Laura had suffered from food allergies her entire life. If she deviated from a restricted diet, she would feel the consequences: abdominal pain, diarrhea, and headaches. Eating out at restaurants was especially hard on her, because there would often be some hidden ingredient in a meal that would make her sick. She had read my book Superimmunity for Kids during her first pregnancy and had applied its concepts to feeding her family over the next two decades.
“I know exactly what I’m supposed to do,” she told me. “But I just don’t have the time.”
Between raising a family and managing a retail business, Laura had little time for taking care of herself. Once her kids were out of the house, her father became ill and moved in with her. Like so many women, she’d gone from caring for her children to caring for a parent. “Maybe I just need a pep talk,” she said.
I considered Laura’s lifestyle—a never-ending cycle of responsibilities, spinning at a hectic pace. I’d been there myself; I’m sure you’ve been there, too. When life’s responsibilities become overwhelming, laying down more rules to follow is not the solution. We needed a different approach. If Laura couldn’t stick to a diet that would improve her health and daily quality of life, if she couldn’t regulate what was going into her body despite everything she’d learned and even put into practice for her family, we needed to tackle the problem closer to its inception—not in a physical way, but in a mental one.
The Stress-Allergy Connection
Much like the evil mastermind in a James Bond film, stress may be found at the heart of many illnesses and physical ailments. Allergic symptoms are no exception. The association between stress and allergies reaches back to the the dawn of Western medicine in ancient Greece. Asthma was referred to as “asthma nervosa” in early medical texts, and 2,500 years ago Hippocrates theorized a link between an angry mind and shortness of breath.
Medical research continues to explore the stress-allergy connection. A study done at Ohio State University revealed that in allergy sufferers the frequency of allergy flare-ups is directly linked to the persistence of mental stress and that less stress can lead to fewer flare-ups.1 Some people in the study reported allergy flares within days of increased stress. The research suggests a disturbing snowball effect: symptoms such as sneezing, runny nose, and watery eyes can add stress to sufferers and, for some, may even become the main cause of stress. While alleviating stress may not reverse allergies, it can help decrease episodes of intense symptoms.
The Ohio State researchers also demonstrated that psychological stress and mood can directly impact allergic reactivity. They did skin tests on people with nasal allergies before and after having the subjects perform mental arithmetic in front of a small audience. Greater anxiety increased the size of the itchy red wheal that formed in response to the skin test. This increase in allergic reactivity persisted for more than 24 hours, and it did not occur in people who were not given the stressful task but just sat in the same room.2
In an article from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, researchers reviewed numerous studies on stress and allergy and summarized the data, finding that stress was linked to:
The Mississippi scientists recommended stress reduction coupled with training to improve coping skills in the face of adverse situations. They noted that psychological interventions such as expressive writing and relaxation therapy had been found helpful in improving asthma. They also noted that psychotherapy reduced emergency room visits and asthma exacerbations for patients who were depressed.
A study of university students from Finland concluded that stressful events such as personal conflict or the illness of a family member increased the risk of developing asthma and allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.4
Mind over Allergies
Stress not only provokes allergy symptoms, it is also a well-documented factor in promoting inflammation. The confluence of stress and inflammation led scientists from the University of Wisconsin to state: “Psychological stress is a major provocative factor of symptoms in chronic inflammatory conditions.”5 The role of inflammation in asthma (described in Chapter 12) makes stress management an important modality of treatment for people with asthma.
The Wisconsin researchers compared an eight-week meditation course with another healthy-practices intervention to see how each modality might reduce stress and thereby inflammation. The healthy-practices intervention, called the Health Enhancement Program, consisted of exercise such as walking; strength, balance, and agility training; education in nutrition; and music therapy.
The meditation program was mindfulness-based stress reduction, developed at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Considered the primary form of meditation in health care settings, mindfulness-based meditation seeks to cultivate an awareness of the present moment through focused attention on the body and mind while sitting, walking, or practicing forms of movement such as yoga.
In the Wisconsin study, the participants were given a stress test that consisted of public speaking for five minutes followed by five minutes of mental arithmetic. Both the meditation and the healthy-practices program helped their participants cope better with the mental stress of the test. Mindfulness-based stress reduction, however, also produced a decrease in inflammation that was not seen with the healthy-practices program. The researchers noted that the ability of meditation to reduce inflammation might make it particularly helpful as a therapeutic tool for inflammatory conditions.
