Managing your outlook can boost your health
11:47 PM, Jan. 22, 2012
Article from The Greenville Online.Com
By Amy Clarke | | Staff Writer
The phone’s ringing, your boss is harping, the deadlines are looming, and you’ve got to pick up the kids by 6. And then there’s dinner, homework and laundry. And somebody’s got to walk the dog.
Is it any wonder that most of us are in a constant state of frazzle?
“We have stress coming at us all the time,” said Kim Hein, Greenville Hospital System’s Life Center program coordinator.
The chemicals associated with stress can spread throughout the body in a matter of seconds but take hours to dissipate. And during that time, it’s quite possible that something else will come up to keep the stress reaction going.
Hein, who teaches classes on stress management, said the constant state of stress “becomes a wear and tear on the body.”
Hormones triggered by our body’s innate “fight or flight” response to a stressor can increase blood pressure and heart rate, cause inflammation, increase stomach acids, suppress the immune system and increase breathing rate. According to the Mayo Clinic’s website, physical symptoms of stress can include headache, fatigue, muscle tension, stomach upset, irritability, depression and more. And stress can lead to overeating, social withdrawal or substance abuse.
Left unchecked, stress can contribute to conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, the Mayo Clinic reported.
The good news is that integrating some calming practices and habits can help you cope with stress and reduce your risk for stress-related problems.
Sleep
Getting a good night’s sleep — seven to eight hours — is crucial in equipping your body to deal with stress, Hein said.
To fall asleep easily, she recommended winding down an hour before bed with no TV, no work, no reading. Try a soothing chamomile tea or a warm bath, she said.
If you wake up chilly during the night, wearing warm socks to bed can help you get more uninterrupted sleep.
Close drapes to sleep in total darkness, which helps you sleep more deeply and maintain a healthy circadian rhythm.
Find an alarm that offers something less jarring than the traditional beep-beep-beep.
“The alarm clock induces that stress response, the fight or flight response,” Hein said.
Relax
If you’re feeling stressed, a few simple techniques can help calm your body’s response and help you feel better, Hein said.
For starters, focus on deep breathing, what Hein called “belly breathing.”
When we’re stressed, we tend to hold our breath more and breathe more shallowly, she said.
Limbic breathing — inhaling, holding and slowly releasing the breath while focusing on breathing in good things and exhaling all that is bad — “allows the body to get into a more relaxation response, calm those physiological responses down,” she said.
Try meditation. “Meditation can be just finding a quiet place to just sit, closing your eyes and focusing on an object like a flower or a candle flame,” Hein said.
Gentle yoga poses — look up viparita karani (legs-up-the-wall pose) or downward facing dog for a few examples — or simple hand or foot massages can also provide some relief.
Even more simply, try progressive muscle relaxation. Lie down and focus on tensing one part of your body and then relaxing it. Do it three times before moving on to another area. Start at your head and work your way to your toes.
“You can feel some of that tension flow away,” Hein said.
Escape
If you’re feeling stressed at work, don’t just sit there and take it. Getting away from your desk, even for a five-minute walk around the building, can ease accumulating stress, Hein said.
Small exercises at your desk can also help by releasing tension in the body.
Try these (and others) recommended by www.webmd.com:
Stand up and sit down a few times without using your hands to push against the desk or chair.
Shrug your shoulders while inhaling deeply; hold them high for a moment and then release.
Shake your head slowly yes and no.
Extend your legs in front of you, parallel to the floor, and point your toes a few times.
Stand or sit tall, stretch your arm overhead and interlock your fingers.
Need a vacation but can’t get away? Try a few minutes of visual imagery. Imagine a pleasant or relaxing scene like a walk on the beach or a hike in the mountains.
“Take in all the senses, what they see, what they hear, what they touch, what they smell, what they may be tasting,” Hein said. “It’s like a little mini-vacation.”
Stop
An important part of handling stress is learning to control your reaction to it, Hein said. Pay attention to your body and learn to recognize the signs — quickened heartbeat, shallow breathing, etc.
If you can spot the feeling before it overwhelms you, you can learn to control it, perhaps by working to change your attitude. Try to see a negative event in some positive light.
Journaling can provide insight into what causes stress and your reactions to it. “Sometimes when you write down feelings when under stressful situations, you can identify or pattern some of the things that are happening in your life that are coming back to you again and again,” she said.
“And out of those patterns, you can look at ... some things you need to change, but change them in a gentle sort of way.”
If all else fails, channel some simple but ancient philosophy: “This, too, shall pass.”
Article from The Greenville Online.Com