If you are trying to lose belly fat you must decrease your stress. When you experience stress your body releases hormones and cortisol. Cortisol increases the fat that stays around your belly.



You may see products you can buy to decrease your cortisol and supposedly your belly fat, but don't fall for it.

There are natural ways you can easily reduce your stress, and feel better in your life, without any nasty side effects.

Get some sleep

In today's busy world everyone is trying to pack more and more in every day. People are going to bed later and getting up earlier.

Sleep is a huge part of being able to manage stress. If you don't get enough sleep your body is less able to manage stressful situations.

A good night's rest is at least 7 hours of sleep. If you are not getting that much sleep you should try to get to bed a little earlier. This one thing can do world's to decrease your level of stress.

Take small breaks

Life and work can be very stressful. All the little things that get under our skin can build up to massive stress.

If you take small breaks throughout the day you will find you are much better able to manage stressful situations when they do come up.

A quick break may be something as simple as taking 3 cleansing breaths every hour. Just breath in deeply through your nose. Breath deep from your diaphram, and then blow it out your mouth.

You could also get up and take a walk around the area you work or live in. A quick walk, and some fresh air will give your brain more oxygen and allow you to think clearer. It will also get the blood running through your body and help to circulate oxygen to your whole body.

Yoga

It was once a very airy fairy thing to do. Now Yoga is a mainstream form of exercise and stress relief.

You can easily start your own yoga practice by going to your local gym or yoga studio. You can also start doing Yoga from home. There are a wide range of DVDs available and you can often find Yoga programming on public television.

Meditation

Meditation may seem scary to some folks who aren't familiar with the process. Don't worry. You can do meditation in many ways. You can simply sit quietly with your eyes closed. Breath deeply and count your inhales and exhales. This is a very good way to begin meditating.

If you lose count or find your mind is wandering, that's ok, just start counting at one again. Try to get to 30, or set an alloted time for your meditation.

Being able to sit silent and calm during calm times will allow you to begin to sit calm and silent during more chaotic times.

Meditation is not about perfection, it's about the process, so just start, and don't worry about doing it "right".

There you have it 4 great ways to decrease your level of stress. They will at least allow you to learn to better manage the stress you experience. There's not much you can do about the stress that shows up, but you have complete control over how you handle it.