Ever feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day?

We run here and there, fulfill duties, meet deadlines and cross things off the endless to-do list and finish the day completely exhausted or worse find ourselves in a cycle of energy highs and then crashing down ill.

When did life get so fast? It's only twenty years ago that we sent letters or faxes instead of emails, we went to libraries to find information and we thought 'spam' was that processed ham you got in a can... now we are constantly solicitated, reaction time to messages has reduced to seconds and we are supposed to always be available at the end of the phone or an email.

If we want to stay healthy its important to have some down time or time out... lessen the load a little. Prioritise those things we enjoy, be with people we want to be with and say no to some of those 'shoulds'!

Even when we have lots of work to do and things to accomplish - how can we bring some quality to them and ease some of the stress?

There are lots of suggestions out there: check email only twice a day, get out and have a walk at lunchtime, sit down and play for a while, sing, put on relaxing or uplifting music while you cook, stop and close your eyes before you switch on the computer and check what you want out of the day, cycle or walk a scenic route to work... I could go on and on.

The trick is to find out what works for you... and do a couple of them every day. Simple things can have a great effect on your wellbeing!

Finding calm has an enormous effect on our metabolism and digestion too... switching the body off from 'fight and flight' stress response to 'rest and digest' - peace. This can help us get the more needed nutrients from our food and even let go of weight that we do not want...

What do you do to slow down?