HealthyLife Articles

Blog

Manage Your Stress

Stress Management

Stress is a fact of life, but the affect it has on your health makes stress management techniques worth a second look. Unchecked stress can lead to weight gain, mood disturbances, and chronic disease. It can cause symptoms of illness, and prompt anxiety, irritability, and feelings of sadness and restlessness.

But stress doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Learning one or two tools to manage stress can put you back in charge of your health. Check outapa.orgfor stress tips to try.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Make Stress Work For You

Stress Management

Slay your dragons and eat them for lunch! (Figuratively speaking, that is.) Lots of people have learned to tame stress by refusing to accept defeat in the face of negative forces. Instead, they meet stress head on, with a positive outcome. In other words, if you can use a negative event (like losing your job) to motivate you to take positive action (like getting a better job), you can beat stress at its own game.

Here’s how you can make stress work for you, not against you.

* Try not to think of setbacks as defeats.

* View stress as an energizer. Consider each new demand as a challenge, no matter how forbidding it may seem.

* Always ask yourself, “What’s the best that can happen?” rather than “What’s the worst possible outcome?”

* Pause between skirmishes. Allow for rest and recuperation before facing each challenge.

* Take charge. Although you can’t control other people’s actions, you can control your response to what comes your way. When it comes to managing your emotions, you’re the boss.

* Don’t try to please everyone-you can’t. (Do aim to please yourself occasionally, though.)

* Get the big picture. Think in terms of long-range goals, not just day-to-day problems.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Make Soup!

Nutrition

People sip, slurp, and spoon soup not only for basic sustenance, but also to stay healthy. Chicken soup really does help relieve the nasal stuffiness of a cold. And studies show that soup can help you lose weight. Because soup is mostly liquid, it takes longer to eat than solid food. By the time you’ve sipped the last spoonful, your brain will have noticed that you’ve eaten, and shut off your appetite. If you’d quickly gobbled down a sandwich, your brain would still be asking “What’s for lunch?”

Here are some tips for making soup that’s a bowlful of nutrition.

* Use skim milk instead of whole milk for creamed or condensed soups. You’ll save calories and add calcium, vitamin D, and protein.

* Soups that feature vegetables, beans, or rice add fiber and nutrients to your diet.

* Add the liquid left over from cooking vegetables to soup stock.

* Season homemade soup with herbs and seasonings like parsley, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder, instead of salt.

* If you rely on commercially prepared soup for convenience, try to stick with reduced or low-sodium ones.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Make Healthy Food Choices.Focus On “L” Words.

Nutrition

* Less high calorie, high-fat foods

* Lean or low-fat meat, chicken, turkey, and fish

* Low-fat and nonfat dairy foods

* Limit portion sizes for meals and snacks.

* Little piece or serving

* Labels. Read “Nutrition Facts” on food labels. Choose foods with fiber, vitamins A and C, calcium and iron. Choose foods lower in fat, sugar, calories, and sodium.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Make An Appointment To Exercise & Keep It

Fitness

Like many people, you’re probably wondering when you’ll find the time to exercise when your days are already jam-packed with job responsibilities, family demands, and other obligations. It’s true that trying to fit something new, like exercise, into a busy schedule takes some doing. But it can be done. Here are some pointers to get you started.

* Make an appointment to exercise, just as you would schedule any other important obligation, and write it on your calendar.

* Choose an exercise or fitness activity that you’ll enjoy, so you’ll look forward to your workout and be less tempted to skip it.

* Look for openings in your schedule you may have overlooked-after the kids leave for school in the morning, before dinner, or during lunch hours you normally spend with friends or business colleagues.

* And one more thing: Don’t give up if you occasionally have to skip your workout because of a cold, bad weather, or emergencies. Perfect attendance isn’t important.

Exercise Early

What’s the best time of day to exercise? A study conducted by the Southwest Health Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, showed that 75 percent of morning exercisers were likely to still be at it one year later, as opposed to 50 percent of those who exercised at midday and 25 percent of those who exercised in the evening. It seems that as the day progresses, would-be exercisers are more likely to think of excuses to avoid working out.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Lose Weight By Cleaning Up Psychological Pollution

Weight Control

Smile when you push away those french fries, because maintaining a positive attitude is important for anyone watching their weight. And it requires some extra effort because-let’s face it-trying to lose weight is probably not your idea of fun.

Basically there are two kinds of attitudes you can adopt: negative or positive.

* People with a negative attitude undermine their own efforts. They see weight loss as a form of self-denial only, an ordeal to be suffered through. People with a negative attitude perceive that something of great value has been denied. They pollute their minds with this negative thinking in much the same way that we pollute our air and water. As a result, they soon begin to feel sorry for themselves and end up eating to relieve those feelings of loss and denial.

* People with a positive attitude approach weight control as an opportunity for improvement, self-enhancement, and self-control. A positive attitude enables a dieter to focus on what can be gained in terms of satisfaction, self-esteem, and better health rather than what is lost.

To clean up your “psychological pollution,” stick to your goals, memorize or write down this credo, called the Dieter’s Dictum, and repeat it to yourself often.

I do not think of weight control as “giving up my problem foods.” To give something up denotes that it has some value. Overeating has no value to me. I view eating management as “getting rid of my problem foods” much like I get rid of the week’s garbage.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Listening Blocks In My Life

Systematic Stress Management Program

Step 7: Communication & Stress Section

Introduction

What is Your Ear-Q?

Ten Blocks to Effective Listening

Listening Blocks in My Life

Skills for Active Listening

Improving Your Ear-Q

Assertiveness

Assertiveness Inventory

Assertiveness with Other People

The Benefits of Assertiveness

Assertiveness Training – The L.A.D.D.E.R. Technique

My Practice L.A.D.D.E.R.

