What To Do About Stress
Desert Valley Ranch Life-January 2014
HELP HANDLING STRESS
Stress is one of those subjects everyone seems to identify with but few really understand.
In 1991, the direct mail advertising company I worked for invited me to do a breakout session for their big convention. The title was to be “How to Handle Stress as a Single Mom Working for (Company)”. “Wow, sure, I’d love to do that.” said I. I hung up the phone and screamed, pulled my hair out, and tried not to lose it in front of my kids who were then 9 & 13. Little did anyone know, except probably my kids, that I was a closet stresser. I always looked like I had it under control but…
The company sent me articles, videos, and audio cassettes to give me lots of information on the subject of stress. Developing this talk on stress changed my life. Since then I have studied stress and the devastating effects that stress has on our physical and emotional wellbeing, and our immune system. According to the Center for Disease Control, 90% of illness and disease is caused by stress! Dr. Bruce Lipton of Stanford University Medical School has shown that the real number is closer to 95%!
Let me repeat, 90% to 95% of ALL illness and disease is caused by stress!
In case I don’t have your attention yet, it is now generally accepted by the medical community that stress is either causal or contributory in many of the leading causes of death: heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and most autoimmune diseases, to name a few. Unmanaged reactions to stress are now considered a more dangerous risk factor for cancer and heart disease than either cigarette smoking or high cholesterol foods. Chronic stress takes a physical toll, sometimes with deadly consequences, including fatal heart attacks. Among the stress indicators are increases in blood pressure, suppressed immunity to disease, and increased fat around the abdomen. Others include weaker muscles, bone loss, increases in blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and increased levels of potent steroid hormones, such as cortisol. Need I go on or are you yet convinced that stress is a killer?
Stress-related issues have been estimated to cost Corporate America over $300 billion annually. Increased stress and anxiety, depression and the resulting health issues directly impact companies, causing conflict, higher health costs, absenteeism and low productivity.
Whew, that was stressful even writing about it. Let’s get to the better news.
YOU CAN BUILD RESILIENCE TO STRESS!
Stress is not “out there”. Stress is caused by how I react to what is out there. Case in point, I noticed twenty or twenty-five years ago that I never got sick, unless, I was on a deadline. You can understand now why they are called “deadlines”. The flu could ravage through my whole office staff and I would not catch it, unless I was stressed. When we started offering 4-color printing, that added two more deadlines to my calendar, with two more weeks of stress. Well, it soon became constant stress and I became less resilient to normal stressors.
I still believe that my invitation to do “How to Handle Stress” at the convention was a matter of Divine intervention. I had two kids to raise and a business to run and God was not about to let me lose my sanity, or my health.
Let’s get on to the reason you have read this far: to get HELP HANDLING STRESS!
First, I will give an abbreviated explanation of what happens when you get stressed and go into the fight or flight response. Blood leaves your brain and torso to supply your arms and legs the necessary energy to either fight or flee. This response is one of the miracles of nature and has kept us alive throughout the millennia. If we were being chased by a sabre tooth tiger, this is absolutely the help we need to fight or flee. Except now, that sabre tooth tiger looks like our boss, mother-in-law, traffic, or toxic chemicals in our food supply. Our bodies react the same way to all of them!
OK, first a couple of quickie tricks for immediate relief of stress:
1. Breathe – Taking a slow, deep breath provides more oxygen to your brain to help prevent saying or doing something stupid. Literally, without the normal amount of blood flowing to our neocortex, the site of our higher brain functions, (a.k.a. new brain, or forebrain) we often say or do stupid things when we are stressed. (Go ahead, try to deny it.)
2. Laugh – Think about something funny, or in the absence of that ability in the moment, laugh anyway. Your body cannot distinguish between sincere laughter and made up or forced laughter. The same cascade of healing chemicals is released from your brain when you laugh.
3. Exercise – When we were being chased by a sabre tooth tiger, we would use our muscles to fight or flee expending the adrenalin that had been provided to them. Now, all of the adrenalin that is released during what your body considers a stressful event remains in your muscles causing the aches and pains with which we are so familiar these days. No need to even go to the gym. Stretch or flex your muscles to move the adrenalin out of your body. Isometric exercises can accommodate this in an immediate need. Plus it will feel good.
4. Tap – A simple process called Tapping, Energy Psychology, or Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) can instantly reduce both the physiological and psychological effects of stress. I have been teaching and practicing this since 2000 and named EFT “the miracle drug… without the drug”. This technique has been used in crisis situations such as the genocide in Kosovo and Rwanda, New Orleans after Katrina, and after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, CT in 2012 with close to 100% success. Check out my website for more information. www.pat-farrell.com
5. Hug – Yes, hugging relieves stress. It is what people do naturally in a crisis. I have heard that we need 4 hugs a day for sustenance, 8 for maintenance, and 12 for growth. I’m going for it, so if you see me, I am always ready for a hug.
Watch for more tips and tools to relieve stress in future issues of Desert Valley Ranch Life Magazine. So in the meantime, notice where in your body you feel stress. Allow that sensation to be a red flag, warning you that stress is building. Remember to affirm, “I relax, take a breath and life is beautiful”. See you next month.
Pat Farrell has a private practice in the High Desert and works with corporate health and wellness programs. She has been teaching Stress Management since 1991. Pat can be reached at 760-961-4027 or [email protected].
