Stressor Solutions

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panacea
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Stressor Solutions

Post by panacea »

Definition:
Stressor - any agent that causes stress to an organism

Types:

Physical Stressors

Food-related, temperature, sleep, light, radiation, posture, weights and constrictors (such as clothing, sunglasses, jewellery), bad air quality, stressful habits (such as eye straining), and all other environmental stressors.

Psychological Stressors
Pain, discomfort, worry, insecurity, fear, boredom, low self esteem, and all other negative mental emotions, attitudes, and constructs.

Stressors are all around us, and to an extent, they're necessary to keep our bodies fit and healthy. Everything, including gravity, exhibits stress on us, and stress is with us throughout our entire lives. Even without gravity, our bodies produce free radicals and slowly degenerate. The goal is simply to minimise stressors where possible.

There are many significant hidden stressors in our lives, that most people don't know about. I would like to reveal some of the major players, and propose some possible solutions.

The first one, of course, is what we eat, as it's perhaps the most significant stressor. Obviously the Wai diet is well equipped for this problem, so I don't need to add much, except that one should be entirely watchful and aware of ones unique bodily reaction to all foods, even foods recognised as safe by Wai Diet standards.

For example, recently I've been eating many bananas (12+) a day, and thought I was safe. I experienced fatigue and digestive problems, and later found that I wasn't waiting long enough for the bananas to be easy on my body. I now wait until they are heavily spotted brown, all over, before consuming, and have to keep many bananas in my house at all times so as I'm not forced to eat yellow or even greenish ones.

Since eating only very ripe bananas, my digestion and energy levels have become much more stabilised.

The next major physical stressor I've become aware of, is the method of sleeping.

Sleeping on a traditional flat-bed mattress has proven to be harmful to my back. Seeking a better solution, I switched to a very long and wide indoor hammock. The best type of hammock is a bridge hammock, as it allows you to lay 'flat' and sag due to gravity, supporting your body in the best posture, but they don't make these for people as tall as me, yet. (I'm 6'8" tall, the tallest that fits in the current bridge hammocks is 6'3"). Still, I bought a hammock that I can lay 'sideways' in the very middle of it, so as not to be curved like a banana while sleeping. It's also important to sleep on my back, with a very, very thin pillow under my neck and a very thin pillow under my knees. This is to support these high-arch areas that even a hammock can't do, but not to over support them with the conventional mistake of fluffy pillows.

The next biggest hidden physical stressor is how westerners breathe. Many breathe predominately with their mouths, even when not exercising. While fine for getting in extra oxygen, the most efficient and least stressful way to breathe is through the nostrils, in a manner that your lower chest area expands and collapses more predominately than your upper chest area (like what happens when mouth breathing).

The reason this one is so important, is that we constantly breathe, so over time this shallow mouth breathing can cause a lot of hidden stress.

Next is how we defecate, also known as how we go to the bathroom.

I still haven't discovered how best for males/females to urinate, but for defecation the best posture is squatting, and recently I've discovered that half-squatting just isn't good enough. Using stools, or other makeshift devices to turn a conventional sitting toilet to a squatting platform don't do the job. The most effective solution I've found, is to use a high quality stainless steel bowl, and defecate in that inside a bathtub, using something for support while you train your muscles to be able to squat. Most people who are not into yoga in western society will have a very difficult time achieving this natural position without holding onto something, because we've been sitting for so long. If there's nothing to hold onto in your bathtub, you can throw a belt over a sturdy towel rack and hold onto that.

Here's the proper posture:

Image

As you can see, once you get good at this position, you'll need a very shallow bowl.
Using a stool to raise the feet on a conventional toilet is not anywhere close to the same thing.
Ideally, ALL weight should be on your feet, and your feet should be flat. The thighs must be pressing into your abdomen, as this helps facilitate the defecation process.
In the squatting position, the right thigh – pressing on the right side of the abdomen – squeezes the pouch-like cecum and force liquid waste upwards into the ascending colon and away from the appendix.

Hence, in the squatting position, the ileocecal valve is sealed securely, and both the appendix and small intestine are kept clean.
Image
The colon also a kink or bend where the sigmoid colon joins to the rectum.

