Tuesday, December 2, 2008

KISS AWAY STRESS!

According to an MSN news report, the holiday season is the time of year when you are most likely to die from a heart attack. According to research at the University of California, the deadliest day of the year (in terms of cardiac related deaths) is Christmas Day! MSN gave some great ideas for beating seasonal stress (all apparently backed up by the latest research). Here are a few:

  • Eat dark chocolate. (The flavenoids in cocoa relax your body's blood vessels.)
  • Kiss or hug. (Doing so raises levels of oxycotin which lowers stress, anxiety and blood pressure.)
  • Eat fish--especially salmon. :-) (People with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids are happier, less impulsive, and more agreeable.)
  • Add lots of garlic to your food. (Garlic's main ingredient, organosulfur allicin, relaxes blood vessels.)
I am definitely on board with items 1 through 3 since I love dark chocolate, salmon (see previous blog entry), kisses and hugs. Who knew de-stressing could be so enjoyable! I guess I am good with item 4 as well, but think I'll avoid item 4 and then item 2 in close succession. ;-)

My seasonal stress actually has more to do with finals week at the college than with holiday shopping, travel, etc. I think the best way for me to beat stress would be to forget about grading exams and just give all my students A's-- do you think that would comprmise my academic integrity?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

So, now you have even more support for Salmon on Thanksgiving. I wonder if there's a place for mistletoe anywhere here?

Marilou said...

Jared says, "Just pick your favorites, give them A's then fail everyone else" :) Hopefully he would be on that list if he were in your class!

Mike and Becca said...

I love these four suggestions - and especially that you list the scientific reasons for them all! I'm thinking it's going to take a lot of dark chocolate to provide enough relief from the holiday stress, but I'm definitely up to the challenge!

So, here's wishing I could have been a part of the short order experience at home. We missed you a lot - but always love to chat when you get a chance. Thanks for being so good at keeping in touch!

Anonymous said...

You've made is all happy just to know that we can improve our health by kissing and eating dark chocolate. What fun! I'll have to go for some other fish besides salmon though.
As for your grading. . . I think you are hopeless. You're just too responsible. Where did you learn that?

Anonymous said...

Knew about the food, but hugs and kisses is new--going to try that for sure! :) THX! BTW, grade the exams fairly but give them lots of extra credit :) AJ