According to the World Health Organization, women are more prone than men to experience anxiety, depression, and somatic complaints – physical symptoms that cannot be explained medically. Depression is the most common mental health problem for women and suicide is a leading cause of death for women under 60.
There are several possible contributing factors:
- hormones
- how they feel they are viewed in the eyes of others
- how they cope with life situations
Let’s talk about these various contributing factors.
Hormones: Hormones are fabulous…until they aren’t.
Here are some symptoms of a hormonal imbalance.
It is very likely women will experience one or more of these symptoms of a hormonal imbalance, on and off, and in varying degrees of severity, from puberty until death. The solution is to help your body balance its hormones. One of my favorite supplements for women who are menstruating and one all my daughters used (4 of them) and all my clients, as well, is EstroSmart, created by Lorna Vanderhaehge. Most women experience fabulous results including ‘effortless’ periods, within 3 months of using the supplement. If you are a woman who is in menopause or post-menopause, I also recommend Lorna’s other supplements such as MenoSmart, ThyroSmart, and AdrenaSmart. You will find all her products on her website Smart Solutions.
How You Feel You Are Viewed By Others or Self-Esteem
Michelle Farris, LMFT, has some great tips on how to help strengthen your self-esteem or how you see yourself, which is usually tied to how you think others see you.
As a Nutritionist, I couldn’t agree with her more…your number one defence against low self-esteem is to take care of your physical needs first; nutrition, exercise, sleep, etc. Without good health, you will never feel good about yourself, or feel good, period.
Next, make sure the people in your ‘inner circle’ are those who love and care for you as much as they love and care for themselves, allow you to speak your truth, and, yes, smile when they compliment you, and give lots of hugs. Remember, people treat us the way we allow them to treat us. Love yourself enough not to allow people to treat you poorly or remove them from your life.
Love yourself by treating yourself every now and then. I love the idea of scheduling little ‘self-treats’ throughout your day. For example, after you clean out your closet, you make a cup of tea and read a magazine for 20 minutes or put $10 into your ‘clothing fund’ for that special piece you really want but don’t really need.
Love yourself enough to forgive yourself for past mistakes or stupid things you’ve done…we’ve all done them. You can’t go back and change anything, you can only go forward and live your best life and love others in the best way you can…and not everyone will receive your love, but that’s OK, too. Love yourself enough to let them go find someone else.
Finally, celebrate yourself for being the perfectly imperfect person that you are because we are all celebrating you. After all, what would life be like if we were all the same? NOT FUN AT ALL!
How You Cope with Life = How You Manage Stress
If you incorporate Michelle’s 10 recommendations above, you’ll be well on your way to coping with life and managing stress well. Everyone has stress and stress is not always bad. We need some stress in our life. I, for one, work way better with a deadline and I usually wait until just before the deadline to get started. For example, when it was time to write my final paper for my MBA, I waited until a week before to write it even though I had four months. I just focus better when I have a crunch. My daughter is the exact opposite. When she has a paper to write, she begins the day she gets the assignment. We are all different BUT we all need the above 10 recommendations to feel good about ourselves and to help relieve the negative effects of stress in our lives.
So I’d say, don’t run from stress, rather embrace it (which is another word for ‘grow’) but do everything you can to help mitigate the negative effects of stress such as these.
You have the power to feel happier, live more fully, and be in control (of what you can control). 🙂
To your health,
Angela
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