Using the “10 Blocks to Effective Listening”, fill in the chart below.

Action Plan for Improved Listening

Complete after reading this section.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

Step 1: Understanding Stress

Step 3: Type A & B Behavior Patterns

Step 5: Thinking Differently

Step 7: Communication & Stress

Step 2: Stress Management at Work

Step 4: Biofeedback Training & Relaxation

Step 6: Time Management

Steps to Systematic Stress Management™

RELATED ARTICLES

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine – All Rights Reserved.Disclaimer|www.HealthyLife.com

January 23, 2026
Limit Calories From Alcohol

Weight Control

If you drink alcohol, you could be taking in hundreds of empty calories every week, leading to a steady, unhealthy weight gain.

Healthy, low-calorie:Drink more non-alcoholic, low-calorie beverages (e.g., sparkling water with lemon).

Drink “spacers”:Space out alcoholic drinks to make every other one a non-alcoholic drink.

The company you keep:Try to avoid or limit being around people who drink a lot of alcohol.

Helpful distractions:Find a healthy, distracting activity to do like a hobby or physical activity, if you get the urge to drink.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Life Events Questionnaire

Systematic Stress Management Program

Step 1: Understanding Stress Section

Introduction

Common Symptoms of Distress

Life Events Questionnaire

Types of Stressors

Daily Hassles and Uplifts

Identification of Stressors

The following step in the system to Systematic Stress Management is the Identification of Personal Stressors. A stressor is anything that produces stress. It can be a major life event, a situation, an object, or a thought that will cause the stress response to occur in the body.

Is there a connection between the number of major life events a person experiences in a year and the likelihood of illness? Drs. Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe think so. They reached this conclusion after questioning 7,000 people about the number of life events they went through in one year. The people who scored highest on this questionnaire experienced the highest amount of physical illness in the year following the test. This would make sense if change places demand upon the body causing stress. As seen in the stress quotient, the body requires rest or diversion. Without it, illness or accident can result.

Instructions: Print this topic and complete the exercise to identify events that occurred in the past 12 months. Then record your score with the event value for each. Total the score.

Event

Rank

Event

Value

Life

Event

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

100

73

65

63

63

53

50

47

45

45

44

40

40

39

39

38

37

36

35

31

30

29

29

29

28

26

26

25

24

23

20

20

20

19

19

18

17

16

15

15

13

12

11

Death of a spouse

Divorce

Marital separation

Detention in jail or other institution

Death of close family member

Major personal injury or illness

Marriage

Being fired at work

Marital reconciliation

Retirement from work

Change in the health of a family member

Pregnancy

Sex difficulty

Gaining a new family member

Major business readjustments

Major change in financial state

Death of close friend

Change to a different line of work

Increase in the number of argument

Taking on a mortgage

Foreclosure on a mortgage or loan

Change at work

Son or daughter leaving home

In-laws trouble

Outstanding personal achievement

Spouse beginning work outside the home

Going back to school

Change in living condition

Revision of personal habits

Troubles with supervisor, boss, or superiors

Major change in working hours or conditions

Change in residence

Change to a new school

Major change in type or amount of recreation

Major change in church activities

Major change in social activities

Purchase of a car or other big purchase

Major change in sleeping habits

Change in the number of family get-togethers

Major change in eating habits

Vacation

Christmas or holiday observances

Minor violations of the law (traffic tickets)

Your Score: _______

Scoring

* People who score between 100-199 have a very mild risk of developing physical illness in the next year.

* People who score between 200-299 have a more moderate risk of developing physical illness in the next 12 months.

* People who score 300 or more have a strong risk of developing physical illness in the next 12 months.

Note: These scores only represent a likelihood and not a definitive prediction.

Suggestions for Coping with Major Life Events

1. Think about how many life event changes are taking place within a year or less!

2. Notice the symptoms of distress from your body, mind, and behavior.

3. Practice diversion and rest.

4. Decide to limit the number of changes when indicated.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

Step 1: Understanding Stress

Step 3: Type A & B Behavior Patterns

Step 5: Thinking Differently

Step 7: Communication & Stress

Step 2: Stress Management at Work

Step 4: Biofeedback Training & Relaxation

Step 6: Time Management

Steps to Systematic Stress Management™

RELATED ARTICLES

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine – All Rights Reserved.Disclaimer|www.HealthyLife.com

January 23, 2026
Learn To Accept Criticism

Stress Management

Are you thin-skinned? If critical remarks (or perceived criticism) are unduly painful for you, learning to put them in perspective can reduce their impact.

But why does criticism hurt in the first place? Part of the reason is fear that the criticism may be warranted-that you are indeed too fat, too slow, too loud, or whatever barb has been lobbed in your direction. The other factor may be low self-esteem. If you don’t feel so good about yourself, you’re more apt to take criticism to heart. On the other hand, if you feel fairly self-assured, the negative remarks of others are more likely to bounce off.

Still, a fair amount of criticism may be valid-and just what you need to correct a fault. In order to decide just how much attention a critical remark warrants-or what you should make of it-ask yourself:

* Does the criticism seem reasonable? Is there some truth to what was said? (Perhaps you should pay attention to the remark.)

* Have I been criticized by other people on the same issue? (If so, maybe it warrants attention.)

* Does the person making the critical remark know what he or she is talking about? (If he or she is a self-appointed critic-at-large, ignore the remark.)

* Was the remark really directed at me, or was the critic venting general frustration, anger, or bitterness at something over which I have no control? (If criticism stems from general dissatisfaction, let it slide.)

* Is the criticism based on a difference of opinion? (If so, don’t overreact.)

If you decide that the criticism is valid, you can consider taking positive steps to improve. If it’s unwarranted, forget it.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026