In the squatting position, the left thigh – pressing on the left side of the abdomen – supports and lifts up the sigmoid colon. This raising of the sigmoid colon opens up the kink to allow waste to flow easily into
I can't emphasise enough how much stress is alleviated by defecating properly.

My guess is that for urination, the best position is the natural squatting position, and just urinating freely in a bathtub, but I could be wrong. I do know that the sitting or standing position for male urination is harmful, as it can put more downward force on the penis to urinate than is natural.


I will continue editing this post and add more later, for reference, here are some more common hidden stressors affecting us everyday.

Bad air quality (indoor, due to bad circulation and cleaning chemicals, dust, etc, and outdoor, mainly due to car pollution near busy streets or cities).

Too much light during sleeping, or too much light (such as from computer) at night time prior to sleeping, disrupting the bodies natural sleeping mechanisms.

Eating too much at one time, heavy meals, instead of light and frequent meals. Also, eating too much or eating too much 'dry' foods, instead of foods high in water.

Eye strain on computers, incorrect eye habits, leading to myopia and other eye problems. (Myopia is curable, if you can manage without glasses, even for a minute, for years on end, but is practically impossible to cure naturally because most people depend on them. However, for children, it is 99% of the time preventable just by refusing to sign up for the first pair of glasses/contacts, and stopping them from watching television, using computers, or texting on phones, and limiting their reading-time for books, encouraging them to go outside and play, giving their eyes a healthy far/near dynamic environment.)

Shoes
and walking - most shoes are disasters to our walking and standing postures, causing more stress than is necessary. I will share my research for the best footwear later, but for now, you should know that whenever possible, barefoot is best. Always walk around barefoot if you're allowed and able to, such as in your home, no socks.

Clothing - Most clothing is either too heavy or too constricting. I'll add more later.

Jewellery - Adds excess weight, this includes sunglasses and eyeglasses, always opt for the most comfortable, lightest pair. Jewelry can also cause problems in the wrong places, leading to infections, etc.

Cleaning ears - Most people clean their ears with q-tips in the ear canal, they should never do this as it can cause infections and ear pain.

Sitting postures - Most people sit in chairs - at the office or in sofas at home, these are almost always stressful to the body, even if you have become accustomed to them and can't notice it. The best solutions I've found are 'skychairs' or hammocks you can sit in and 'swing in', dynamically shifting the compression load on the bones of the body constantly, swinging dangling legs helps tremenously, and also the fact that the bottom of 'ceiling' hung chairs is conforming to your body. The skychair has the benefit of proper upright back-support, at the optimal angle/slant.

Image

[New]
Hot water baths and showers - Hot water is damaging to skin, especially over time when you take daily hot showers. Body lotions try to compensate for the damage, but these too are harmful, clogging the skin. Always try to take showers with the least amount of heat you can tolerate. Be aware, icy cold showers also create stress, it's best to have 'cool' showers where the temperature is slightly below comfortable - then be sure to keep the showers as short as possible.

The same goes for soap - I don't use soap and I smell fine, I've asked people to smell me and they agree. The better your diet, the less you'll need soap any way. Soap is okay for hands, when very greasy or dirty, or if you get really dirty from playing in the mud, etc, but it is not ideal for regular use. Shampoos are also largely unnecessary, especially in the amounts people use them today. Many peoples diets are so unbalanced, and they use shampoo so regularly, that hair oil production will increase to compensate, making them more dependent on shampoo. I still use small amounts of shampoo, for hairy areas, but I'm reducing the amount to slowly allow my body to readjust to normal oil production. Always buy shampoos that don't have fragrances, and have the least amount of chemicals listed on the back of the bottle, as a rule of thumb.

Also, never use anti-antiperspirants, most of them contain toxins, and even if they don't, they are blocking your body from sweating - not ideal. You can use very gentle deodorants instead, but try to reduce usage and fix your diet until you no longer depend on these as well.

Psychological Stressors

I'll be adding more to the physical stressors section, but there is one very big psychological stressor that deserves realisation.