Doing Less Helps You Do More
One of the great paradoxes of our shared experience on this earth is that not doing can actually make you more productive. I’m talking about creating stillness, which is not to be confused with mindless inactivity. This truth has not only been grasped by all religions of the world, it has been studied by modern scientists as well. Medical research has proved that just a few hours of training in meditation can increase the efficiency of connections in your brain and enhance your ability to focus your thoughts.6
The regular practice of meditation increases the efficiency with which you make decisions, improves the depth and speed with which you process new information, and helps you preserve brain function as you age.7
I described the benefits of “creating stillness” to Laura and told her about a study done at Duke University a few years ago in which researchers developed a workplace stress reduction program consisting of meditation or yoga for highly stressed employees. Both relaxation techniques lowered the participants’ mental distress and improved the quality of their sleep.8
I recommended that Laura take some time each day for meditation, yoga, or focused relaxation, because finding stillness on a daily basis would help her manage a busy schedule with less pressure and greater efficiency. In this way, she would soon find the time and energy to manage her dietary needs with less effort. I gave her several simple methods that I describe later in this chapter. There’s no evidence that one technique is superior to another. Choose those that are most appealing to you. It’s the method you actually use that will help you the most.
Mental Stillness Leads to Mental Toughness
At a glance, the advice I gave Laura that day seems simple enough: find time for meditation and focused relaxation. But if you try this and find that it’s not as easy as it first appears, that’s okay. It’s the repetition of trying it that’s important. If you can’t find ten minutes a day to meditate or relax in some way, do it for five. If five minutes is too long, try doing it for two. Once the practice is part of your life, you’ll be able to bring your mind to a place of deep relaxation in under 30 seconds, so that you’re never very far from stillness, no matter how busy you are.
This practice is also a way to develop the quality that often sets top athletes apart from others—the factor that puts one on the podium with a medal or gets another one the big trophy. This quality is known as mental toughness. It’s what gives athletes the ability to withstand the tremendous pressure of competition and do their best when it matters. It’s the result of cultivating calm and focus and practicing how to maintain it on a daily basis.
If you’re like my patient Laura, seeking balance and calm in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle amid the storm of modern life, you’re an Olympic athlete in your own right. The principle of creating stillness, and in the process developing mental toughness, in order to work more efficiently and with a greater capacity is not only reserved for events like the World Cup. Each day of juggling our responsibilities in the workplace and at home can feel like a tennis championship, and we must remember to calm our minds for the sake of our overall health.
Calming the Mind Heals the Body
Before Laura left my office, I told her that there could be another, deeper benefit of creating stillness: it was likely to reduce the severity of her symptoms, essentially making her less allergic. I told her about one study in which a single 20-minute meditation was able to significantly reduce pain in people suffering from migraine headaches, and another demonstrating that regular meditation and focused relaxation could decrease abdominal pain and diarrhea in people with irritable bowel syndrome.9
There are other examples. Progressive muscle relaxation (described on the next page) decreases the amount of itching experienced by people with eczema, improving their sleep quality.10 Progressive muscle relaxation also decreases asthmatic symptoms in pregnant women and teenage girls.11 Both yoga and meditation have been found to improve quality of life in asthmatics.12
In particular, meditation with visualization was shown to improve lung function as well as respiratory symptoms in a group of people with asthma.13 A study of subjects with migraine headaches and abdominal pain done at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland found that focused meditation and visualization not only reduced pain but also reduced laboratory signs of allergic inflammation.14
Getting Started with Meditation
You don’t need to sit quietly to meditate, and I’ll describe some types of moving meditation and active relaxation later in this chapter. However, sitting quietly is a good way to start. Find a quiet place and a comfortable spot to sit, perhaps sitting up in bed or on your sofa. Before you start, turn off the TV, the radio, and your phone and enjoy the stillness.
Let your arms rest gently by your side. Close your eyes. Become aware of your breath, just noticing how you are breathing, not changing anything. You may find your belly rising as you breathe in and falling as you breathe out. That’s good—you have just achieved a level of awareness of your body.
Let your attention drift down to your toes. See how your toes feel, just becoming aware of your toes. Flex your toes, and then let them relax. Wiggle your toes around. Let your toes enjoy their freedom.
Now bring your focus to the bottoms of your feet. Perhaps your feet feel tight or tired. Gently flex your feet, curling your toes toward your heels a little bit, and then let go. Let the tension go out of your feet and feel your body relax. Perhaps you let out a little sigh as you do this, which is perfectly all right. You may want to take a moment to appreciate your feet for all the effort they make to support your whole body throughout the day.
