Official Blog of WeddingShape.com

Plan a Stress-Free Wedding

Congratulations on this exciting time before your big day. I was reading through a popular bridal blog and noticed a common theme as everyone is trying to juggle busy to-do lists.

As a fitness expert and author of the newly released book, WeddingShape Diet and Fitness Guide for Brides, I thought I’d share some anti-stress secrets to help you stay calm and enjoy this exciting time of wedding planning.

So here it is…

Chapter 8:
Stress Management Strategies You Must Use Right Now

Will you become a bridezilla?

You’re dealing with budgets, styles, colors, and time crunches. Perhaps the challenge of juggling family dynamics and de­mands is wearing you thin. Eloping is looking like a better op­tion every day. But before you let stress rain on your wedding-day dreams, learn how to manage it—and even keep it at bay.

The harmful consequences of stress affect both mind and body. Physically, it raises your level of adrenalin, thereby increasing your heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure. This makes your organs work harder which, over the long term, can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. Emotionally, long-term stress becomes chronic stress, leading to feelings of anxiety and depression. Short-term stress can cause headaches, digestive problems, insomnia, and boost your risk of catching colds. And watch out waistlines—the release of the stress hormone cortisol can cause pounds to pile on right around your middle.

Learning good coping mechanisms—and avoiding bad ones like smoking, drinking, overeating, or self-pity—not only reduce your stress but will improve your health, too. De-frazzle your nerves with the following tension-tamers and make them a part of your life. You’ll reap the benefits… not only as you plan for your big walk down the aisle, but also long after you say, “I do.”

Take a breather

Whether you count to ten, stand and stretch, or take a short walk… breathing deeply while unwinding will add oxygen to your system, instantly helping you to relax. Plus, taking a timeout will help you to step back from the troubling situation and allow you to compose yourself.

Stress experts recommend “progressive muscle relaxation” to de-frazzle your nerves. “Choose a comfortable chair, close your eyes and, starting with your feet, tighten the muscles in each part of your body for about eight seconds, then release quickly,” says Catherine M. Stoney, Ph.D., researcher at the National Institute of Health’s Na­tional Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. This technique is easy to learn, safe, and portable.

Get physical

Yes, exercise strikes again. Scientific evidence suggests that physically active people have lower rates of stress, anxiety, and depression than sedentary people. Exercise enhances the body’s ability to respond to pressure. “Biologically speaking, exercise seems to give the body a chance to practice dealing with stress. It forces the body’s physiological systems, all of which are involved in the stress response, to communi­cate much more closely with each other,” says Mark Sothmann, Ph.D., professor in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at Indiana University’s School of Medicine in Indianapolis. Experts agree that any physical activity helps, but moder­ate- to high-intensity exercise works best. You’ll find all the answers to choosing the best workout plan for your ability level and wedding-day deadline in Chapter 13...

If you’re ready to find out the exact, step-by-step plan you’ll need to wow your guests when you walk down the aisle, pick up a copy of WeddingShape Diet and Fitness Guide for Brides right now.

Talk to you soon.

Best,

Joe

P.S. I’d love to hear your strategies for managing pre-wedding stress. Simply reply to this post.