Most if not all of our issues could be easily dealt with if we had the opportunity to stop working, rest on a beautiful beach without the modern electronic distractions, eat healthy food, and enjoy a perfect amount of activity each and every day. However, for the majority of us, this ideal scenario is but a distant dream. So the next step in dealing with stress reaction is to alter our behavior and the way we react to stress.

While this sounds simple, in reality it can seem impossible. Many of us are forced to find time somewhere between traffic, getting the kids off to school and their programs, work, home duties, and our other too-many-to-count daily activities. So what is left to offer us hope? By breaking down our health into simple, attainable goals, it really is possible to break the vicious cycle of stress. That’s why we’ve created these FIVE PILLARS OF HEALTH:

Mindset

How do you manage stress? Are you one of those who feels they thrive under stress . . . or do you feel overwhelmed by it? Regardless of how you perceive your stress level, it influences every biochemical reaction in your body. So how do you go from Stress to Rest?

Meditation and mindfulness practices are now practiced in over 10,000 schools around the world. Oftentimes young people in particular struggle with their school workloads, extracurricular activities, family, and social pressures. And many have few coping skills to deal with these stresses. Teaching kids and teens basic meditation skills can offer so many benefits:

• More restful sleep
• Relief from stressful and anxious feelings
• Increased self-esteem
• Reduced anger and destructive behaviors
• Learning positive tools to deal with stress
• Improved school performance and creativity
• Finding answers and trusting themselves more

Also check out these 10 Ways You Never Thought to De-Stress

Movement

Exercise is essential to overall health. When you get moving, all of your organs get moving too. And exercise is pretty easy to come by if you get creative with it. Try fun runs, hiking, or joining a sports team. You can even count walking the dog, just aim for 30 minutes 5 times a week.

We know the importance of movement – we’ve been told for years that exercise is vital to good health. In fact, the new buzzword around health, well-being, and medicine is that being sedentary is almost as bad as being a smoker! When we are sedentary, when we don’t move, when we don’t get the blood flowing, the lymphatic system moving, we really are doing extensive harm to the body.

Now this doesn’t mean we all need to go out and get gym memberships and start lifting heavy weights and things like that – unless of course that’s something you enjoy. Rather, we’re simply suggesting that we should move. For example, get up from your desk every twenty to thirty minutes to take a stretch. Stand at your desk or move around the room whenever as often as you possibly can.

One of the other things that is absolutely critical and essential is just stretching your body. If you think about it, stretching is one of the simplest and easiest things to do. You can do it anywhere, it doesn’t cost any money, you don’t have to have a gym membership, you don’t have to fight traffic to get to the gym or fight to get on a treadmill. All you need to do is sit down on the floor or in a chair, wherever you’re at, and begin to do some light stretching.

Stretching is key in all aspects of keeping your muscles, bones, and joints loose and relaxed. And it’s not just before and after strenuous exercise. Sitting in the same position on the couch for 4 hours straight will do your body no good. So do yourself a favor and stretch, even if it’s for 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes before bed.

Sleep

Not getting enough ZZZ’s at night can affect more than just your ability to keep your eyes open during work or school. It can also affect your ability to rest and recover from the previous day. So do your body a favor and give it ample time to recharge with the recommended 8 hours.

We know the importance of sleep – there are so many studies that confirm that sleep is when our body regenerates. It’s when our mind clears itself of debris, particularly denatured proteins. We also sort out and clear out our psychological component at that point. We download and get rid of the stress of the day so that we can start new and start afresh.

And yet we don’t take sleep seriously enough. We don’t prepare for it. We don’t allow time to unwind. We don’t turn off the bluescreen-emitting technology like our phones and our pads and our computers and our television screens. And we don’t return back to basics such as sitting quietly and reflecting on our day.

Perhaps writing in our journal a little bit. Or reading – actually reading in a book with a cover on it as opposed to reading from a Kindle or a tablet – a very, very important aspect. Getting to bed early, sleeping, getting the full eight hours of rest that we need – it will change your life more than you realize. Try it and see if that’s not the case!

Get some shut-eye. Not getting enough ZZZ’s at night affects many aspects of health such as your weight, your skin, digestion, and of course your stress and anxiety levels. So do your body a favor and give it ample time to recharge with the recommended 8 hours. Having enough sleep to take on a busy day can make all the difference.

Water

How much water do you really need? Take your weight in pounds and divide that number by 2 to get the number of ounces of water you should ideally be drinking each day. Here’s just some of the ways that water is essential:

1. It is 75% of your brain
2. It regulates your body temperature
3. It keeps your skin looking young
4. It protects your heart
5. It helps you burn fat
6. It prevents constipation
7. It decreases fatigue
8. It carries oxygen to the cells
9. It flushes toxins out
10. It helps you control calorie intake

Nutrition

Biting into a nice, juicy orange is a healthy thing to do. But if you aren’t absorbing all the nutrients in that orange, you’re getting only a fraction of its natural goodness. Digestive enzymes are what help us digest food and break it down into vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids. Then enzymes play yet another vital role by escorting these nutrients to our various cells and tissues. That’s why eating healthy is just the first step.

Step Two means getting the most nutrition from your food! Now you can transform the way you eat — and the way you live — with the simple addition of Transformation™ digestive enzymes and probiotics.* Supplementing a healthy diet and lifestyle with enzymes and probiotics works with your body’s own chemistry to allows it to absorb and digest optimally.* Our carefully selected program of digestive enzymes helps your body properly digest food to extract and absorb the nutrients, clear away the waste, and allow the body to better manage its resources.*