Next, let your awareness come to your ankles. Gently pull your toes up until you feel a slight flex, then release them, letting your ankles and shins relax. From there, let your focus turn to the backs of your legs, to your calf muscles. Point your toes as you would when doing toe raises, and feel the muscles in your calves contract. Let go and feel the heaviness of the calf muscles as they relax.
Now move up to your thighs, among the most powerful muscles in your body. Without moving your legs, simply squeeze your quadriceps and feel the muscles bulge a little bit, then let them go. You may feel a slight sensation of warmth coming into your legs from the contracting.
Now feel the backs of your legs, from the hamstrings up to the buttocks. Squeeze this area and then let it go, letting it relax and soften.
Coming back around to the front of your body, notice your belly. Ever so gently flex your stomach muscles, then let them go. Continuing on up, flex your chest muscles by squeezing your elbows into your sides gently, then release.
Now flex your biceps in the classic “make a muscle” pose, then let go. Feel your arms relax. Gently draw your fingers in to make a fist, then let them go. Give your shoulders a little shake and let your arms and your hands hang loose.
Your face is waiting to let go of tension as well. Gently scrunch your face up for a moment, then let go. You might feel your entire head relax.
Now notice how your whole body feels, from your head down to your toes. Feel the stillness, the quiet, the calm. Relax and enjoy the moment. Remember this feeling throughout the day, and return to it in your mind when you feel like you need to de-stress.
Detox Your Thoughts Meditation
Do you ever feel like your thoughts are going around and around in your head? Maybe you feel irritated by some of the thoughts that go through your mind. Maybe you feel they’re distracting you from focusing on something more important. Cutting through that static, turning down the noise, is one of the main goals of meditation.
So here is a short practice to help you detoxify those troubling thoughts and gain greater peace of mind right away. I have used this method many times, and I’ve found that it can provide a unique sense of calm in a very short amount of time.
Sit in a comfortable place, much as you would for the Head-to-Toe Relaxation described above. Imagine that a hand is resting on your forehead. It is there to give comfort to your mind, to soothe your thoughts. Give this imaginary hand the ability to absorb any irritating thoughts. Let those thoughts float out of your mind into the hand. Notice the unique sense of spaciousness and calm that you can have without those extra thoughts.
Now imagine that the hand is cradling the back of your head, just above your neck. Again let your thoughts get absorbed by the hand, and let your mind become still.
You might be wondering what you will do with all the extra brainpower you can access with meditation. The answer is: plenty. All the positive steps you want to take for your health and your life require a lot of focus and energy, and that is exactly what meditation can give you.
Yoga-Based Meditation for Asthma
There are many types of yoga. Some seem more like a competitive sport than personal meditation. Strenuous yoga seems to be the fashion at certain gyms: either poses held forever that put agility and strength to the test, or the instructor running through a series of difficult maneuvers while making it all look easy. But the type of practice I want to talk about now is about quieting the mind, which lies at the heart of yoga.
Indian researchers wanted to find out if a type of meditative yoga called Sahaja yoga could help improve symptoms and lung function in people with asthma. They recruited people for the study from newspaper ads, primary care practitioners, and asthma clinics. All participants were 18 or over and had suffered from mild to moderate asthma for at least six months. They formed two groups, one that received the Sahaja yoga intervention for two weeks and a control group that received conventional medical treatment.
The Sahaja yoga group was counseled in achieving mental stillness through the use of silent affirmations of health and well-being. They also viewed instructional videos and had the opportunity to discuss any issues with the instructor. In addition, this group was encouraged to practice at home for 10 to 20 minutes each day to achieve a state of mental tranquility. The meditation was done while sitting.
The group receiving yoga training showed a progressive improvement in lung function that was first measured at two weeks and continued for another six weeks after the instruction was completed. Both groups showed an improvement in asthma-related quality of life and a decreased use of medication, but the benefits were more pronounced and occurred faster in the group practicing yoga.
The study highlights the benefits of mind-body relaxation techniques and yoga meditation as a complementary approach to asthma. What made the yoga meditation helpful in the study? As one potential explanation, the authors point to how meditation seeks to create a positive or benevolent view of the self and others. They emphasize that both mind-body relaxation and yoga should be considered as an addition to conventional drug therapy, not as a replacement.15
Relax Your Mind by Moving Your Body and Feeding Your Spirit
There are times when I am not inclined to sit still for meditation, when I need to move to shake off the stress. Many kinds of movement can be stress releasing, particularly those that help you clear your mind, enjoy deep breathing, or even enter profound silence, be it walking, yoga, or tai chi. These practices encourage you to focus entirely on body and breath and allow the mind’s chatter to subside. For those of you who prefer more physical ways to de-stress, here are a few ideas to help you chill out.
