Dealing With Stress

You are driving home after a long day at work when you find your mind racing, ”what will I make for dinner, don’t forget to walk the dogs, I need to mail the bills in the morning.”

We have all experienced “stress” at some point in our lives. Stress is many different types of things: happy things, sad things, allergic things, or physical things. It is when you are worried about getting laid off your job, when your new bedroom set is being delivered, or when you go to a fun party that lasts until 2:00 a.m. However, your body has a much broader definition of stress. To your body, stress is synonymous with change. Anything that causes change in your life causes stress, whether the change is good or bad. The change can be in your daily routine, your body health, or even imagined changes.

There are several types of stress. Emotional stress is caused when arguments, disagreements, and conflicts cause changes in your personal life. Illness is also stress. Catching a cold, breaking an arm, or a sore back, are all changes in your body condition. Pushing your body too hard may also be a major source of stress. If you are working 16 hours a day, you will have reduced your available time for rest. Soon, the energy drain on your system will cause the body to fall behind in its repair work. There will not be enough time or energy for your body to fix broken cells, or replace used up brain neurotransmitters. Changes will then occur in your body’s internal environment and you will run out of gas. Environmental factors may also cause stress. Very hot or cold climates, high altitudes, and toxins/poisons are also stress that cause changes in your body’s internal environment. For example, tobacco is a very powerful toxin. Smoking destroys cells that clean your trachea, bronchi, and lungs. It causes emphysema and chronic bronchitis, which progress to slow suffocation. Tobacco use damages your body’s arteries, and causes insufficient blood supply to the brain, heart, and vital organs. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of cancer 50 fold. Chewing tobacco or snuff is no better. It also damages arteries and carries the same cancer risk. As you can see, tobacco can be a great source of stress in one’s life. Hormonal factors such as puberty, pre-menstrual syndrome, post-partum, and menopause will also cause added stress on a person’s body. Stress can also come in the form of allergies. Allergic reactions are a part of your body’s natural defense mechanism. When confronted with a substance which your body considers toxic, your body will try to get rid of it or attack it. If it is something that lands in your nose, you might get a runny, sneezy nose. If it lands on your skin, you might get blistery skin. If you eat it, it may break out red, itchy hives all over your body. Allergies can be a definite stress. They require large changes in energy expenditure on the part of your body’s defense system to fight off what the body perceives as a dangerous attack by an outside toxin.

Now that we have discussed the types of stress, the question remains; how do we deal with stress? Stress management is the ability to maintain control when situations, people, or events make excessive demands. The next time you find yourself “stressed out” try any of the following tactics:

q       Look around.

See if there really is something you can change or control in the situation.

q       Learn how to best relax yourself.

Meditation and breathing exercises have been proven effective in controlling stress. Clear your mind of disturbing thoughts.

q       Remove yourself from the stressful situation.

Give yourself a break if only for a few moments daily.

q       Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Try to prioritize a few important things and set the rest aside.

q       Don’t overwhelm yourself.

Handle each task as it comes, or deal with matters in some priority.

q       Selectively change the way you react.

Focus on one troublesome thing and manage your reactions to it, him, or her.

q       Change the way you see things.

Learn to recognize stress and increase your body’s feedback.

q       Avoid extreme reactions.

q       Do something for others.

Get your mind off your self.

q       Get enough sleep.

q       Work off stress with physical activity.

q       Avoid self-medication or escape with alcohol or drugs.

q       Develop a thick skin.

q       Try to be positive!

Sources used in this article:

Burns, Steven L. How to Survive Unbearable Stress. 1990

      Article written by: Jill Stuver