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April is Stress Awareness Month
What is stress? It is a physical and/or mental response to pressures, good or bad. We all need to learn to the correct ways to respond to stress to avoid damage to our health, relationships, and productivity. It seems appropriate Stress Awareness Month is in April – the month we all think of income taxes. Let’s now think about stress and how best to deal with it.
There are physical changes when stress occurs. Your body releases hormones that accelerate your breathing and heart rate, increase your blood sugar levels and blood pressure, and improve blood clotting. Your body readies itself for a physical emergency. There is speculation these physical changes were necessary components in our ancestors’ lives, giving them the strength and alertness to fight or flee during attacks. Additionally, any cuts they received would clot quickly to keep them alive. Even today, energy and mental agility can be beneficial when we face challenges in the work place or at home. But there are some health hazards….
Health Hazards of Stress
If stress goes on for long periods of time, your body fails to adjust and wears out, weakening your defenses to disease. Medically, there is the potential of suffering from these and other ailments:
• High blood pressure and hear disease
• Head, joint and body aches
• Breath trouble and asthma attacks
• Loss of appetite and digestive orders
• Insomnia and fatigue
• Skin rashes
• Cold, flu and even cancer due to a weakened immune system
In addition to physical conditions, psychologically you can suffer from anger, frustration, impatience, poor listening, worry, lack of self confidence, guilt over negative thoughts, violence, alcohol and drug abuse.
How Can You Handle Stress?
The best way is to reduce or eliminate its source. Unfortunately, sources are sometimes “stressors” which cannot be totally eliminated such as work conditions, unsafe work environment, job insecurity, family and financial problems, illness or injury, being a care giver, or life changes such as death or divorce. Because you can’t control all the stressors, become aware of when you are under stress and find ways to manage it:
• Talk to someone or write about your stress.
• Take breaks to free your mind from stress.
• Maintain proper rest and diet.
• Exercise to release stress.
• Practice deep breathing.
• Set goals, priorities and limits.
• Analyze your strengths.
• Share your work if you can’t do it all.
• Participate, help others, and cooperate.
• Avoid taking medication to eliminate stress.
• Laugh and do something you enjoy.
Note: For the 15th consecutive year, April 2007 has been designated Stress Awareness Month. During this thirty day period, health care professionals and health promotion experts across the country will join forces to increase public awareness about both the causes and cures for our modern stress epidemic. Sponsored by The Health Resource Network (HRN), a non-profit health education organization Stress Awareness Month is a national, cooperative effort to inform people about the dangers of stress, successful coping strategies, and harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in our society.
Source: http://www.stresscure.com/hrn/april.html