Walk Your Stress Away
Sometimes when you are feeling stressed, just getting the body moving—even taking a leisurely stroll for as little as five minutes—can help you burn off that stress right away. It makes perfect sense, when you think about the connection between the mind and the body, that releasing pent-up physical tension can lead to a new state of peacefulness. If you’re feeling stressed by a problem at work, getting away from that problem for a few minutes can be an effective way to de-stress and maybe even find a new way to a solution. You can consider the rhythmic swinging of your arms and the repetitive motion of putting one foot in front of the other as a form of meditation that can reconnect you with your body and refresh your mind.
We are all profoundly linked to our natural environment, so reconnecting with nature from time to time can bring us back to our roots. According to a review article from the University of Illinois, our contact with natural environments has many benefits for our physical and mental health. Nature can help reduce stress and relieve sadness and depression. Access to nature is also linked to enhanced brainpower, more self-discipline, and improved mental health.
And getting in touch with nature can improve functioning of the immune system, enable greater physical fitness, and help diabetics better control blood glucose levels.16 The Illinois researchers point out that the experience of nature can range from being in a forest to enjoying an urban park to looking out the window at a view of nature. Any contact with nature is preferable to no contact with nature.
Take a Relaxing Mineral Bath
Stress can reduce our levels of magnesium.17 In Chapter 13 I explain some consequences of magnesium depletion and suggest excellent dietary sources of this essential mineral. Here’s another way to overcome the magnesium-depleting effects of stress. Set aside a half hour for a hot bath. Get out a fluffy towel and a favorite bathrobe. The only other thing you will need is a box of Epsom salts, which are composed of magnesium sulfate. Pour two cups of Epsom salts into the tub while you are running the bathwater.
The magnesium in Epsom salts is a natural muscle relaxant that can help you unwind as you soak. In a study from the University of Birmingham in Great Britain, people who soaked in an Epsom salts bath 12 minutes each day for seven days raised their magnesium levels measurably.18 Giving yourself a wonderful treat like this might be just what you need to shift gears from “doing” to “being.” With your cares and worries floating away in the water, you could emerge from the bath feeling relaxed and reinvigorated.
If you don’t have time for a soothing bath, try soaking your feet for about five minutes in a tub or basin of warm water. Find a comfortable sitting or reclining posture, immerse your feet, and close your eyes. If it’s a hot day, you might prefer to soak in cool or room-temperature water, which will help bring down your body temperature. For maximum benefit, breathe slowly and focus entirely on your breath and your bodily sensations, letting go of all your chores and obligations.
Music to Your Ears
Listening to beautiful music is one of life’s great pleasures. When you are immersed in the music you love, you are easily carried away by the emotions that the music induces, and you let your worries float away. Music is a great source of inspiration that can help us gather our strength and rouse us to action. It can also help us relax and find inner peace.
A team of researchers from the United States, Canada, and France have noted that listening to music can influence people to be happier and more positive. Even more important, in their study they demonstrated that relaxing music can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which may account for the stress-reducing effect of music.19
For relaxation purposes, I like classical music. It could even be chanting, or the sounds of nature, such as birds chirping, waves breaking, or the patter of raindrops. The important thing is that you select something that you find truly, deeply relaxing. As a relaxation exercise, lie down on your bed or a comfortable sofa and play the music at a low to medium volume. Let your mind drift away on the sounds, almost as if they were the sweet murmurs of your loved ones or a lullaby caressing your soul. Immerse yourself in the beauty of the music. Follow your imagination and let the enchanting tune take you to a faraway place. Like meditation, this can bring you to a state of peace and deep relaxation.
Music and dance have been a source of joy and expression from the earliest moments of our existence. We’ve used dance for celebration, entertainment, communication, and expressing spiritual rapture. The rhythm of dance can lighten the burden of work. Dance may be personal or communal, but it always transforms experience.