World views - Our world views are how we interpret and understand, to a large degree, what reality is to us.

While you are always free to have your own world view, it's apparent that some are more logical and stress free than others. While it would be nice to be able to believe whatever we wish - this is hardly the case, we require some form of evidence, even if not scientific evidence, or logic, reasoning, etc, to validate our world view, no matter how crazy or rational it may be. This is why a world view that rests on logic and science is one of the most stable world views, and it also happens to be a very peaceful one. I'm not going to debate if other world views make sense or not, I'm merely stating that world views can be a source of stress or comfort. Even in a completely idealistic world view, such as that we are eternal beings that never die and are almighty in power, etc, cause harm in individuals because it conflicts with the reality they see before their eyes - causing confusion and uncertainty.

My world view is deterministic, which means, "that every type of event, including human cognition (behaviour, decision, and action) is causally determined by previous events."

You will have to decide for yourself if determinism (which again means that 'everything has a cause') makes sense. Here's some of the characteristics of being a determinist.

If 'everything' is neutral (not good or evil, because no one has free will), you are left to focus on the positive rather than the negative, whatever 'positive' and 'negative' might mean to you. This is because all humans (and all living things) are intrinsically selfish (this is not evil, as selfishness comes in many forms, including charity).

Here's a partial list off the top of my head of concepts that are realised to be false by a deterministic viewpoint:

good/evil (all false forms of circumstances, which can be beneficial or not depending on the individuals circumstances)
prolonged need for regret (our emotions are somewhat uncontrollable, but long-held painful emotions are a result of a confused view of reality)
prolonged need for guilt
prolonged need for sorrow
beliefs in myths
beliefs in gods
belief in any faith
praise/insults/looking down on people/higher status/lower status/etc
chaotic view of nature, luck, chance, etc
belief in free will
belief in the power to truly make decisions (you can make decisions - but it only seems like you decided which ones you made, you are really on a fixed 'roller-coaster', one you will most likely never be able to foresee, therefore making it enjoyable)

You realise yourself as a selfish hedonist (pleasure seeker), hopefully enlightened enough to realise that the healthy cooperation and understanding of all mankind and life on this planet and balance with nature will benefit you in the long run in ways you simply can't get from violence, greed, hoarding, anger, stagnation, faithful beliefs, etc. (some benefit examples would be - advanced technology for life extension, having robots do all the slave work, and getting to focus on creative jobs or no job at all - just discovery and leisure, no violence, safer world, etc)

Being deterministically minded does not mean that killing people is justifiable, it just means that killers are a non-guilty threat to society, who must be rehabilitated - hopefully in the future by helping them, understanding them, etc, rather than putting them in torturous and ineffective prisons.

Being deterministically minded also does not mean that life has no point, even though it's true that we have no real choices, free will, or truly original creative powers (they're just very powerful illusions). Still, this does not in any way suggest there is no point to life, every person must find their own reason to live, most people (99.9%) will realise that pleasure is the point once they are deterministic, in the nearly infinite ways pleasure comes in. Even selflessly helping others, or breaking your back doing hard work, is pleasure to some people through stroking their ego or self image - this does not diminish them; we are equals. Ego fulfilment and many other things, like scientific discovery, can be pleasurable, not just sex, fast food, beer, etc. Many people, like me, can't get much pleasure from those things, we desire things which are not 'foresee-ably boring', just like kids today aren't satisfied playing with sticks, and ancient children were, we progress from primitive pleasures to more sophisticated and challenging pleasures all the time.

It's my perception that getting people to realise their selfish, hedonistic nature while simultaneously awakening them to the reality that they will benefit the most through cooperation and productivity rather than separation and exploitation is the most viable and powerful catalyst for changing the world for the better - for all of our sakes, because it relies on a realistically scientific, productive, and peaceful world view. This is the most fundamental way I can think of to combat stress at the source, the source that creates most of it - instead of just band-aid it in our harsh environment.
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RRM
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Re: Stressor Solutions

Post by RRM »

Thank you for this post.
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Oscar
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Re: Stressor Solutions

Post by Oscar »

Interesting :)
panacea
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Holding your breath

Post by panacea »

I'm on to something huge that's going to change everyones life here :)

RRM can you do an experiment for me, it will only take a minute.

