How Can Stress Affect Your Health?
Stress can be both helpful and harmful to your body. The stress response known as the “fight or flight” reaction is your body’s way of getting into “high gear” to respond to danger. These stressful situations trigger your hypothala mus, a small area at the base of your brain, to increase the level of stress hormones that are then released from your adrenal glands. The most abundant of these hormones released are adrenaline and cortisol. Stress hormones give your body the ability to increase concentration, reaction time, strength, and agility to ward off any danger. When the stressful situation has ended, hormone signals shutoff and the body returns to normal. Today many people are constantly stressed because of work or just making ends meet and unfortunately don’t know how to properly manage it. Consequently, stress hormones continue to run at high levels, never leaving the bloodstream.
According to the National Institute of Health and the Mayo Clinic constant stress can lead to:
* Obesity
* Insomnia
* Heart Disease
* Depression
* Digestive Disorders
* Memory Impairment
* Physical Illness and other complications
Tips to Help Manage Stress.
Identifying your stress triggers is the first important tip to managing stress. People who have become chronically stressed never identified their stressors and have become used to it, sometimes suppressed it. Stress triggers are different for everyone and can depend on your genes, personality, and life experience.
To identify your stress and the magnitude of stressful situations try these approaches below:
* Keep a stress journal. For one week, note which events and situations cause a negative physical, mental or emotional response. Record the day, time and give a brief description of the situation. Where were you? Who was involved? What seemed to cause the stress? Also, describe your reaction. What were your physical symptoms? How did you feel? What did you say or do? Finally, on a scale of 1 (not very intense) to 5 (very intense), rate the intensity of your stress.
* Make a list of all the demands on your time and energy for one week. Some examples may include your job, driving your kids to sporting events, or caring for an elderly parent. Then, on a scale of 1 (not very intense) to 5 (very intense), rate the intensity of stress that each demand causes.
Once you have identified your most intense stressful trigger you will be able to work on that situation. The following are examples of ways you can reduce stress, however everyone is different and may develop their own way to manage their stress.
1. Improve your time management skills. Effective time management skills can help you identify goals, set priorities and minimize the stress in your life.
2. Take care of yourself. Eat regular, balanced meals, including breakfast. Get adequate sleep and exercise.
3. Develop friendships at work and outside the office. Being open and sharing feelings that upset you with people you trust is the first step toward resolving them. Minimize/eliminate activities with "negative" friends who only reinforce bad feelings.
4. Take time off. Everyone deserves to take a vacation, whether it’s a weekend trip or just some time to relax. Everyday you should try to take a break and have some time to yourself.
5. Try relaxing activities. Read, enjoy a hobby, take a hot shower, listen to relaxing music, pray, meditate, exercise or get involved in some other activity that is relaxing and gets your mind off work.
6. Have a positive attitude. If the thoughts running through your head are mostly negative chances are your outlook on life is pessimistic. Researchers have found that positive thinking can single-handedly decrease the negative effects of stress on your body.
7. Don’t be afraid to get help. If nothing seems to help your feelings of being stressed out, you may need to seek advice or help from your health care professional.