Modern researchers have demonstrated the benefits of dance therapy for fibromyalgia, depression, high blood pressure, heart failure, cancer-related fatigue and quality of life, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma.20
Dance improves balance, mood, and fitness in people of all ages. When researchers at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine followed 469 healthy elderly adults for five years, they found that those who danced socially enjoyed a 76 percent decrease in the risk of developing cognitive impairment.21
Dance to music you love as often as you can. Neither the type of dance nor the type of music matters. The pleasure you derive from dance is all that counts. In her delightful book Goddesses Never Age, Dr. Christiane Northrup recounts the exhilaration she felt dancing the tango in Buenos Aires. She describes it as an epic event that truly spoke to her soul. With profound insight, she explains, “Movement that is in tune with our core being is movement that is sustainable—and it’s the type of ‘exercise’ we all need.”22
Reconnect with People
So many people are spending so much time staring at little screens . . . and big screens . . . that it seems there just isn’t time to talk to other people. But this dependence on technology can end up isolating us. You have heard it said that humans are social animals. Connecting with others is a deep part of who we are.
Scientists reason that over our years of evolution, being part of a group that worked together increased our chances of survival.23 Today medical research tells us that loneliness is linked to poor health, impaired immunity, more chronic diseases, increased inflammation, and lower odds of survival.
Relationships are so important that I named them the first Pillar of Healing in my book Power Healing. A sense of community, of belonging, can help buffer the effects of stress and contribute to our overall health. So find ways to reconnect with people you care about, and see how doing so supports your well-being.
A study from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California looked at the impact of an eight-week meditation course on the link between loneliness and inflammation in senior citizens. They were particularly interested in finding out how participating in group instruction in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) would affect perceptions of loneliness and the raised levels of inflammation that often accompany loneliness.
At baseline, before training in MBSR, the seniors had elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in their blood. CRP is so strongly linked to adverse health outcomes that it has become the most commonly used marker of inflammation in clinical trials. A critical gene involved in producing inflammation was also found to be more active, or up-regulated.24
The training in MBSR consisted of a two-hour group session each week, a daylong retreat in the sixth or seventh week, and 30 minutes a day of home mindfulness practice. The control group was studied while on a waiting list to receive the MBSR training, which they did after the end of the trial. At the end of eight weeks, the participants who had done the training were understandably less lonely, while those on the waiting list felt more lonely. MBSR produced a reduction in upregulation of the pro-inflammatory gene and tended to reduce CRP.
What is most significant about this study is that participation in a meditation group decreased systemic inflammation at its roots by decreasing the activity of a gene that promotes inflammation. Although you cannot change your genes, you can change what your genes do.
If you have a patch of vegetables or flowers in your own backyard, just looking at them can fill your heart with pleasure. Notice how plants grow, mature, and wither. This is the cycle of life. Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian mystic and philosopher, believed that understanding this cycle was the first step in spiritual enlightenment. Raking the soil from time to time, harvesting the veggies for your kitchen or simply standing quietly with a hose can be terrifically therapeutic. Even five minutes spent gardening can relax your mind and refresh your spirit.
If you don’t have a yard, try growing herbs indoors. Italian parsley is my favorite. It’s easy to grow in pots, thrives in window light, and doesn’t need much water. The leaves are joyfully green and great to chew with a wonderful, fresh aroma. They’re a key ingredient in the Immune Balance Soup.
Enjoy Creative Time in the Kitchen
For many people, the quiet, peaceful act of working with food can be a meditative experience—rinsing veggies, choosing ingredients for a beautiful salad, carefully arranging fruits and vegetables on a plate—can bring immense joy. When everything is done and food brought to the table, just seeing your friends or loved ones enjoy the food you’ve created can be therapeutic and relaxing, releasing the stress from a day’s work.
Morning Coffee Meditation
For those of you who cherish that glorious first cup of coffee in the morning, I have some very good news. I propose a meditation that blends perfectly with your routine. While these two might not seem to go together, a closer look reveals that both coffee and meditation can help you to sit quietly, fill your senses, and contemplate nature. In this way they complement each other surprisingly well.
As you’ll see, this practice works best with organic coffee, decaf or regular, from small farms or plantations. The magic starts right when you begin to brew the coffee, when that amazing aroma wafts up into the air, signaling that your day has begun. Warm your mug by pouring a touch of hot water into it, waiting a moment, then pouring it out. Slowly fill your mug with freshly brewed coffee, then bring it with you as you settle into your favorite seat. Cup the mug in your hands and feel the warmth, taking a moment to savor the aroma again. Wait with expectation as it cools off enough to drink, then enjoy that first sip with deep appreciation.
