Today in our society there are many people under a great deal of chronic stress, our society almost demands it. Our very economic system is built on competition. Technology has enabled companies to expect more from their employees, employees are plugged in with corporate laptops and blackberries. You have to raise your kids right and take them here and there, go to their soccer games while working on your blackberry. This pressure to perform and compete follows us around via our phones dinging and chirping every couple minutes to let us know someone wants something. Our stress response evolved thousands of years ago and has not changed all that much. The constant plugging in is today's equivalent of a saber tooth tiger following us around snarling every couple minutes. Surely we can see this constant being plugged in creates stress but we can't unplug, society and corporations will crumble! Or will they?
What is the cost of stress on our own health?
Of people who visit the doctors yearly 90% have chronic problems and many of these chronic problems either stem from stress or are made worse by stress. The physical changes that occur during stress, inhibited immune system, increased heart rate, increased breathing rate, inhibited reproduction, increased blood flow to the major muscles, decreased blood flow to the organs, halted digestion, and inhibited insulin action, are great for having the edge during an acute stress situation. However, our bodies were not made to operate this way long term. Here are just a few medical conditions that are caused by or are accelerated by stress, heart attack, stroke, asthma, high blood pressure, poor digestion, diabetes, metabolic disorders reproductive problems, memory loss, depression, accelerated aging. Some people many think, “Stress is all in the mind” and this is actually not correct. There are neuropeptides all over the body that are constantly communicating. Information is going back and forth between the endocrine system, brain, and immune system all the time. Others do not understand the full potential of the negative impact of stress saying “oh well we are all going to get old, get ill, and die anyway so what if I loose a year, two, or three at the end of my life” To that I would say, “it is not about when you die, it is about the quality of your life. By quality of life I mean your health, your tuning in and living in the moment, your connections with society, your appreciation, and your love.” We all have choices to make about our lives but I would suggest that we take a step back and look at where we are headed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Do we like what we see? Are there changes we can make to live a quality life?
What is the cost of stress on our society that breeds it?
The Occupational Safety and Hazard Association (OSHA) says we spend $300 billion annually on diseases related to stress, a Canadian Study found that stress accounts for the highest percent of health insurance costs in big corporations, a 1992 British study estimated the amount totaled 10% of their GDP. Graham Clarke, the National Health, Safety & Environmental Manager states, “80% of all modern diseases have their origins in stress.” These are just few of the stress related costs to our society, then there's the diseases that go along with stress and these not only drain the healthcare system but the people as well. Migraines, depression, insomnia, digestive disorders, addictions, irritable bowel syndrome, and arthritis (just to name a few) hurt the quality, happiness, and fulfillment of life for our neighbors, family members, and friends. Are we ready to just drudge along through life with decreased enjoyment and health? I'm not.
What are the benefits to tuning in and alleviating stress?
Above I outlined all of the negative things associated with chronic stress so clearly the benefits to reducing stress are improved health, improved quality of health, lengthened lifespan, lowered medical cost to yourself and society. But in addition to these benefits, learning stress coping techniques and reducing stressors in our lives will give us time to “Tune in”. When we tune into our lives we recognize the beauty in our life, the love we give and receive, our values, our wisdom, and our strengths that make up our soul and we can develop a mind body connection that gives us peace and happiness.
Ways to alleviate stress
We know that stress is any event that requires us to adapt or change. You can't get away from stress it is a part of our lives. What you can do is learn how to deal with it effectively reducing your risk of medical conditions, that shorten your lifespan or reduce the quality of your life. Here are some ideas of activities that can help you cope with stress.
- Breathing
- Stretching
- Meditation
- Visualization
- Self hypnosis
- Diet
- Exercise
- Music
- Aromatherapy
- Laughter
- Thought field therapy
You can also work to develop a stress hardy personality. There are some people who seem to deal better with prolonged stress in the study it was noted that they all had commitment to their lives and themselves, they felt they had a sense of control even if directives were given, they looked for challenges to grow and be stronger. Perhaps knowing these three things can help us deal with stress. We are conditioned to respond to stress the way we have for a long time however, if we can recognize when stress occurs and try to refocus on the idea that we still have some control and see it as an opportunity to learn and grow we may be far better off. Scientists have know for a long time there is a connection between health and personality type.
I submit that with all the information we have about stress it may be wise for each of us to find a way to unplug every once and a while and learn several stress coping strategies.
- Take those two weeks vacation each year without the blackberry.
- Join your companies HR sponsored work-life balance team.
- Try to get a room for meditation that can be used at certain times throughout the day.
- Have a yoga class at lunchtime on site.
- Once an hour take 10 deep cleansing breaths.
- Talk to HR about getting a chair massage person in once a month.
- Have aromatherapy oils in your office.
Is there anyone who doesn't want to live happy and healthy? Healthy living involves engaging in a healthy nutritional plan, socially active lifestyle, regular exercise, sufficient rest and sleep, and finally, proactive strategies to reduce the impact of chronic stress. And healthy lifestyles are a good foundation for a happy life as well.
* It should be noted here that I wrote primarily about chronic stress that we put on ourselves, put on each other or have put on us through our job and job position. There are many other kinds of stress such as death of a loved one, traumatic childhood events, or stress that happened to us prenatally like the “winter hunger”children. I do recognize that there are other kinds of stress by the benefits of alleviating stress and ways to do that remain the same.
* Also I obviously wrote only about Distress not Eustress but recognize that although different both can be stressful
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