Get in a comfortable, good posture, sitting position - and then relax (but don't sigh), and as you are normally breathing (don't take a deep breath), just exhale, then with your mouth closed, pinch your nose and count (or a watch, or stop watch even better!) how long you can hold your breath WITHOUT any stress (you will feel it in your diaphragm or throat that you want to breathe again), the first time you feel like breathing let go of your nose and breathe through the nose - if you gasp for air you did it wrong, making stress, it should be normal relaxed breathing when you let go of your nose as if nothing happened (it's not a goal to get a long time in seconds).

I know it's kind of strange, but PLEASE, you're the healthiest person I know and I need this tested by an unbiased source.
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RRM
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Re: Loading up on glycogen & circadian rhythm

Post by RRM »

Okay, ii did it a few times and here's the result: about 20 seconds.
panacea
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Re: Loading up on glycogen & circadian rhythm

Post by panacea »

@Oscar

Would you mind doing the experiment/test I asked RRM to?

@RRM

Are you sure you did it right, can you not pause breathing for longer without feeling stressed/gasping for air? (keeping mouth closed and recontinue breathing without your nostrils flaring up trying to suck in more than normal air)

According to thousands of tests in Russia, healthy people should be able to pause their breathing in a resting state for about 40 seconds

It's simply a test to determine how much oxygen you have stored in your tissues, without all of the fancy equipment - people who utilize air (and the oxygen in it) more efficiently can hold their breath (once exhaled completely) comfortably for longer. If you stress yourself out, it ruins the test because then it becomes a question of willpower and tolerance of pain.

For the record, my results are also 20 seconds, but you should be much healthier than me.
My sister who is 15 years old can do it for 38 seconds, which is probably due to all of the exercise she does with her mouth closed (this helps you breathe more efficiently in the long run), since she doesn't eat well, but plays sports 24/7.
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Oscar
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Re: Loading up on glycogen & circadian rhythm

Post by Oscar »

I'm not sure if this is a question of health rather than physical fitness and/or being used to different oxygen levels?
Aside from that I find it hard to gauge at what point it goes from not stressed to stressed.
In any case I think 40 secs is doable.
panacea
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Re: Loading up on glycogen & circadian rhythm

Post by panacea »

the stress/nonstress is easy to tell - if you do the experiment and need to gasp for air, even a little bit, by opening your mouth or flaring your nostrils, you did it too long and stressed. if you resume breathing in a calm normal manner, you didn't stress.

there is no false readings if you don't stress, unless you have some condition like asthma or sleep apnea, which of course you shouldn't do this test if you do anyway.
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Holding your breath

Post by abicahsoul »

I am kind of interested in this statement: "I'm on to something huge that's going to change everyones life here" (you sure know how to build expectations :lol: :wink: )
As far as I understand it's only an indication of your present health/fitness stats if you believe that good health can be measured like this and 40 secs is an indication of good health?
How is this going to change my life? :D
Or are we all gonna start holding our noses until we reach 40 secs and then we will be healthy?
In yoga there is something called pranayama, it is not about holding your nose, but it is about regulated breathing and it is pretty cool if you have the time. And I think that might be a better way to see some health effects rather than just hold your breath. :lol: I have tried it but don't practice regularly but it has good effects on stress and agitation. :)
But I am still waiting for panacea's miracle exercise ;D
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RRM
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Re: Loading up on glycogen & circadian rhythm

Post by RRM »

panacea wrote: Are you sure you did it right, can you not pause breathing for longer without feeling stressed/gasping for air?
Yes, i can, but you told me this:
the first time you feel like breathing let go of your nose and breathe
So, i did.
Yes, i can pause breathing longer, and resume afterwards by breathing normal,
but then i will have to ignore that i 'felt like breathing' sooner.
Sure, that feeling starts out as very small, but it is noticeable quite soon, no?
and recontinue breathing without your nostrils flaring up trying to suck in more than normal air
If this is the sole condition, then i can pause breathing for 50 secs easily.
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Re: Stressor Solutions

Post by panacea »

okay sorry for the confusion RRM - that 50 seconds makes a lot more sense if the test is an accurate indication of general health.

