Stress Reduction: Foot Reflexology Given by a Massage Chair

by Steve Esquire

The pressures of life seem to be constant, yet the relief of such pressures is so erratic. There are simple and effective means to reduce stress and anxiety. For example, getting a foot reflexology massage can effectively help you relax. Besides just feeling great, a reflexology foot massage can relieve headaches, pain in your back and anxiety. The best massage chairs perform foot reflexology massages right in the comfort of home. Get relief from stress while feeling good with a massage chair recliner.

Reflexology has been around since ancient times in China, India, and Egypt, but was a lost art for many centuries. It was rediscovered by Dr. William Fitzgerald back in 1913. Dr. Fitzgerald noticed that applying certain pressure to areas of the hand and the foot was linked to other organs in the body. As he focused more on these areas, he noticed that certain zones of the feet and hands were linked to specific organs. As he applied pressure in these areas, he found that a complimentary healing process began for whole body healing.

Almost 100 years ago, modern science was applied to the art of foot reflexology. The result of these studies was to correlate the applying of pressure in areas of the feet to healing in different organs in the body. Strong correlations were found which resulted in zones of the feet being defined as reflexology points. Applying gentle or firm pressure in these areas induced relaxation in specific organs of the body. This brought the art of reflexology into the science of reflexology.

The feet are tied to your stress and anxiety. What physically happens when you are stressed? Stress increases the energy in your body through the nervous system. The nervous system reacts to protect the body. This release activates the hands and feet to be ready for action. The major organs become more energized to support the action of the hands and feet. They work in tandem. Reflexology helps to reverse this process and reduce the tension. Remember most stress is mental and does not require the mobilization of the physical defenses.

The Panasonic Real Pro Ultra and the Omega Montage Premier massage chair both offer reflexology foot massage. These reflexology massages use air compression massage. The air system will gently squeeze, hold and then release your feet. This gentle action helps to relieve tension in the feet. Additionally, reflexology nodes are built into the foot wells to induce full body relaxation. These massage chair recliners are effective in helping you to relax.

One of the critical discoveries by Dr. Fitzgerald was that reflexology massage had many healing benefits when an individual received continuous, periodic treatments. He found that just doing a sporadic reflexology massage did not have the same results as patients that received the treatment on a recurring basis. The build up of stress is a continuous process and the relief of such build up must also be continuous. This is a critical distinction with parallels to many types of health issues like diet and exercise which need to be on a continuous basis.

To get the full benefit of foot reflexology massage, it needs to be administered on a frequent basis. This can be inconvenient to have to always go to a massage therapist to receive treatment. Another terrific alternative is a massage chair recliner. Receive a daily reflexology foot massage at the end of a long day. Just come home, kick off your shoes and let your massage chair melt the stress and anxiety away.

About the Author:
Begin to relieve your stress on a daily basis with a Shiatsu Massage Chair. View a tremendous variety of massage chair reviews, features, articles and massage treatments. You will find Shiatsu Massage Chairs with reflexology foot massage, heat treatments, MP3 players, and lower body stretching. Relief is just a push of a button away!

Filed under Anxiety, How To Control Anxiety, Stress

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5 Triggers of a Panic Attack

by Diane Mason

Panic attacks affect thousands of people each year, causing extreme panic and anxiety and a sense of overwhelming dread. Coping with panic attacks is incredibly challenging, and some individuals even become afraid to leave their homes. Part of taking control of your panic disorder symptoms is identifying the triggers of your panic attacks.

Signs of Panic Attacks

It’s difficult to miss a panic attack. It comes without warning and the sufferer responds with a state of fight or flight. The most common panic attack indicators include the following:

- A sense of extreme panic and anxiety, often including a fear of imminent death

- Thumping heart and severe chest pains

- Unsettled stomach and feeling faint

- Sweating, chills, or overheating

- Wobbly sensation

- Restrictive breathing

- A strong desire to escape

Panic Attack Triggers

Some of the triggers of panic attacks can be avoided with careful monitoring. This can provide a sense of greater freedom for those with panic disorder. Knowing the triggers of your panic attacks can help you predict when they will occur.

