Hi everyone,

Try this, I know it can be hard, but...try waking up an extra 20 minutes before you need to wake up your children. Take the 20 minutes of quiet in the morning to reflect on the upcoming day, think about all the things you are grateful for and have a nutritious bite to eat. The point of this is so you can fuel yourself and give a little bit to yourself before you have to do the morning routine.

Did you know that our bodies can not distinguish between stressors? Your body perceives illness, allergies, work/relationship problems, when you eat, WHAT YOU EAT, toxins, sleep, emotional issues and EXERCISE as stress to the system. Think about your body trying to sort through all that stress everyday and still perform for you by giving you optimal energy. It's almost impossible unless you feed yourself perfectly and live your life with no flaws or glitches. What you can do is identify your "alarm" points for stress. Go to www.chekconnect.com, sign up (no cost-only benefits) and take the free Health & Lifestyle Questionaire to identify which areas of your life are the most critical for you to begin to work on. Sign in and take the Chi questionaires. As you begin making changes to your routine, you feel better and the rest becomes as easy as pie. Visit my website www.coreandmore-fitness.com for more information on taking care of you. I have resources listed for your benefit.

Sometimes your exercise program could be adding stress to your system instead of helping your system. It all depends on your current load. Try making some simple changes when you feel stressed. Try to eat as much Nutrient Dense food as possible that day, take a walk, try yoga or meditation and get to bed that night by 10 pm. Try these few things for a few days and then take notice if you feel more energetic in the following days. Sleep is the time that your body has to recover and repair itself. While you sleep your immune system is hard at work! The more sleep you get the more anti-aging benefits you give yourself. The more sleep you get, the better your body can maintain a healthy weight and the more sleep you get...the better you will be able to deal with STRESS.

Tip of the day... Get to bed by 10:30 pm each night during the week. (Tivo your favorite shows) If you must have caffeine, make sure you drink it before 1:00pm. Caffeine has a long 1/2 life and can interfere with your sleeping patterns. Avoid sugar before you go to bed. Sleep in a room with the lights and TV off. Make sure all computers are also turned off and let your cell phone charge in a different room. Try to avoid the news right before you go to sleep. Take notice of how you feel after a week of this. I bet you will feel better. I've made these changes in my life and I have so much more patience and fun with my family than I ever did before.

Listen to your Stress-O-Mom-oter and Live Happier everyday!