Stress Relief

Posted on October 15, 2009

Inside This Week’s e-Zine – 03/10/2009
Stress ReliefHealth Stress is natural. Without stress we would have no reason to get up and meet the challenges of each day. It is also a vital element in your survival system. In moments of perceived danger, it is an expression of the “fight or flight” response that heightens effective reaction to dangerous situations. Unfortunately, like so many other good things, you can have too much of it and it appears that many of us are operating at stress levels which are not commensurate with good health.

It’s ironic that stress, your body’s protective response to peril, is itself a source of danger. There is a tipping point, beyond which stress starts to negatively affect your well-being and, in severe cases, drives you towards life-threatening illness. Stress response has not evolved to a point where it can distinguish between physical and psychological threat. So if you are stressed about debt, relationship break-up or traffic congestion, your body will behave exactly as if it is faced with a gun-wielding intruder. It is just a matter of degree. But while a relentlessly difficult daily schedule might not achieve the same immediate hormone levels as home invasion, the effects of long-term continuous exposure will take their toll. Additionally, the more you activate your stress response, the lower the trigger threshold required and the harder it is to deactivate.

Stress causes specialised hormones to flood your body and prepare you for attack. Elevated levels of stress hormones, including cortisol and adrenaline, activate the sympathetic nervous system, preparing you for action; unfortunately sustained cortisol and adrenaline levels are implicated in heart disease.

Faced with a stressful scenario, the sympathetic nervous system immediately:

•increases skeletal muscle strength
•decreases blood clotting time
•increases heart rate
•increases sugar and fat levels
•reduces intestinal movement
•inhibits secretions
•relaxes the bladder
•dilates pupils
•increases perspiration
•increases mental acuity
•inhibits sexual response
•constricts most blood vessels but dilates vessels in heart, leg and arm muscles.
These physiological responses are obviously meant to be temporary. They block important body functions, so you cannot live with consistently high stress levels without compromising your health. Yet because stress is a natural part of life, a slowly rising tide of it might go unnoticed until you discover that you are drowning. The moment of realisation might come when your GP frowns over your blood pressure reading (high blood pressure is a powerful and measurable warning of looming cardio-vascular events such as heart attack and stroke), or when chest pain and breathlessness assail you on an otherwise fine morning. Your body is crying, “enough”.

Listen to it.

Diane was about to move from her home of 20 years, while marking end-of-year (relentlessly stressful) university papers and shopping for Christmas. One night she woke with an 18-wheeler truck on her chest. “That’s what it felt like”, she says. “Nothing I tried relieved this awful crushing pain. I finally went to hospital. Fortunately, the pain was attributed to extreme stress. They told me that unrelieved stress levels were straining my body systems and that this was a timely warning. I went home comforted and wiser. I now knew that I had limits and I needed to work within them. Having negotiated a slightly later submission of marks, I skipped Christmas shopping crowds and bought online gift vouchers for my family and then concentrated on the house move. Everything fell back into place and by new year, I was a new me.”

Here are some of the indicators that stress has slipped from friend to foe:

•chest pain/rapid heart beat
•bowel problems
•headaches
•increased susceptibility to infections
•depression
•weight problems
•nausea/dizziness
•drug/alcohol abuse
•sexual dysfunction
•irritability/agitation
•tearfulness and feelings of being overwhelmed/isolated
•increased/decreased appetite
•sleep pattern changes
•racing thoughts
•concentration/memory problems.
Of course these symptoms are not restricted to a stress diagnosis, so if you are experiencing any of the above, you must see your doctor for professional evaluation.

Just as we all have different abilities and personalities, our good stress and bad stress tipping points differ. Some people thrive on challenge, others disintegrate at the first obstacle. The factors which determine where each of us sits on the stress continuum include:

•support levels from family and friends
•control perception the control we believe we have over events
•outlook optimistic people tend to embrace challenge and deal with stress more effectively
•emotional control and balance – produces resilience
•situational knowledge – we must manage expectation, so the more knowledge we have going in (likely duration of the situation, details of potential issues etc.) the better we will cope.
Some simple stress reduction strategies include:

•breathing exercises deep breathing oxygenates your blood, relaxes muscles and quietens your mind
•brain downtime- if your brain is overloaded, write a list of all the things that are on your mind, walk away from the list and have at least 30 minutes mental break. You will probably deal with the items more effectively and efficiently after a break
•meditation builds on breathing techniques and focuses on “nothingness”, calming “noisy” minds
•massage touch and the mind are closely linked. Massage improves circulation and relieves stress
•activity exercise releases “feel-good” endorphins which lower cortisol levels; yoga-style exercise has the added advantage of using calming techniques.
Response to stressful situations is highly individual (see indicative quiz details below): some will drive harder and faster; some will pull out of the race altogether; others will freeze. None of these responses are optimal because they don’t demonstrate a controlled response when controlling the situation is our aim. Effective stress management is about changing the stressful situation if possible, changing our response to it if we cant and building relaxation and self-care into our lifestyle.

Find out more

Tips to avoid stress-related weight gain:

www.healthcentral.com/heart-disease/c/45112/68465/tips-related

Fact sheets on stress, anxiety, depression and more: www.reachout.com.au

Quiz How well do you manage stress?:

www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Quiz_how_well_do_you_manage_stress?

Choose to Choose

Posted on October 13, 2009

Eight Choices You Can Make Today that Will Change Your Life Forever
Chris Widener

The direction of our lives is determined by the choices we make every day. They accumulate and add up to our ultimate destiny. Here are eight choices you can make – choices that will create for you a life of abundance and prosperity in all areas of your life.

Choose to grow personally.
This sounds simple but many people only wish to grow personally. They never choose to grow by taking action, such as actually exercising, saving more money etc. Make a decision today to be a person who is on the never ending journey of personal growth.

Choose to always treat others right.
We come across all sorts of people, many of whom will treat us poorly. We can choose to treat them right, no matter how they treat us. When the lie, we will tell the truth. When the cheat, we will play by the rules. We may get the short end of the stick some times, but in the long-run we will win. And most importantly, we will be able to sleep at night.

Choose to break a bad habit.
Take the biggie first. Tackle it head on. If you don’t know what it is, ask a friend. Then spend every effort you can to break that habit. Forget about the others, as you will get to them later. Stop smoking, get out of debt, lose your excess weight. Exercise the power to choose!

Choose to work smarter.
Many people I work with feel like they are out of balance. One of the first things I do is try to find out how much time they are wasting at work, which makes them work longer, which throws the rest of their life into chaos. Getting your work done by diligently working in the time you have will free your life up extraordinarily.

Choose to see your work as a way to help others, and not a way to make money.
If you put your heart into helping others, the money will most assuredly come. Spend time helping others grow and your finances will grow with it.

Choose to become balanced spiritually, emotionally and physically.
Our lives are best when we have these three major areas in balance. Spend some time cultivating your spirituality, becoming emotionally healthy, and physically fit.

Choose to sow more than you reap.
There are many takers in this world, but our lives will be better as we become givers. The world will become better as we become givers. Give away your time, give away your money, give away your love.

Choose to get home for dinner more often.
The family is the most important group of people you will ever belong to. Make a decision today to grow in your relationship with your parents, siblings, spouse and children. This one choice you will never regret.
One of my favorite quotes:

The history of free men is never written by chance,
but by choice – their choice.
Dwight D. Eisenhower