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Stress is one of the most common health issues to affect the modern generations. Some people may dismiss it as being an insignificant condition. However, the negative impacts that it’ll have on your body, mind, and general life cannot be ignored. The first step to battling stress is to locate the source of those problems. They don’t always come from the most obvious place, though. Here are just five that commonly go undervalued.

#1. Irregular Sleep

Most people appreciate the need for a healthy lifestyle, but it’s not just about the daytime. Insomnia is a major cause of stress as it leaves the body and mind unable to function normally. Worse still, it’s a vicious cycle because stress additionally leads to disrupted sleep. Whether it’s changing your routines or investing in a new mattress, those improvements are crucial. After all, they’ll enhance mental and physical health in one fell swoop. Your looks will benefit from the changes too.

#2. Bad Relationships

As far as blind spots are concerned, negative relationships are the worst culprit for increased stress. Strained partnerships can often be saved by marriage counselors and extra efforts. Then again, there are circumstances in which you must learn to walk away. The short-term heartache is better than a lifetime of unhappiness. Meanwhile, friendships and family relationships can be equally damaging to your mental health. Either fix them or leave them. Remaining in a stressed situation helps nobody.

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#3. Poor Work-Life Balance

A rewarding career is something that everyone aspires to achieve. It’s not only the direct business matters that should be considered, though. You should work to live rather than live to work, and that balance is vital. Working from home can be a particularly productive option, although there are many questions to be answered first. Nonetheless, feeling unmotivated and unhappy in your career could be the most powerful cause of stress. If this has become an issue, finding a solution is key.

#4. Uncertainty

In many life situations, fear is far worse than the reality. Negativity can come from a host of sources, and it’s usually better to seek the quickest resolution. Whether it’s hiring a DUI lawyer to fight incorrect motoring accusations or seeing a doctor when health issues surface doesn’t matter. Knowing where you stand will instantly remove some of the stress while providing guidance for what to do next. Conversely, leaving yourself in a state of uncertainty will exacerbate those issues greatly.

#5. Bottling Things Up

They say that a problem shared is a problem halved. Still, many people choose to suffer in silence. Whether it’s coping with the loss of a loved one, handling increased overheads, or something else doesn’t matter. Talking to a relative or a specialist can help you find the right answer. Even if this isn’t the case, you should find that stress levels start to fall. Support is often available, but not until people know there is an issue. Essentially, it’s good to talk.

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It’s not unusual to feel under the weather every now and then. Especially when you lead a busy lifestyle. However, you need to be able to distinguish between common problems that will pass in the near future and the symptoms of a more chronic health problem. Identifying the warning signs early on can help you to stop the development of the illness in its tracks or at least slow its effects. After all, prevention is better than cure! Here are a few health problems to watch out for.

Foot and Ankle Problems

It’s likely that you’re on your feet almost every single day of your life, so it’s not too surprising that there may be problems with the health of your ankles and feet at some point. There are numerous problems that can strike, such as arthritis, hammertoes, sprains, calluses and corns, gout and toenail problems. If you have any concerns pertaining to these areas, get in touch with a professional Foot Doctor sooner rather than later. These specialists will have an eye for foot specific problems and are likely to be able to identify the cause of pain or discomfort more quickly than other general practitioners. They will also be able to offer you the most effective form of therapy or treatment to set things right and relieve you of unpleasant symptoms.

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Eye Conditions

You should visit an optometrist on average once a year, but don’t feel hesitant to visit more frequently if you feel that you are having problems with your vision or significant changes in your ability to see. An average eye test is quick, simple and painless, so there’s no reason to give it a miss. A professional practitioner will survey the health of your eye, from front to bad. The condition of the blood vessels inside your eye could indicate potential non-optical specific problems such as diabetes, so you should still check in even if your eyesight seems perfectly fine. Early signs of conditions such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts can also be detected, and you may be referred on for further treatment. A series of tests will then determine whether you need prescription glasses or lenses to correct your vision.

Sensitive Skin

Your skin is your body’s largest organ and protects your internal organs and other structures from infection from external bacteria. So you need to take care of it! If you notice any form of sensitivity or the development of any skin condition, visit your doctor. Watch out for patches of dry, flaky, red or itchy skin. You should also avoid scratching or using perfumed or scented products while you figure out the cause of the problem. Once your condition has been identified, you can receive proper treatment. This is likely to consist of the application of specialist, soothing lotions and creams to the affected areas.