@abicahsoul

I didn't want to jump the gun before I found out for sure on myself, but the basic thing I've read about lately and made the connection to is that the yogi's 'prana' and Chinese 'chi' or 'qi' or 'life energy' is actually carbon dioxide. Millions of years ago I believe the mixture of gases in the air was in different quantities, with less oxygen and more carbon dioxide - this meant that for animals to survive they had to breathe heavy and deep, relatively quickly. Now that there is so much oxygen in the air, and we have very little CO2 in our bodies especially when hyperventilating (we will pass out because of it), this heavy breathing reflex is harmful to us. I think that's why yoga and all similar forms of ways of life focus on breathing so much - unfortunately they fell to superstition that 'prana' was in air, food, water, etc, and so it's dismissed as a thing for crazy people. So, for healthy people, they should be breathing less per minute, and it should be hardly noticeable to themselves and to others - for unhealthy people, they will be breathing more heavily and either with their chest, mouth, or just really quickly with their nose and diaphragm. So, healthy people should be more able to control their breath for an extended time - it measures how well the body is using the oxygen, this is important, because the faster we breathe air the less carbon dioxide we have in our tissues. That's the premise of the experiment/test.
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Re: Stressor Solutions

Post by abicahsoul »

AHa, now I get it. Carbon dioxide. It is interesting. It makes me think of the very effective way to deal with anxiety: paper bag, breathe in a brown paper bag... or I guess in any type of bag.. the anxiety level diminishes and fades. The same if you have a scarf or something to breathe in...I guess that's the same idea?
Yeah, one hasn't got to believe in the esoteric stuff to find the benefits in the more hands on practices.. :D
panacea
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Re: Stressor Solutions

Post by panacea »

Yep I think that's the exact principle behind paper bag breathing

It's also a great way to clear stuffy nose (or just hold your breathing after you exhale) because C02 is a great vasodilator
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Re: Stressor Solutions

Post by panacea »

The next major physical stressor I've become aware of, is the method of sleeping.

Sleeping on a traditional flat-bed mattress has proven to be harmful to my back. Seeking a better solution, I switched to a very long and wide indoor hammock. The best type of hammock is a bridge hammock, as it allows you to lay 'flat' and sag due to gravity, supporting your body in the best posture, but they don't make these for people as tall as me, yet. (I'm 6'8" tall, the tallest that fits in the current bridge hammocks is 6'3"). Still, I bought a hammock that I can lay 'sideways' in the very middle of it, so as not to be curved like a banana while sleeping. It's also important to sleep on my back, with a very, very thin pillow under my neck and a very thin pillow under my knees. This is to support these high-arch areas that even a hammock can't do, but not to over support them with the conventional mistake of fluffy pillows.
Quick update - I was completely wrong here, sleeping on one's back is a bad idea. Laying on your left side or halfway on your left side and halfway on your chest is ideal for horizontal beds - it's also a good idea to incline the bed surface slightly, by about 6 inches. (head on raised end)

I've found the best possible method of sleeping is actually sitting up in the reclined position, as long as the recliner has excellent head and neck support and is comfortable. The reasoning behind this update is that breathing is easiest and most effective in these positions, which is more important than absolute luxury for back pain problems. (I now use the hammock and sleep on my left side only, and sometimes fall asleep in the recline position.)
panacea
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Re: Stressor Solutions

Post by panacea »

Also I would like to update that sitting in hammocks is not optimal - only if you are too tired to use hard surfaced flat sitting areas like wooden chairs or stools (don't use the back support). Just sit in them and don't slouch, it's infinitely easier to maintain proper posture in hard surfaced chairs (no or very little padding) than padded chairs (like typical office chairs) because the nerve receptors in your buttocks can give better feedback to your brain, allowing it to align the spine better. (this is the main initial factor in bad posture - too much padding, and it becomes habit to slouch).
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