HELP HANDLING STRESS
Stress is one of those subjects everyone seems to identify with but few really understand.
In 1991, the direct mail advertising company I worked for invited me to do a breakout session for their big convention. The title was to be “How to Handle Stress as a Single Mom Working for (Company)”. “Wow, sure, I’d love to do that.” said I. I hung up the phone and screamed, pulled my hair out, and tried not to lose it in front of my kids who were then 9 & 13. Little did anyone know, except probably my kids, that I was a closet stresser. I always looked like I had it under control but…
The company sent me articles, videos, and audio cassettes to give me lots of information on the subject of stress. Developing this talk on stress changed my life. Since then I have studied stress and the devastating effects that stress has on our physical and emotional wellbeing, and our immune system. According to the Center for Disease Control, 90% of illness and disease is caused by stress! Dr. Bruce Lipton of Stanford University Medical School has shown that the real number is closer to 95%!
Let me repeat, 90% to 95% of ALL illness and disease is caused by stress!
In case I don’t have your attention yet, it is now generally accepted by the medical community that stress is either causal or contributory in many of the leading causes of death: heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and most autoimmune diseases, to name a few. Unmanaged reactions to stress are now considered a more dangerous risk factor for cancer and heart disease than either cigarette smoking or high cholesterol foods. Chronic stress takes a physical toll, sometimes with deadly consequences, including fatal heart attacks. Among the stress indicators are increases in blood pressure, suppressed immunity to disease, and increased fat around the abdomen. Others include weaker muscles, bone loss, increases in blood sugar and cholesterol levels, and increased levels of potent steroid hormones, such as cortisol. Need I go on or are you yet convinced that stress is a killer?
Stress-related issues have been estimated to cost Corporate America over $300 billion annually. Increased stress and anxiety, depression and the resulting health issues directly impact companies, causing conflict, higher health costs, absenteeism and low productivity.
Whew, that was stressful even writing about it. Let’s get to the better news.
YOU CAN BUILD RESILIENCE TO STRESS!
Stress is not “out there”. Stress is caused by how I react to what is out there. Case in point, I noticed twenty or twenty-five years ago that I never got sick, unless, I was on a deadline. You can understand now why they are called “deadlines”. The flu could ravage through my whole office staff and I would not catch it, unless I was stressed. When we started offering 4-color printing, that added two more deadlines to my calendar, with two more weeks of stress. Well, it soon became constant stress and I became less resilient to normal stressors.
I still believe that my invitation to do “How to Handle Stress” at the convention was a matter of Divine intervention. I had two kids to raise and a business to run and God was not about to let me lose my sanity, or my health.
Let’s get on to the reason you have read this far: to get HELP HANDLING STRESS!
First, I will give an abbreviated explanation of what happens when you get stressed and go into the fight or flight response. Blood leaves your brain and torso to supply your arms and legs the necessary energy to either fight or flee. This response is one of the miracles of nature and has kept us alive throughout the millennia. If we were being chased by a sabre tooth tiger, this is absolutely the help we need to fight or flee. Except now, that sabre tooth tiger looks like our boss, mother-in-law, traffic, or toxic chemicals in our food supply. Our bodies react the same way to all of them!
OK, first a couple of quickie tricks for immediate relief of stress:
1. Breathe – Taking a slow, deep breath provides more oxygen to your brain to help prevent saying or doing something stupid. Literally, without the normal amount of blood flowing to our neocortex, the site of our higher brain functions, (a.k.a. new brain, or forebrain) we often say or do stupid things when we are stressed. (Go ahead, try to deny it.)
2. Laugh – Think about something funny, or in the absence of that ability in the moment, laugh anyway. Your body cannot distinguish between sincere laughter and made up or forced laughter. The same cascade of healing chemicals is released from your brain when you laugh.
3. Exercise – When we were being chased by a sabre tooth tiger, we would use our muscles to fight or flee expending the adrenalin that had been provided to them. Now, all of the adrenalin that is released during what your body considers a stressful event remains in your muscles causing the aches and pains with which we are so familiar these days. No need to even go to the gym. Stretch or flex your muscles to move the adrenalin out of your body. Isometric exercises can accommodate this in an immediate need. Plus it will feel good.
4. Tap – A simple process called Tapping, Energy Psychology, or Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) can instantly reduce both the physiological and psychological effects of stress. I have been teaching and practicing this since 2000 and named EFT “the miracle drug… without the drug”. This technique has been used in crisis situations such as the genocide in Kosovo and Rwanda, New Orleans after Katrina, and after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, CT in 2012 with close to 100% success. Check out my website for more information. www.pat-farrell.com
5. Hug – Yes, hugging relieves stress. It is what people do naturally in a crisis. I have heard that we need 4 hugs a day for sustenance, 8 for maintenance, and 12 for growth. I’m going for it, so if you see me, I am always ready for a hug.
Watch for more tips and tools to relieve stress in future issues of Desert Valley Ranch Life Magazine. So in the meantime, notice where in your body you feel stress. Allow that sensation to be a red flag, warning you that stress is building. Remember to affirm, “I relax, take a breath and life is beautiful”. See you next month.
Pat Farrell has a private practice in the High Desert and works with corporate health and wellness programs. She has been teaching Stress Management since 1991. Pat can be reached at 760-961-4027 or [email protected].
