I’m Fine

Under Chapter 09. Household Chores and Charm

Before the Industrial Revolution, most clothes were cleaned with steam or rubbed against rocks and rinsed in streams, which made doing laundry an environmentally correct but time-consuming chore. Today, most homes are conveniently equipped with washing machines and dryers or are located close to laundromats, which would cut down on the amount of time it takes to do laundry except for the fact that Americans own more clothes than in previous generations.
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Under Chapter 09. Household Chores and Charm

We spend more hours at work and in school than any other generation has, leaving us less time for housework and leisure activities. If you value leisure time over housework, then de-stressing household chores should become your priority, in order to downshift your home life.
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Under Chapter 09. Household Chores and Charm

Much of your home clutter can be directly related to your mind clutter. Many of you are so busy doing what needs to be done that you rarely have the added energy to straighten up, put papers and clothes away, or perform other “small” chores. These minor tasks add up, however, and within a day or two, you have clutter.
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Under Chapter 09. Household Chores and Charm

Home is supposed to be your sanctuary, but often it is just one more cause of stress in your already over-stressed life. Homes become battlegrounds for dysfunctional family relationships, and the long hours you spend in school and at work rob you of the time to clean and tend to your home environment. How can you truly make your house into a home, even with a limited budget?
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Under Chapter 08. De-stress Your Relationships

As our pets get older, they often experience the aches and pains associated with the degenerative joint disease arthritis. In fact, many of our human conditions occur in our pets. According to a 2003 report by the National Academies National Research Council, 25 percent of dogs and cats in the Western world are obese, thus making them vulnerable to more disease.
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Under Chapter 08. De-stress Your Relationships

Having a pet”any kind of pet”is good for your happiness, your health, and your efforts to downshift the stress in your life. One UCLA study found that dog owners require less medical care than patients without pets do. Another study showed that the simple act of petting an animal can reduce a human’s blood pressure.
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Under Chapter 08. De-stress Your Relationships

Here’s how important friendships are to successfully reducing your stress: an often-quoted study from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) reports a direct link between spending time with friends and experiencing a drop in stress. This is especially true for women, the scientists reported. When women gather together, estrogen triggers a calming response, while testosterone reduces the calming effect. A study from Harvard Medical School also found that the more friends a woman has, the less likely she is to develop physical impairments as she ages and the more likely she is to be happy. The goal is never to let friendships take a back seat to stressful situations in your life because having friends is a powerful weapon against that stress.
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Under Chapter 08. De-stress Your Relationships

Veterinarians say that cats are like humans in feeling stressed because of changes in their environment. The introduction of a new human into a household can cause stress, as can the change in a cat’s environment created by its owner taking a new job with new hours. A move into a new home can also cause stress that may make your cat act withdrawn, become aggressive, or refuse to use the litter box. Patience and empathy are de-stressing responses that cat owners can manifest to minimize stress in their pets.
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Under Chapter 08. De-stress Your Relationships

Friends and family can provide you with the support systems you need to reduce the stress in your life and help you to pursue a more rewarding lifestyle.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo found that the mere presence of a supportive individual in the room can prevent stress-related chemicals such as cortisol from being released.
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Under Chapter 08. De-stress Your Relationships

Strong personal relationships have a direct impact on lowering stress. A University of Chicago study found that people who described themselves as lonely had a higher level of cortisol, the stress hormone that wreaks havoc on our bodies. Research also shows that people who describe themselves as involved in personal relationships with loved ones, friends, family, or others are more likely to experience a better quality of sleep, thus avoiding the stress that comes from inadequate rest. Yet relationships can also be a major source of stress when one person’s stress is sensed and then felt by the other, when communications break down, or when a relationship with a significant other takes a back seat to work, children, or other factors. You can use proactive strategies to sustain loving relationships with significant others; this is more productive than ignoring high-stress warnings that can eventually destroy relationships.
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