Our hectic schedules and societal ideals force us to take 'me' time and encourages us to de-stress. There are many ways to relive and cope with stress, anxiety, even boredom. Though used among many, these common ways to de-stress might actually be hurting your health. Find out if one your ‘de-stressers’ made our list!

Watching TV
If you flick on the telly after a long day at work, you’re putting yourself at risk for depression and obesity. According to research in the Journal of the American Medical Association, for every two-hour increase in TV watching there's a 23 percent increase in obesity and a 14 percent increase in the risk of diabetes. It has negative affects on your brain function. TV actually rewires you to be a passive spectator rather than an active participant. This could translate into how you deal with life. While there are some good channels on TV, albeit rarely, stick with films or tv series you are actually consciously interested in, instead of mindless banter. No commercial breaks either!

Risky Sex
Sex cures all. Stress, headaches, anxiety, sex releases oxytocin and dopamine, your brains feel-good chemicals, and makes for a good nights sleep. But don’t fool around!  It's simple: Stay protected. Use condoms, take the pill on time. Be smart!

Drinking
Moderate drinking – one 5oz glass of red wine per day, has been linked to a host of health benefits. But keep in mind, it is alcohol, and can be abused. Alcohol kills more than 100,000 North Americans a year and accounts for 50 percent of traffic accidents, deaths. Alcohol is highly addictive, depletes nutrients, shortens lives, damages relationships, and usually brings out the worst in people. Using alcohol to cure life’s problems, your stress levels will only increase. You can’t drink real life problems away, and depending on alcohol will only make things worse.

Smoking
Smoking a cigarette does not relive stress, but it makes you think you are de-stressing. You are only just satisfying a craving, only to put yourself in the cycle of craving or ‘being stressed’. Lighting up is a common go-to for people. It makes you pause, breathe, and take a break. Smoking kills. Smoking puts you at risk for heart disease and a slew of cancers, not to mention it’s expensive and makes your breath stink, nails and teeth yellow, and your skin dull. Smoking pot with THC, affects parts of the brain that can actually bring on psychosis and depression, along with memory loss, and acute anxiety disorder. So, if you think your daily chill-out session is the perfect end to a hectic day, you might want to think of the long-term consequences.
 
Compulsive Running
How could working out be bad for you? Compulsive running is categorized under ‘exercise bulimia.’ When you are running just to get rid of those extra calories, and not for your actual health, you are reinforcing the idea of poor body image, rather than focusing on fitness. Compulsive anything sucks the joy out of that activity after a while. Nice, slow, and steady jogging and a healthy work-out routine are where its at.
 
Late Night Eating
Late night eating is synonymous with junk food overdose. When you are stressed, tired or anxious, the hormone cortisol sends a signal to your brain to refuel for the coming emergency, usually on fat and sugar – because no one eats broccolli to get over a break-up. Late night eating also increases insulin, the fat storage hormone, so you won’t burn fat while you sleep.
 
Surprised? What do you do to de-stress?

Image from MorgueFile

Hilary Lauren Fox
		About the author:
		Sometimes she's a redhead, sometimes she's a blonde. Some days it's H&M, and on other days, it's Chanel. What ever the mood, she is a woman who is passionate about the arts, fashion and social media. Born in Toronto, Hilary Lauren Fox is an only child to artist parents - mom was an illustrator and pattern maker, dad was a painter.  Rather then studying the arts as her parents hoped for, Hilary opted for a degree in psychology with dreams of working in a clinical setting. But after graduating she realized that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and that the arts was in her blood, applying her education within the art and fashion world.
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