Maurice Pierce July 2, 2024
● Stress in our lives is unavoidable, it’s part of being human and no one is immune. That said, we do have a choice; we can control the stress in our lives or let it control us. The cause of stress is rooted in wrongful perceptions people try to force on each other.
People force their wrongful perceptions on others, usually because they want control over them. This in turn creates more stress by forcing others to submit to a negative perception of themselves. Thus, having wrongful perceptions of others often bring about behavioral and decision-making problems in them.
What’s just as important as the cause, are the effects stress can have on us. Frequent and/or prolonged stress can cause physical illnesses in addition to the mental health worries italicized above. Remember, it’s not how hard you fall; it’s how fast you bounce back.
For those of us who don’t bounce back so easily, there is resilience building. Resilience building is a behavioral skill that can be learned. It’s not just about surviving, it’s also about thriving. Resilience is the process of adapting, learning more about yourself from stressful moments and emerging stronger than before.
You can easily teach yourself —resilience building — start by writing down your thoughts and feelings. It’s a good way to release suppressed feelings. Think about what you’re feeling and roll with that. Write anything that comes to mind and then reread it, because what you wrote might appear a little on the crazy side when given a second read or not.
Anyway, this will help you keep perspective so you don’t get lost in your sadness. No need to share anything you write with others; this is for your eyes only. Don’t worry about good grammar or spelling until you’re done. It’s important because you want to be able to make sense of what you wrote the next day.
Resilience inspires active hope and self-gratitude. These emotions decrease stress on the mind and spirit, thereby helping you overcome fear and apathy better than meditation and psychotherapy, IMO. Focus on the things you can control, like creating a nutrient-rich diet, which is critical to protecting your body against the ills of stress. What’s more, stop worrying about what you can’t control — specifically, wrongful perceptions by others.
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Maurice Pierce June 16, 2024
● For adults, a good night’s sleep is essential for healthy brain function and the regeneration process. Sleep improves memory, focus, learning, and creativity by allowing the brain to consolidate memories, clean out toxins, and create new neural connections. As for regeneration, sleep puts the body in repair mode.
This helps accelerate tissue healing by stimulating the body to produce immune cells that fight infections and inflammation thereby preventing accelerated cellular aging. For children and teens, sleep is essential for growth and development. Sleep triggers the release of growth hormones, which helps tissue repair, muscle development, and bone growth.
As for development, good sleeping habits aid them in managing their emotions (impulsive behavior), reduces irritability (tantrums) and decreases anxiety (frustrations). Getting consistent, quality sleep is vital to our physical and mental wellbeing and allows all of us to not just survive but to thrive daily.
A toxic lifestyle will disrupt any chance of having a good night’s sleep. If you’re forever poisoning your body and your children’s, it will always be in a state of chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation prevents our body and mind from relaxing, hence insomnia.
Lack of sleep in itself will produce ongoing chronic inflammation throughout the body. So, there it is: a toxic lifestyle leads to chronic inflammation, leads to short-term insomnia, leads to ongoing chronic inflammation, leads to chronic insomnia, leads to illness, leads to severe insomnia, etc., etc. It’s a vicious downward spiral that won’t end well for anyone.
Eating UPFs late (or anytime, for that matter) keeps your body stimulated and this overstimulation of the nervous system disrupts natural sleep-wake cycles. Environmental factors — noise pollution, poor indoor air quality, and EMFs from too many electronic devices in the bedroom — also contribute to disrupting your sleep cycles. To break the cycle of inadequate nighttime sleep, simply stop living a toxic lifestyle.
Do this by reducing your daily exposure to the seven deadly poisons. In my opinion, 5–7 hours of sleep are sufficient for adults, while 9 or 10 hours is an achievable and adequate amount for children and teens.
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