Simple Remedies for Stress

Five days a week, 9 - 5, I sit in a chair at a desk by the window. I mostly talk to people; and write. Sometimes I talk to people while I write. At the end of the day, after I am finished with all this talking and writing, sitting and listening, I walk, briskly; at least four miles. I look forward to walking. Exercise helps to maintain my emotional and physical health - especially on days when I make myself emotionally unwell.

Like most of you, on occasion, I provoke myself into some measure of the stress response. Criticism, the ill-mannered, unfair treatment and disrespect are the perceptions I personally find most challenging. Of course, there is no such thing as criticism, the ill-mannered, unfair treatment or disrespect. These are my perceptions. Emotional events unto themselves are meaningless without my active interpretation of them.

If I can change my interpretation of events, I can change my response to events. Instead of perceiving my experiences as threats, I can perceive them as bothersome inconveniences, incommode, unfortunate events.

I know this.

Intellectual insight is not often enough. Combining knowledge with new behaviors, however, is essential to changing any habit - including how we emote. Simply knowing the right thing to do is not sufficient to make any kind of real change in how we perceive adversity. I often fail to make this connection. My sympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, never fails. My sympathetic nervous system does an excellent job of rapidly preparing me to deal with whatever I perceive as threatening.

I am sometimes my own worst enemy.

Within nanoseconds of nut-headed thinking, a corresponding metabolic process is begun, allowing us to cope with our perception of danger. Our adrenal glands release adrenaline (epinephrine); our breathing increases along with our heart rate and blood pressure, moving more oxygen-rich blood faster to our brains and the muscles - the fuel needed for fighting or fleeing. From a distance, while all of this is going on inside of me, I am just a guy sitting by the window in his chair behind his desk. In reality I am a time bomb of neuro-chemicals and hormones, fully prepared to lead a Spartan army into battle.

The Muzak overhead has no effect on me.

While in this stressed state, our unnecessary bodily functions shut down. Growth, reproduction and our ability to fight off disease (the immune system) are all temporarily put on hold for the sake of safety. Blood-flow to the skin is reduced. Over time, chronic stress can lead to obesity, heart disease, sexual dysfunction and various skin ailments. Mental illness (particularly depression and anxiety) can also result. Medical conditions that are influenced by a nervous system response such as chronic pain, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), digestive disorders or headaches are likely to become exacerbated by stress.

At some point, we have to make a commitment to take an active role in how we process our unhealthy, self-defeating and irrational thoughts. I have made a commitment to manage my automatic bio-psycho response. And I try to keep that pledge.

So I walk, briskly and stay focused on my physical and emotional health.

I cannot expect that the way I perceive events in my environment and how I think about them can change overnight. On the contrary, thinking differently is a demanding task, likely to last the rest of my life. I can, however, begin every day by reminding myself of my pledge. I have committed to being an active player in my emotional life - an aspect of my life that can never again be viewed as a passive process.

I have found two important, yet simple, steps I can take immediately to help interfere with my stress response. These steps work wonders for me. These steps motivate me to change my nutty thinking and help return my body and mind to balance.

I walk.

I breathe.

I pardon myself and others.

Especially, I pardon myself.

Moderate exercise and deep breathing can be emotionally and physically cleansing. Those harmful stress hormones that linger in the bloodstream can be processed and eliminated through exercise and breathing deeply. Breathing deeply, into the lower abdomen, stimulates the vagus nerves, the longest of the cranial nerves. The vagus nerves pass through the neck and thorax into the abdomen. We know that vagal nerve endings act as the heart's pacemaker by promoting the release of the transmitter acetylcholine. Acetylcholine helps reduce blood pressure and counterbalances the effects of stress. Deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerves and promotes a return to balance.

Finally, while walking and breathing, I process the day's stressful perceptions. Instead of looking for blame and damning others for their poor choices, I pardon myself for thinking so foolishly. I remind myself that everyone has a perfect right to behave as foolishly as they choose to behave. I forgive myself for thinking people have to behave according to my rules and I pardon others for making the choices they make.

I couldn't possibly believe that my own mistakes are more pardonable than those made by others.

So, I walk, briskly.

I breathe, deeply.

And I pardon, broadly.

It takes the force of will to do this.

Michael Cornwall, PhD, LPCC, CSW is an author, lecturer, clinical supervisor, educator and a therapist in private practice specializing in emotion intelligence / rational emotive behavior (EI / REBT) therapy. He is the author of Go Suck a Lemon: Strategies for Improving Your Emotional Intelligence; Using Articulated Disputation to Improve REBT Outcomes; The Boy in the Pink Coat, Ten Examples of Classical Conditioning; Humour and Others Causes of Death; and Sound Judgment - each of which is published by Prosequest / Travis Press and available on Amazon, Kindle, BooksOnBoard, Nook and Barnes and Noble. Dr. Cornwall's latest discussion of emotional intelligence Think Twice: A Guide to Improving Your Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Cornwall lives in Shelbyville, Kentucky.

