Stress: It’s Killing Us

Stress is a major contributing factor in most illnesses and dis-ease … research indicates upwards of 90% or more (including but not limited to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, inflammation, depression, and HIV/AIDS).  But when was the last time your doctor talked to you about how to manage stress or even what might be stressing you?  Understanding stress management is one of the best things you can do for your overall health and well-being.

In today’s fast-paced society, we are exposed to more stress in a day than our ancestors of 50-100 years ago were in a month.  While technology can instantly place information at our fingertips, it creates an enormous amount of stress as we are expected to be “on call” 24/7.

How you might ask?  When was the last time you left the house without your cell phone?  We are expected to have it with us and also to answer it all the time.  It wasn’t that long ago that the only way to reach someone was IF they were home and could answer the phone.  There were no answering machines.  If we were busy, we were busy.  If we were out, we were out.  Our time was our own.  Phones were typically for emergencies as most phone calls were charged by the minute and you didn’t talk any longer than absolutely necessary.  Communication was mostly face-to-face … or by letter if the person lived too far away.  And this is just one way.

We are bombarded on the TV and even in our email and when searching the internet by advertising and sensationalized news.  There was a time when you picked up a newspaper or magazine and that was when you caught up on what was happening and the only time you had to mentally process that kind of information.  Our brains had down time and could think and organize things that were happening.

Our subconscious is working overtime today to process everything that comes our way.  While we may no longer be running from the big, hungry bear in the woods, our bodies are bathed in stress hormones as if we were running from that bear all day, every day.  Is it any wonder our bodies can’t keep up?  When our subconscious perceives a threat, some body systems are put on high alert and others are all but shut down.  The last thing you need to do while you are running for your life is need to go to the bathroom.  Many who are under a great deal of stress have trouble digesting food.  What food we do take in is often stored as our body expects to need it as reserve energy to continue running … this might mean you find it difficult to maintain a healthy weight.

Our subconscious views the need to be “on call” as stress.  Financial woes are stress.  Relationship drama is stress.  We basically live in stress and our bodies cannot handle it.  For many, the daily mail is a source of extreme stress … the electric bill, the mortgage, and the car payment.  These stresses are as life-threatening to us as the big hungry bear … because the body is bathed in the same hormones.

The body cannot, over a long period of time, function when some systems are all but shut down and others are on high alert.  There must be balance and harmony.  One of the things I suggest to clients is to set aside time every day for meditation.

I and many others prefer guided relaxation meditation as this specifically gives the brain something to focus on and encourages relaxation.  Just before bed is an ideal time as this helps the body sleep better.  It is during sleep that the body is able to restore and regenerate.  Without adequate sleep, the body cannot begin to repair itself.  Allow modern technology to work for you … find a night-time meditation on YouTube and drift off to sleep as it plays and then turns itself off.

There are many ways to manage stress and it is to your benefit to realize the enormous amount of stress you are under every day and mitigate it in appropriate ways.  Maybe it’s turning off your phone or leaving it behind when you go for a walk, maybe it’s limiting your news viewing to a small, designated time, maybe it’s reducing social media and staying out of other people’s drama, maybe it’s getting involved in a new hobby or doing some gardening, or how about reconnecting with friends and having time for casual conversation or game night.

Stress can kill and it’s time to find ways to handle it.  Please take the time to learn how stress is impacting you (even if you think it’s not) and then techniques to manage it.

5 Ways to Relieve Stress
Stress Management
Stress Management Tips from WebMD
Stress Management from Mayo Clinic