"Glance at the 10 leading causes of death in America, and you won't find the word 'stress' anywhere. Yet many well-respected studies link stress to heart disease and stroke--2 of the top 10 killers. Heart disease alone was responsible for more than one in three deaths in 2002. Stress may also influence cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases, which rank as numbers 2 and 4, respectively, in the top 10.
Stress has implications for many other ailments as well. Depression and anxiety, which afflict millions of Americans, can be caused or exacerbated by stress. Stress also triggers flare-ups of asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, and gastrointestinal problems, such as irritable bowel syndrome. And illness is just the tip of the iceberg. Stress effects you emotional as well, marring the joy you draw from life and loved ones.
What is stress? For one thing, it's not all bad. Your perception of a real or imagined threat can spark the stress response, a physiological cascade that prepares the body to fight or flee. That swift reflex was encoded in you for survival and can save you from injury or worse. It's a rush of hormones that spurs you to jump out of the path of a speeding car, or quickly douse a small fire. Stress has another positive side as well. Researchers have found that as stress or anxiety increases, so do performance and efficiency--at least initially. At a certain point, though, rising stress becomes detrimental, and performance and efficiency tumble.
Trouble usually brews when the stress response is evoked repeatedly, causing unnecessary wear and tear on the body for less then momentous reasons. In a world bursting with situations that can elicit the stress response--traffic jams, layoffs, illness, and money woes--it's not surprising that many people experience stress frequently. Certainly, no one can completely avoid stressful situations. Yet it's entirely possible for each of us to influence how these situations affect us.
As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day. It took much longer to raise the scaffolding that supports the negative cycle of stress in your life, too. Learning to dismantle it will also take time. Yet your efforts can reward you richly with better health, greater peace of mind, and a smoother, more joyful course through life."
Incorporating a little stress management into your daily routines seems like just one more thing to add to our daily to-do lists. But the effects of stress on your emotions and your body are very real. The great thing about stress management is that you can experience instant results. After a bout of meditation, you do feel better, more relaxed and calm right away. Although, in order for long term effects to take place, you have to make it a long term goal.
There are quite a few methods and theories that go along with stress management. Some of my favorite theorists include Leo Buscaglia, Viktor Frankl and Wayne Dyer. Each believed stress comes into our lives for different reasons and so they each have different methods for dealing with stress. Each of them, however, are correct in their own right. I don't believe there is one solution to effectively deal with stress, nor do I believe that there is just one method for each individual. Rather, I believe that all different methods can be applied, and may be needed in order to effectively deal with stress.
Leo Buscaglia's leading theory revolved around love and self-love. His determination that if we improve the amount of love we show others and ourselves, we experience less stress. Wayne Dyer saw that all stress comes from worry about the future and guilt over the past. He believed that focusing simply on the present could decrease all the stress in our lives. Viktor Frankl developed his theory through his Nazi concentration camp survival. He understood that seeking for or having a meaning in your life can help you withstand the major stressors in life. I believe that keeping an eye on the bigger picture of life can help us deal with and overcome any stressor.
The methods and activities that can be used for stress management are numerous. Meditation is one that frequently comes to mind. It can be difficult though. To force yourself to sit and empty your mind of everything except one simple word or phrase can be frustrating and discouraging. Few understand that meditation can happen in a variety of settings and in a variety of activities.
Playing a game of volleyball, for example, can be used as meditation. You are emptying your mind of everything except what is happening in the present moment (Wayne Dyer's philosophy also). That can be exceptionally freeing for your mind and thought process. Going for a run is similar.
Deep breathing is another very simple form of stress relief. Pausing for a moment to concentrate on taking a few deep breaths in and out seems too simple for it to actually have an effect. Try it. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can make yourself feel just a little more calm by taking a few deep breaths.
Mindfulness is one of my favorite methods of stress management because it does not take any extra time during your day. You can do it all day long even. Mindfulness is the practice of living in the moment. Thats not to say that you're forgetting about consequences of your actions and doing what you please. Its a matter of putting more of Wayne Dyer's theory into practice. You let go of your worry for the future and the guilt over what happened in the past. If it is not currently occurring at the moment, then don't think about it. You can do this while completing a project at work. Simply focus on that single project and you'll find that your ideas and thoughts come more easily because your brain is not being forced to think of numerous ideas all at once. You can do it while your cleaning or doing chores also. Just simply become observant of the things that are happening right then, the feel of the keys under your fingers, the way your hands move, the way your muscles flex when you shift positions, the feel of the air on your skin or the smell of your surroundings.
Humor is another favorite method of relaxation. Laughter has the most amazingly complex and positive effect on the body and a majority of its systems. I can talk for 14 pages (and have) about the positive effects of laughter on the body. But laughter has an emotional component to it as well. After experiencing a bout of laughter, your mind is in creativity mode. You will find that you may come up with the best solutions to your problems after a good laugh. Your brain is also being filled with good feeling hormones like endorphins. These can give you a more positive outlook on situations. Try taking a regular humor break during the day. Collect funny pictures, stories, or videos and look over them or search for new ones. You could also contact someone who always makes you laugh. Keeping people around you that have a good or similar sense of humor can make situations much easier to handle.
Sometimes just setting aside time for yourself and your favorite activity everyday can make a world of difference. I read a quote somewhere that said, "Water cannot be drawn from an empty well. If you don't take time for yourself, the less and less you'll have to give to others, including your children."
Those are powerful words and a powerful reminder that we really do suffer when we don't make an effort to decrease or more effectively deal with the amount of stress in our lives. And taking time for yourself is not a crime. Like the saying says, the less time you take for yourself, the less you'll have to give to others. Building your reserves helps you and everyone you come in contact with. And don't forget, stress also raises the level of bad cholesterol in your body and supports weight gain by the body.
