Roger Federer is arguably the greatest tennis player to ever live. His career is far from over and some people are already convinced that he’s the greatest of all time. He’s won 13 grand slam titles which is only one short of Pete Sampras’ record of 14. He also spent 237 consecutive weeks as the world’s top ranked player which literally crushed Jimmy Connors previous record by 77 weeks.

2008: The Season of Questions

In 2008, Roger was a semifinalist at the Australian Open, the runner up at the French Open, the runner up at Wimbledon, and the winner of the U.S. Open. For any other player, this would’ve been a dream season, but for Roger, it was substandard.

This time last year, Roger had just been upset in the semifinals of the Australian Open by Novak Djokovich. This was the first time in 11 grand slams, or nearly 3 years, that Roger Federer wouldn’t be playing in the finals. Talk immediately began to circulate through the tennis world suggesting that Roger was officially past his prime.

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As I mentioned in my article about the effects of stress, all it takes is a single thought to initiate a cascade that will undermine your health. Like most people, you probably have a lot going on and have a to-do list that’s a mile long. It’s bad enough when a forgotten task alarmingly pops in your in your head, but then you worry about forgetting it again and it just lingers unpleasantly in your mind.

Picture yourself lying on a beach, enjoying the warm feeling of the sun on your skin, and relaxing to the calming sound of the water. You are too wrapped up in the moment to care about anything that might normally worry you. This is what’s called being in the present and having a clear mind. The more often you achieve this state, the happier and healthier you will be. But you’ll never get there if you keep worrying about the tasks and appointments you can’t afford to forget.

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Most of us are wishing for more hours in the day, the holiday season is here, and our economy is a mess. Needless to say, there is stress is everywhere! Everyone knows that too much stress is bad for your health, but few people know why and even fewer realize how much stress they’re really under.

Fight or Flight

At all times, you’re physiologically in one of two states. You’re either on alert, or you’re relaxed. As dictated by your nervous system, it’s either one or the other, and never both at the same time. Although you may not realize it, being on alert is actually the “fight or flight” response that we all learned about in Biology class. This response comes at a physical cost to your body through breakdown of tissue, muscle, and bone, and the shutting down of important functions such as digestion, repair, and immune response.

Basically, being on alert is an emergency mode. Your body reacts to the emergency stimulus by giving you the alertness and energy to deal with it, and in the process, shuts down any function that doesn’t support this purpose. For example, digesting the food in your stomach is not going to get you out of danger, but accelerating your heart rate and releasing adrenaline just might!

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