Here is the Seals technique for controlling stress with breath. It\u2019s called 4×4 or box breathing. Step 1:\u00a0Find a comfortable chair or place to lie down. Step 2:\u00a0Inhale for 4 seconds Step 3:\u00a0Hold air in your lungs for 4 seconds Step 4:\u00a0Exhale for 4 seconds, emptying all of the air in your lungs Step 5:\u00a0Hold your lungs empty for 4 seconds. Step 6:\u00a0Repeat for five minutes, or as long as \u00a0necessary to feel refocused and relaxed. RECOMMENDED READING:\u00a0 Resources on breathing and stress management can also be found online at www.health.harvard.edu Remember: \u00a0Always consult with your supervising health care practitioner before making any diet and lifestyle changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,46,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategies","category-stress-management","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/shy-2015_10_02-13_30_45-UTC-e1517161546882.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZSCa-bn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":708,"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions\/708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/livewellkeepitsimple.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}