A stress-laden body is a ticking time bomb that might go off at any moment.. Every year, millions of people experience this feeling of physical and emotional tension that, in the long term, has devastating consequences for health. However, according to a health professional, small doses of an exercise can help slow aging.
Elissa P. Epel is a psychologist and longevity researcher. who has studied how chronic stress can wear down cells prematurely and thus increase the risk of obesity, heart disease, depression and even dementia. In one of his most recent books, The Stress Prescriptionthis specialist compiles decades of research where she offers techniques to help tension become a strength.
Stress, temporarily, is a response to a certain internal or external stimulus, which forces the person to remain alert, but when it occurs in such a way that its presence in the body becomes indefinite, it becomes chronic. To prevent rapid aging, Epel proposed a technique that he called “estrés fitness”.
Thus, with this form of healthy stress proposes to exercise the body with small doses of tension. According to the analysis of the also professor at the University of California, San Francisco, studies show that it can improve the health and regenerative life of your cells, instead of slowly wearing them down.
In that sense, these small doses of stress would not be harmful, compared to staying tense throughout the day. To do this, the specialist proposed doing physical conditioning exercises in the morning, several times a week, or failing that, at least once.
High intensity interval training (HIIT, for its acronym in English) combines vigorous training in short periods of time, usually seven minutes. Next, a list of exercises to be carried out is proposed.
It is recommended that each exercise be done for 30 seconds and then move on to the next. It should be repeated until the seven minutes are up. With this type of training, a person can control the intensity, according to the speed with which they are done. However, it is recommended that if you have been sedentary for a while, it is best to start with a walk and gradually increase the speed of your steps.
In that order, another option for stress to become an asset instead of something harmful is the use of temperature change in water. This psychologist, as well as other experts, recommend taking a quick, cold shower to reduce inflammation and even improve metabolism.
Although you can enter the shower and bathe with hot water, it is advisable that before turning off the faucet, the person remains under the stream of water between 15 and 30 seconds and, if possible, a minute. The goal is to push yourself (as with exercise), then relax.
But this is not all, Epel explained that the heat might also have a positive impact. Thus, for the body, going to the sauna for at least half an hour would translate as moderate exercise.
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