Trigger 1: Consuming Coffee

Consuming caffeine does raise the heart rate and creates more awareness within you. The raising of the heart rate can trigger a panic attack as it resembles the symptom of a pounding heart. Excessive caffeine can cause dizziness, another symptom of a panic attack.

Trigger 2: Various Medications

It’s smart for people who suffer from panic disorder to shy away from medications that could cause a trigger for a panic attack. An example might be medication that could cause a rise in body temperature which inturn causes the heart rate to increase. Subsequently, the body may believe this to be a panic attack.

Trigger 3: Excessive Exercising

Excessive exercising is another cause of instigating a panic attack. Pushing yourself too far certainly raises the heart rate which mimics the symptoms of a panic attack.

Trigger 4: Tension

Constant worry and stress has the ability to trigger panic attacks. Remaining calm and cool in these times can reduce the chance of experiencing a major panic attack.

Trigger 5: Major Life Change

Big life changes can put your entire system at a disadvantage. When you are coping with the loss of a loved one, a divorce, a new job, or another big change, it’s hard to take care of yourself mentally and physically. It’s important at times like this to take time for yourself and get the support you need from family and friends.

About the Author:
If you’re a sufferer of panic attacks. Discover Diane Mason’s story discussing how she stopped her panic attacks.

Filed under Anxiety, How To Control Anxiety

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How Not To Worry

How not to worry is a struggle I’ve had for my whole life. But recently I’ve made some observations and come to some conclusions that helped me to grow stronger in this area – that have really guided me down the path of finding the solution of how not to worry about everything under the sun.

If there is one thing I’ve been known for is that I’m a worrier. I can worry with the best of them. If you look up worry in the dictionary, there’s a picture of me. I don’t know if this is hereditary, or just learned, but my mom was always a worrier. Maybe that’s where I got it from; I don’t know. But I do know I worry a lot, and I also know something else: it never did me one ounce of good.

First of all, all the worrying in the world is not going to change the outcome of something. I used to worry about my kids being safe on their way to school. Of course, I set up rules and provisions to try to keep them safe; I told them not to talk to any strangers, and made sure they didn’t walk alone. I was a proactive parent, and I did what was considered advisable to keep them safe.

But the bottom line is, as soon as they leave the house something could happen to them. They could get hit by a car. They could slip on ice and break their arm. They could get to the corner and take a right instead of a left. And I couldn’t do anything about it, and all my worrying wouldn’t change that at all!

Fortunately, so far, none of those things have happened. In fact, nothing at all has happened while my kids have walked to school. And I have 5 of them, with the oldest being a sophomore in high school. That’s a lot of uneventful walking to school episodes. This leads me to my second point.

Most of the things you worry about never happen anyway. I’ve trying to adopt the attitude that I’ve got to “play the odds” on the issues I worry about. If something bad has a low chance of happening, I try not to worry about it. One of my kids got to go up in a small airplane as a reward for memorizing Bible verses in Sunday School. His teacher was the pilot, and his job was actually to teach people how to fly. So he knew what he was doing. It was still dangerous, but I calculated the odds in my head, and came up with the fact that the chance of them crashing was probably about 1 in a million, so I didn’t worry (too much).

Lastly, worrying can actually bring on problems. I’ve been self-employed for over 20 years. When you’re self-employed, you know that every month can be an adventure, as far as income goes. There are no guarantees. Well, one of my biggest worries is money. It can be so bad that it can immobilize me – I can spend way to much time fretting about paying the bills, and organizing my Quickbooks, and not near enough time actually working to bring in money. The worrying can overwhelm me and bring about the problem that I’m worrying about. This isn’t good or necessary.

What we’ve recently done is my wife has taken over paying the bills, so I can concentrate on income producing activities. She’s not the worrier I am, and even if she does worry about it, it doesn’t detract from the actual goal of making the needed income to pay the bills.

If you want to know how not to worry, try to readjust your thinking in the 3 ways I’ve outlined above. And remember what the Bible says: Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Learn how not to worry - find out how to control anxiety today, including panic attacks, job-related stress, or just a general feeling of anxiety. Do it now – you don’t have to continue to live this way!

Filed under How To Control Anxiety, Worrying

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