Original article

Reduce Stress And Boost Performance With These Simple Steps

It is becoming more evident that stress level in today's workplace is getting higher and higher. Common sense dictates that something must be done to rectify the situation.

In reality however, those who are responsible to handle this task are more interested to touch only on the surface of the matter which has minimal or zero impact to the people and organization. People who are distressed do not need to know the mechanic of stress and its consequences as if it is a newfound virus. They want to know how to effectively manage it, preferably at the very moment it occurs.

Far too many people are shying away from surveys or exercises that requires them to fill in the blanks and answering questions about their stress level, better known as 'stress assessment'. Somehow such exercise leads to more stress and achieve little.

A better resolution, perhaps, is to focus on direct and practical measures to bring down stress level and at the same time prove to people or organization that the issue is being managed to the best of effort without wasting time, money and manpower. In short, it tells others that managing stress is a serious business.

Here are few simple steps to start with:

Communicate clearly in print or electronically that the debilitating effects of stress have been made known to everyone. Through this communication, people can recognize when they are in stress based on its symptoms and they must know how to effectively manage it, at least at their level. It is also important to communicate the importance of getting assistance if the level is too high to be managed on their own, and appoint a dedicated person to handle such instances.

That being said, it is recommended to have a clear 'standard operation procedures' that people can easily follow when they find themselves in stress. For example, what they need to do? Who can they talk to? What else can they do if the preceding steps are not producing any results? Of course, the most important thing is to emphasize that successful stress management starts with them, not someone else.

Confusion and feeling of overwhelmed can lead to stress thus it is important for everyone to be very clear with their tasks and roles. Reviewing them with those in charge in a frequent interval is recommended so that any stress build-up can be handled right at the gate. Most people find it easy to turn tail and run rather than confronting with workload issue face to face. If you are the person in charge, noticing an overworked team member is important because you can assist them before things get out of hands.

People need to be reminded more than informed so always make the effort to touch on stress, its adverse effects and how to manage it at every given opportunity. The more people are reminded about this issue, the more attention they will pay to it. Plus, if the issue keeps resurging, they will know that it is a serious matter and should not be taken lightly. Handling stress is not a onetime event anyway.

Keep people up-to-date with effective stress management. If that means spending part of the company profit or allocating special expenses to achieve this, so be it. People well beings and their sound mental state are much more important than expenses. There are enough evidences to support the high cost of stress if not managed properly at workplace or at home. Look at such spending as investment with higher return. After all, people are an organization biggest asset.

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Original article

Simple Ways to Relieve Stress Symptoms in Women

The possibility of women suffering more stress than men is high therefore stress symptoms in women are more obvious. This article will tell you about the different signs of stress in women.

Stress Symptoms in Women

• Insomnia. Stress can steal a woman her sleep. It can make a woman stay awake all night if the stress is too much. A woman can end up needing some drugs in order to get the sleep that their body needs. Inability to sleep can lead to different problems which should be looked into seriously and discussed with your physician.

• Recurring Headaches. Frequent headaches are usually caused by stress. If a woman is experiencing some hectic conditions for some period of time, she may start feeling some tension headaches. The headaches may be experienced daily if the stress level stays the same or even gets worse. It is recommended that a woman sees her doctor immediately upon experiencing this.

• Irritability. This is one of the more familiar stress symptoms in women, noticed by people around a woman under stress. If anybody is faced with an over-powering amount of work, she may start feeling stressed out. The stress can make any woman irritable. It is just normal for anyone with a number of tasks to wonder if she will be able to finish them all on time. This symptom is rather noticeable by other people as she starts to get angry towards her co-workers, husband or children.

• Increased Illness. Stress is a known factor for the immune system's reduced ability to fight diseases. When a woman is under stress, she may begin to feel worn out and exhausted. In this condition, she may start feeling ill. It is not rare for a woman to easily catch a cold or have the flu. A woman may also easily become affected with viral problems as stress can greatly reduce a person's immunity to diseases.

• Forgetfulness. This is one of the most common stress symptoms in women. A woman may start forgetting why she went into her room in the first place. When she starts to leave, she then remembers what she was planning to do. When the mind is cluttered with all the things that a woman needs to do, she tends to keep forgetting some small things. This experience can also trigger frustration when she feels that she is inefficient, which will also result to irritability, insomnia and other symptoms of stress unless she starts seeking for professional help or when she tries to reduce her stress.

Identifying stress symptoms in women is essential. It gives you the power to understand that something needs correction.

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Original article