What is Stress Management & Reduction and How Can It Help You - Stress.NaturalHealthcare.ca

What is Stress Management?

Stress is not always a bad thing. Positive stress (eustress) gets your heart going, your mind focused, and is the source of excitement and interest. Stress becomes negative (distress) when it is prolonged and it begins to wear on your mind and body thanks to sustained levels of adrenaline in the system, cortisol, and increases in the autonomic responses (like heart rate).

Early indicators of chronic stress include: boredom, fear, and hopelessness. Further debilitation can take place when people try to self-medicate with alcohol, recreational drugs, and smoking.

Stress Management is the process of reducing the amount of stress in your life and the physical, mental, and emotional effects of chronic stress. Basic components of stress management include prioritization (to identify and to allow better control over the situation(s) causing the stress), strengthening coping mechanisms, boosting physical resistance to stress, and dealing with the mental emotional responses to stress.

Stress and Your Body

Unattended, stress can wreak havoc on a variety of systems in the human body, and do the following sorts of damage:

• cause muscle spasms, particularly in the neck, shoulders, and upper back;
• cause headaches, anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, heart problems, skin conditions, diabetes, and exacerbate conditions like asthma and arthritis;
• cause menstrual disorders and vaginal infections in women, and impotence and premature ejaculation in men;
• cause baldness in both men and women;
• cause or aggravate digestive problems like ulcers, gastritis, colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome;
• raise the levels of cortisol, causing weight gain, increased blood pressure and blood sugar, and reduced immune responses;
• slow the body's ability to heal wounds.

This is by no means a full list of the physical and emotional effects of prolonged stress. Good stress management and reduction techniques will serve you well all of your life and boost your health.

Ways to Combat Stress

Prioritize

Good time management skills and even just creating lists can make life seem more manageable. Writing down all the elements of your life that add to the pressure and assigning numbers from 1 to 10 to each item will help you get a handle on which items are truly important, and which items you are willing to let go if you must choose. It doesn't mean that you have to let items slide, what it does is give you a better sense of control and feel less overwhelmed.

Diet

You can reduce the effects of stress through what you put into your body - and what you choose not to put into your body. There is a section below which goes into detail about the foods and nutrients that effect the level of stress that you feel, and that can help boost your body in the fight against stres-related disease.

Exercise

What's the best way to use up the extra adrenaline coursing through your blood? Exercise, of course! Not only will vigorous exercise help you alleviate the hormonal aspect of chronic stress, it will release endorphins and hormones that make you feel more positive about the world. It also helps draw your attention away from the items that are bothering you while you focus on completing the task at hand.

Meditation

Not only does meditation help you calm your mind and focus on your breathing and relaxing your muscles, studies have shown that meditation also decreases blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels. Meditation is an excellent (and free) stress reduction technique that requires only that you have a comfortable place to sit and a relatively quiet environment - at least while you are learning how to do it.

Massage

Therapeutic Massage by a Registered Massage Therapist can help with the symptoms of chronic stress through releasing the knots and muscle spasms associated with early stages of stress, alleviating symptoms of depression, and reducing the levels of anxiety. Massage relaxes the soft tissues of the body and helps blood and lymphatic fluids flow better.

Creative and/or Guided Visualization

Athletes are well-familiar with the concept of visualization - coaches have been helping them to visualize key moments such as making the shot perfectly, leaving the starting blocks smoothly, or crossing the finish line first. But visualization can also be used to create a state of calm and peace, and to enable your body to relax and heal itself as well. Guided visualization is creative visualization except with someone else describing the scene that is enfolding, rather than directing the flow yourself.

Laughter

Laughter is critical for people who are undergoing stress. You cannot maintain the stresful thoughts at the same time as you are concentrating on whatever it is causing you to laugh. Not only is a a break from the mental grip of the thoughts that are causing the stress, it has clear and noted physical benefits as well. Laughter releases endorphins, it lowers blood pressure, and it relaxes your muscles (particularly the diaphragm, legs, back, heart, facial muscles, and abdomen). Plan an evening with friends who keep you laughing and distracted, or if you are serious about incorporating laughter into your life, look for a laughter yoga club in your area.

Diet and Stress

There are ways that you can help your body deal more effectively with an increased stress level, starting with removing the foods and drinks that exacerbate anxious feelings. Cut down (or eliminate completely) stimulants such as caffeine, energy drinks, and appetite suppressants like ephedrine. Stimulants boost your levels of adrenaline in the bloodstream make you feel more agitated. Cut back on the cigarettes, as nicotine is a stimulant as well.

Remember: always ask your health practitioner if these are safe for you to take - and notify him or her if you are taking other treatments as they may effect the efficacy of your primary medications.

Other nutritional tips include:

• Drink more water. Your brain needs water to function, as do all of your internal (and external) organs. People lose body fluids all day and night, and these fluids need to be replenished. Water will also control weight loss and keep your muscles invigorated.
• Have a calming cup of (caffeine-free) herbal tea. Chamomile, mint, hibiscus - each one of these herbal teas will soothe you in different ways. Chamomile and mint will help settle butterflies in the stomach; Hibiscus tea is also good for keeping blood pressure down (3 cups per day is recommended). (Floral teas are not recommended if you have pollen allergies, check the herbology glossary for other notes.)
• Make sure you are getting sufficient vitamins - particularly the B-complex. When you look at the ingredients of most stress-formula vitamins, you will find that they have a wide range of the B vitamins, because they serve vital functions in the body including supporting the immune system, increasing the metabolic rate, and strengthening the nerve cell membranes. B vitamins are water-soluble, so they must be replenished daily. Do not over-indulge as some of the B-vitamins (in particular folic acid) have a safe range beyond which they have negative effects.
• Eat your Omega-3s! Omega 3 fatty acids help combat the effects of depression - which can be induced by chronic stress. Omega-3 is an essential fatty acid that can be found in supplements, or in fatty fish (like salmon, mackerel, herring, sardines, and tuna), or in flax (use the pre-ground variety), chia (salba), kiwifruit, lingonberry, or certain nuts (walnuts, hazel nuts, pecans, and butternuts).
• Consider valerian. Ask your primary care practitioner whether valerian may help you sleep better - sleep is critical at all times, and stress can disrupt normal sleeping patterns, which may in turn make other symptoms worse. Another alternative is St. John's Wort - but be sure to let your practitioner know as it can have undesirable side-effects including increased anxiety, dizziness, sexual dysfunction, and can interfere with birth control pills.

Other notes on stress:

Stress and Wound Healing

The US-based NCCAM notes that:

Clinical observation has suggested that negative mood or stress is associated with slow wound healing. Basic mind-body research is now confirming this observation. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), whose expression can be controlled by cytokines, play a role in wound healing. Using a blister chamber wound model on human forearm skin exposed to ultraviolet light, researchers have demonstrated that stress or a change in mood is sufficient to modulate MMP and TIMP expression and, presumably, wound healing.

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