The way we live our modern lives means that there is often very little time for relaxation.

Juggling your work and family commitments, taking the kids to football matches, daughters to dancing lessons and finding time to shop in between it can mean that you are left mentally drained at the end of it all. "Stressed out" in modern parlance.

For the middle aged man (like myself!) this can be a real lovemaking deal breaker. Stress is such a danger because it is a "hidden" factor on your bodily health. You often don't recognise the symptoms until it's too late and the damage has been done.

When you are suffering from stress your heart tends to speed up and you can feel your head pounding. These are the symptoms of early stress but what is actually happening is that your pituitary gland releases a hormone, which in turn triggers your adrenal glands to release stress hormones (i.e., cortisol and adrenaline) into your bloodstream. Once this happens your natural bodily biorythyms are disrupted and this is when sleep patterns are disturbed and you experience "stress".

As well as a loss of sex drive other stress symptoms are stomach aches, diarreah and skin problems let alone depression and anxiety.

In studies it's also been proven that stress speeds up the aging process. Wow! If it wasn't bad enough suffering from stress and it's symptoms then prematurely aging can only compound the problem!

According to a study done by the doctors in University of California at San Francisco, chronically stressed women displayed chromosomal changes characteristic of increased aging. They found out that the telomeres (found at the ends of the chromosomes) of these women tend to be shorter than the less-stressed women. Telomeres shorten as we age; thereby the length of the telomeres is an indication of aging. When telomeres cannot be possibly any shorter, they die out which is evident in skin wrinkles, organ failure, etc.

So what do we need to do to lower our stress levels, regain our sex drive and try to reverse the aging process?

Well the glib answer is to lead a healthier lifestyle. Have a balanced diet, rest and exercise. Sounds easy huh?

In actual fact, if you do, or think you do suffer from stress then you probably need to make a big lifestyle change. Just changing your white sandwiches for brown bread is probably not going to make the difference for you. You need to make radical changes to try and gain control back of your life.

One of the best lifestyle changes you can make is to join a gym and enrol in some of the classes that they have to offer. For example I regularly go to spinning classes three or four times a week and every time I finish a session I always feel thoroughly refreshed. It's a really good stress buster. Going to classes means you'll meet other like minded people and it's a lot easier to maintain going to exercise sessions with a bunch of other people who also turn up regularly than plodding a lone furrow on a treadmill.

The second is to totally revamp your eating habits. If you are a professional with a hectic schedule then eating on the hoof has probably become the norm for you.

Start to make your sandwiches in the evening before you go to work. Better still swap those butties for something much more healthy. I like to take small tins of easy open mackeral fillets and have them either with some microwaveable brown rice or with a salad. You'll be amazed at the difference a low carbohydrate eating plan can have on your health.

Lastly, but most importantly - give up the booze! Yeah I know you don't want to hear it but too much booze is the number one passion killer. Think about knocking it on the head for a while and you will feel so much better for it. It's the biggest reason for problems creeping into a realtionship sexual or otherwise and it's best avoided if you are suffering from stress.

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