But, there are natural ways to relieve stress without zoning out on pills at the end of a hard day, or at the beginning to help you “handle” yourself.

When a car is coming at you at high speeds, you don’t stop to think about the model and make of the car. You don’t stare it down and try to figure out how fast it is going. You just try to get out of the way. This is because when you are stressed, your mental capacity, and your ability to learn may shut down. Therefore, when you are stressed you cannot work efficiently and most important you cannot make the right decisions. Therefore if you want to be efficient you have to get rid of stress.

But it’s not always so easy to relieve the causes of stress in our lives. Sometimes we can’t control the stress we incur at our jobs or from our children. But stress literally kills, so what are we to do?

Below are several methods to help get rid of stress. They include a specially created system of

1. biofeedback,
2. color therapy,
3. relaxation,
4. vacation,
5. lifestyle modification,
6. rest,
7. sleep,
8. food adjustments: stick to Paleolithic diet, avoid toxins,
9. meditation,
10. Tapping techniques etc.

Try them all, and you will feel better right away!

What about you?

• Have you had too much stress lately?
• How to you sleep?
• Did you gain weight lately?

Most people live with depression. Some seek counseling, while others just suffer through the symptoms. Many learn to live with the symptoms until life is only a shell of what it used to be. But this is not how to handle depression. Even treatment, with a psychiatrist and medication, may not always help the ways that one may expect.

Some of the basic signs of depression include:

1. Feeling helpless and hopeless
2. No interest in usual daily activities
3. Weight loss or gain
4. Changes in sleep patterns
5. Restlessness or irritability
6. No energy
7. Lack of concentration
8. Unexplained aches or pains

Just like there is no switch to turn depression on, there is also no switch to turn depression off. There are pills, but they are not magic.

A recent article published in the Huffington Post, talks about how some of these drugs that are often prescribed for depression, don’t actually even work. Read the full story here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/depression-medication-why_b_550098.html.

Drug companies published several articles recently stating the benefits of some of these medications, only to get caught lying. The truth is that some of these drugs were actually ineffective but the companies chose never to publish those reports. In the end, it was shown that about 80 percent of people showed no improvement on these medications.

What does it mean to you?  It means that may be you should not rely on drugs alone.

Depression is always a serious matter.  This is the way your body tells you that something is very wrong.  It was shown repeatedly that depression is associated with heart disease and cancer survival.  What is means is: depression is not only in you brain, it is everywhere.  It affects whole your body.

Depression usually is a neurotransmitter problem: serotonin or dopamine or both.  To solve the problem you need to find out the root case ad treat it if possible.  Seeing a physician is a must.  You should not make any decisions about your health care without consulting physician.  Remember: depression is a deadly disease.

The seven ways you can help to make your life better:

1. Fix your gut first.  Serotonin, responsible for depression, is produced in the gut.  What antidepressants do? Raise serotonin level.  But instead of taking Prozac may be you should take care of your gut first?  There is no such thing as Prozac deficiency.  Also you need to make sure that your gut is working properly so that if you are taking vitamins or supplements and they are not being absorbed, you may not be getting the treatment that you need.
2. Sun exposure but in moderation.
3. Get enough sleep: when you sleep you synthesize neurotransmitters.
4. Make sure, that you are checked for heavy metal toxicity: mercury blocks SAMe which is necessary for cathecholamine O Methyl transferase which degrades adrenaline.
5. Make sure that your partners are not toxic and that they don’t suck life out of you, but rather bring you more and better life
6. More love making (intimacy) can help with depression.
7. Diet: what you eat can make you feel physically and emotionally sick. Make sure that you stick to a diet of lean meats and green vegetables, as well as fruits. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, dairy, wheat.  Carbs in moderation actually can help with depression.   Want to help a depressed friend?  Give him something sweet.  Or potato. See more on my website about the caveman diet.

What about you?

• Are you suffering from depression?
• Did you lose interest in your life?
• Did you lose your sex drive?
• Are you fatigued all the time?

If you feel like you are suffering from depression and want to seek a natural and effective solution, call Dr. Kalitenko at 718-382-9200 to make an appointment.

If stress lowers testosterone, how come people in very high stress work places seem to have more of it?  Boosting your testosterone level may be good for sexual performance and this seems to be a well known theory. So, men look to keep their testosterone up, hoping that it will keep their sexual prowess at peak.

A study in London done in the last few years found that men who worked at the London stock exchange had a higher level of testosterone based on the amount of money they made. More money = more testosterone. The suggested explanation of this is that testosterone begets aggressiveness, resulting in more risky decisions. Another possible explanation is that thinking about money and sex ignites the same areas of the brain. Therefore there is the possibility that testosterone stimulates sex areas, which are at the same time the areas responsible for money making.

But studies also show that stress can reduce testosterone levels. How is that possible? One would assume that someone working as a broker is bound to be super-stressed? However, it is known that stress can work its way into cortisol and testosterone levels.

So, it seems that may be while mild to moderately intense physical stress, as in sports and sex, may actually boost testosterone production, severe mental and emotional stress can inhibit it.

So, it seems there is a debate on the issue. How do you keep yourself healthy, and your levels right? First of all, try to control stress in your life, eat right, sleep well and surround yourself with people who will add to your life not suck the energy out of it. Keep active. Testosterone is not just for fun, it is for survival.

Doesn’t it seem like your allergies get worse and worse every year? Some of us who never experienced them before suddenly find ourselves suffering.

Chronic stress may result in adrenal fatigue with low cortisol level. The result – constant allergies, because cortisol is needed to suppress inflammation. No enough cortisol and allergies flare up.

One way to deal with it is to check your cortisol levels and get them corrected if necessary.