Carefully holding on to the mug so you don’t spill en route, let your mind travel to lush, green, subtropical coffee-growing mountains. Picture in your mind’s eye row upon row of green-leafed coffee bushes, adorned with bright red coffee beans. This is farm country, timeless, with just a couple of traditional clay-roofed farmhouses and a dirt road.
Now picture the gently sloping sides of a majestic mountain rising in the distance. As you breathe in, imagine that you can embody the mountain, absorbing its strength and solid mass. The mountain helps you feel grounded to the earth, and it is an image you can carry with you throughout the day.
As you sip your coffee, take a moment to appreciate the organic farmers who tended the coffee plants with care and the roasters who skillfully brought out the flavor of the beans. Allow yourself to feel content that you are supporting organic farming, helping to protect the farms and the farmers. As you continue to drink your coffee, take satisfaction from connecting with the people who create it and the places where it originates, right down to the fertile soil.
As your thoughts return to where you are, you may find that the inviting aroma of coffee has spread throughout the house. If there are other people around, you may have a moment to connect with them over coffee and spread the feeling of contentment from your meditation. If you work at home, this meditation is a nice way to feel a sense of connection with the outside world right from the start of your day.
What if you don’t make coffee at home, but grab a coffee on the way to work instead? Even if you are in a rush, you can still do this meditation on the train, bus, or subway, making sure to keep a good grip on your coffee container. Notice how you feel at the end of your journey, maybe a little more calm and relaxed.
Sleep is essential to our well-being. Nothing helps us to beat stress and restore our energy more than a good night’s sleep. Our natural immune system counts on sufficient hours of sleep to shore up our defense against any physical or mental threat.
There is scientific evidence on the interaction between chronic stress and sleep problems. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that people with chronic stress report shorter sleep duration, worse sleep quality, and more daytime functioning impairments. This is also true the other way around: the study indicates that poor sleep may be a cause of stress. And people who report more fatigue and less total sleep are more likely to report more stress. The simplest, and likely best, advice given by the researchers for individuals with high stress and poor sleep is to look at some of the lifestyle choices they are making and ensure that sufficient sleep is at the core of those choices.25
Sleep is a healing process, an active time when your body melts away the stresses of the day and restores itself, preparing you to face new challenges. Sleep deprivation in animal experiments has been found to increase susceptibility to viral and bacterial infection. In humans, insomnia reduces natural killer cell activity. Healthy young men awakened from sleep between 3 and 7 A.M. show a 30 percent dip in natural killer cell activity the next morning.
Sleep is a key health marker, too. A National Sleep Foundation survey revealed that stress and poor health are linked to less sleep and disrupted sleep. Those who report they are in very good or excellent health sleep 18 to 23 minutes more than those who say their health is not as good. If you take control of your sleep with a positive approach, you are on your way to less stress and better health.
The natural sleep requirement for adults varies from six to ten hours per day, with most people needing seven to nine hours, preferably without interruption. Daytime relaxation is also crucial. Quiet meditation each day may lower blood pressure, relieve anxiety, improve nighttime sleep, and reduce the discomfort of chronic headache and other painful conditions.
However, environmental factors such as noise, light, temperature, and the mattress you lie on can make it more difficult for you to get a good night’s sleep, so you need to take care of your bedroom environment, too.
Here are some healthy tips to help you sleep better:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one-third of all Americans suffer from sleep disturbances. If you improve your sleep, you can reduce your stress level and make a big difference in your quality of life—including your symptoms of allergy.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we looked inward to see how our inner lives and our responses to stress could reflect on our well-being. We brought to light important medical research that is unraveling the secrets of how stress, inflammation, and allergy are intertwined.
You met Laura, a working mom with food allergies, stomachaches, digestive trouble, and headaches who was unable to stick to her diet while overwhelmed with stress and responsibilities. I recommended she try meditation or other relaxation methods. She enrolled in a beginning yoga class and found she really enjoyed it; it was a positive step that gave her a sense of stillness and at the same time energy and focus. We were able to build on that so she was able to eat the way she’d always wanted. Her headaches vanished and her stomach distress gradually improved.
We explored the stress-allergy connection and learned about the science that teaches us that stress can lead to increased inflammation, higher rates of hospital admissions for asthma, and greater allergic reactivity. We learned how, by using simple mind-body techniques such as meditation and yoga, we can take an active and powerful role in reducing stress and nourishing our own well-being. Getting back to nature, listening to soothing music, dancing, and taking a mineral bath are other methods we reviewed for beating stress. Try one and you just may discover a new, more harmonious relationship with yourself and the world around you.