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Don’t Let Stress Damage Your Health

Posted by Hiram in Fitness, Mind & Spirit | 0 comments

woman stress Dont Let Stress Damage Your Health

Turn on the TV to any news channel and what do you see? Lay offs. Economic downturn. Bankruptcies. You don’t need me to tell you that these are stressful times.

Stress is a natural response to unexpected things that happen in our lives. Designed to help keep us safe from dangerous situations, stress can also damage your health if not channeled and/or controlled properly.

When we encounter a stressful situation, or when a stressful situation is thrust upon us, the body responds by releasing a number of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones put your body on “high alert,” ready to face whatever the problem is. However, spending too much time in this heightened state puts a significant strain on the body that can eventually damage your overall health including your heart.

Learning how stress works and how it affects your health are the first steps in learning how to manage stress in your life.

What Causes Stress?

Most stress is caused by those unexpected or unplanned for events that happen in all of our lives. For example, taking the kids to school is a pretty straightforward task. All of us have a mental picture of how things should go in order to perform this task. So we go through our mental checklist that includes homework, lunches, coats, books, etc when suddenly, one of the kids mentions that they forgot a major part of their homework assignment. This wasn’t part of the plan. Our reality doesn’t match the mental picture we had of how things should be going. We therefore begin to experience stress.

Stress occurs when things don’t go as planned, or how you imagined they would go. You picture a leisurely drive into work and someone cuts you off. You planned a nice quiet afternoon but the kids won’t stop fighting. You didn’t picture things going this way so you get stressed.

Is Stress a Bad Thing?

Stress in and of itself is not a bad thing. In fact, stress is designed to help get us out of dangerous or harmful situations, our “fight or flight” response in other words.

Small amounts of stress can actually be a good thing. For example, working against the stress of a deadline can actually help focus your mind and allow you to get more done than you otherwise would. When you lift weights or use resistance bands, you’re working your muscles against a controlled level of stress in order to make them stronger.

So what is it that causes stress to flip over to the “bad side?”

It’s All About Control.

Psychologists have found that “bad” stress is usually caused by events where we feel we have no control over the situation. Let’s assume that you’re late for work and there’s a traffic jam up ahead. If you’re on a highway and you just passed the last exit, you’re essentially stuck and will probably start feeling stressed about not getting to work on time. On the other hand, if you take the last exit before the traffic jam and know the neighborhood enough to be able to get around the traffic, you probably won’t feel stressed, even though you might still be late. What’s the difference? In the first case, you didn’t have much control over the situation while in the second, you did.

This belief of being in control (even if we’re actually not), tends to make the difference between feeling stress and being stress-free.

If you’ve read any self improvement or motivational books, you’ll find this same theme: it’s all about believing that you’re in control. The people that are the most successful tend to be those that believe that they are in control of their lives, no matter what actually happens to them. These people also have the least amount of stress.

Putting This to Use.

So how do you put this to use in your life? How do you use this to get through some of the worst economic times this country has seen since the Great Depression (according to many news sources)? Here are a few tips:

1. Add some flexibility to your life. Knowing that unexpected or unplanned events are what help to create stress, plan on the unexpected. Add in some flex time or unscheduled time to your plans to take into account the twists and turns that life tends to throw at you at the last minute. That way you don’t have to stress and say “I don’t have time for this” because in fact, you do.

2. Believe that you are in control. Yes, I know that you can’t control the weather, or the traffic, or the economy. However, the one thing you have absolute control over is your attitude. Victor Frankl, a Jewish psychologist imprisoned in a German concentration camp during World World II observed that the biggest difference between the prisoners that lived through their ordeal and those that simply gave up and died was their attitude – the one thing that could not be taken away from them, the one thing they could control. Believing that no matter what happens to you, you will find a way to deal with it will go the longest way towards replacing stress with determination and purpose.

3. Keep your sense of humor. Humor is a great stress-buster. As one of my partners said as we were waiting to meet with the IRS to discuss the $800,000 in back taxes our company owed, “Well, at least they can’t eat us.” It lightened the mood and we were able to go in and brainstorm ways to get our company out of hot water (which we eventually did). So no matter how stressful the issue in front of you seems, remember the Joker in the latest Batman movie and ask yourself, “Why so serious?”

4. Organize the little things. It’s the little things that tend to stress us the most – or at least trigger stress. Organize your bills so they don’t get past due. Put your car keys in the same place so you’re not running around looking for them all the time. Pick out what you’re going to wear to work tomorrow the night before so you don’t stress in the morning because you’re running late. Set an alarm so you don’t run late in the first place. All of these are little things but they’ll drive you nuts if you let them.

5. Work off your stress. When stress builds, find a way to work it off. This can mean different things to different people. For some, vigorous exercise will help to “blow off” some of the stress. For others, going outside and yelling at the top of lungs will do it. Some people need some sort of physical activity, some need a mental outlet like working on a crossword puzzle, others need an emotional release like a good cry. Do whatever works for you. The worst thing you can do is to let stress build inside.