It’s key for your overall health and wellbeing that you are familiar with your body, as this will allow you to identify deviations or changes from its normal state. Conduct regular full body checks on yourself to check that everything appears healthy and don’t bury your head in the ground if you do begin experiencing any form of unpleasant symptoms. The sooner you reach out for help, the less chance the condition will have to establish itself and affect your life negatively.

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It appears that pretty much everyone nowadays has a problem with their sleep. Either we can’t get enough of it because we don’t have the time, or we are able to get to bed at a good time, but we are unable to fall asleep, and we end up tossing and turning throughout the whole night, waking up to see every hour on the clock. We feel compelled to burn the candle at both ends, in work and in life, because we think this will keep us ahead of the game. In fact, it’s very much the opposite, if you slept 6 hours a night for two weeks instead of the recommended 8, the sleep deprivation would be the same as going 48 hours without sleep! We see people being prescribed sleeping pills, waking pills, and everything in between! But is there a simpler key to feeling rested? Here are some of the big things that impact us having a quality sleep.

Our Smartphones

This is the best place to start, the amount of information that has shown the negative impact of smartphones and tablets on our quality of sleep pops up everywhere, yet we still choose to have a quick gander at our social media just before we turn in for the night. Here is the main point to take away, the blue light emitted from, not just your smartphone or your tablet, but also any electrical devices (like your television and computers), will interrupt your body’s ability to produce melatonin, the sleep hormone. While you may have slept the adequate amount of sleep your body needs, you won’t feel as rested because the melatonin hormone has been interrupted, resulting in a lack of deep sleep. The solution? Remove all forms of lights from your bedroom! It’s that simple. Install blackout blinds, wear an eye mask, anything to remove the light from your room. If you really need to look at your smartphone before you go to sleep, install a blue light filter to eliminate the harsh tones of the screen, and so it’s, therefore, easier on your eyes.

Our Bed

We all know how bad it can be if the bed we sleep in is lumpy and uncomfortable, we just can’t get relaxed enough to have a decent quality sleep. You know how bad you feel when you accidentally fall asleep on the couch and stay there all night? I’s a very similar thing. There are many factors to a great night’s sleep in our bed, the size of the bed, the comfiness, the pillow, and, of course, the temperature. If we have the wrong pillow, we will wake up with a stiff neck, so make sure that your pillow is the right size and supports the natural curve of your neck when you are sleeping on your back. The right mattress is integral to a great night’s sleep. A very popular type of mattress is one with memory foam, and these have numerous advantages, but there are also other types of mattresses like innerspring, natural latex, and even waterbeds. You can check out this site for mattress reviews to give you a better idea of what suits you. You should also think about sealing your mattress, especially if you are prone to allergies. If you have an old mattress, it can fill up with dust mite droppings and mold over time. It’s a given, if we don’t have a good quality bed, we won’t get a good quality sleep.

Stress And Anxiety

Have you found yourself not being able to sleep because you are worried about something? You are not alone, but there are things you can do to help ease your worries before going to sleep so you can have adequate rest to deal with the challenges in the morning. One of the most effective things to do is a “brain dump,” where you write down all of your anxieties and thoughts onto paper, fold the paper up, and simply put it to one side. This will stop you going over things in your mind so much. It’s a great way to declutter your mind before bedtime. Another way to reduce stress and anxiety is to start taking up a positive practice before bedtime, such as mindfulness, meditation, deep breathing, anything to get you into a relaxed state. One common method that has been popular is the 4, 7, 8 method. This is a deep breathing exercise where you inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds, and exhale for eight seconds. You do this until you feel yourself drifting off. The important thing is to focus on the breath, and not your thoughts. The other effective way to deal with stress and anxiety is not just before bedtime, but by working at de-stressing yourself every day. So you can try these techniques at any time of day. Box breathing is another type of breathing technique that is actually used by Navy Seals, where you breathe in for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, and then rest without air in your lungs for another 4 seconds. And you can do this for as long as you want until you calm down.

Our Health

Put very simply, if you’re not healthy, you won’t be resting at the optimum level. So this means having, not just a healthy diet, with well-timed stimulants (in other words, no caffeine after midday), but also exercising on a regular basis. The importance of working out isn’t just great for our bodies, but it also will help us to fall asleep and improve our sleep quality. If you get at least 150 minutes of exercise per week, you will see the benefits in your sleep. The best type of exercise is moderate to vigorous exercise, from the standard cardio, all the way through to exercises like yoga. One of the key factors in this may be the intake of oxygen, as you will naturally breathe heavier during a workout, which will trigger relaxation responses.

There are other factors, from the temperature of your room to your sleep cycles, but if you can tackle these four issues, you will see a drastic improvement in your overall quality of sleep, and therefore your quality of life.