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Stress Article Archive
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Our constantly-expanding Stress Article Archive brings give you the best and most current stress reduction and stress management information. Our goal is to bring you the best stress tools available to help you live a stress free life.
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Monday, November 07, 2005 |
If you have ever blamed stress for new wrinkles or gray hairs, you may have been right. There is now strong proof that long term stress can make us grow old before our time. But there is also new proof that a positive outlook can reduce impact of stress on your health. It cannot ravage the body if your mind says NO.
The Physical Impact of Stress
Want a reason to introduce serious stress reduction into your lifestyle.
Studies show that high levels of stress can lead to obesity, and definitely trigger a raft of diseases from heart attacks and cancer -- to ulcers, colitis, and all the age-related disorders like arthritis. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention claims as much as 90 percent of the doctor visits in the USA are triggered by a stress related illness.
When you get hit by stress, your adrenal glands crank out powerful hormones such as adrenaline that drive your blood pressure up. And with chronic stress, those hormones stay at dangerously high levels.
New research has shown that intense stress goes beyond a temporary increase in blood pressure, and actually injures (and often kills) the cells of your body and brain. This accelerates the aging process, leaving people prone to a long list of diseases.
Dr Elissa Epel of University of California in San Francisco studied women suffering from the intense stress of caring for chronically ill children. Her study looked deep inside their cells to determine if stress was affecting a key part of their chromosomes called a telomere.
Telomeres cap the ends of the chromosomes containing your DNA, and are recognized markers of aging. As people get older this cap gets ground down. When the telomere gets too short to work properly, cells all over the body start to sicken or die -- and the diseases of old age then set in.
Her research team found that the longer a woman had cared for a child with a serious illness, the shorter her telomere -- a finding that points straight to rapid aging. It is very sad, Epel says. These women are paying an intense personal price.
But this premature aging response was not confined to caregivers.The study also studied mothers of healthy kids. Most of the women in this group did not report burn-out stress levels -- but those that did also had shorter telomeres, and the related premature aging response.
When the researchers looked at the high stress women in both group, they found a dramatic sign of damage. They had lost the amount of telomeric DNA that one would expect to lose in 10 years of aging, Dr. Epel says.
Proof: A Positive Attitude Prevents Aging
We all have stressful things happen to us. From the loss of a job, a natural disaster, a divorce, or even a car accident. But that type of stress does not necessarily doom you to DNA damage. Providing you resolve the stressful situation, and it does not become chronic, you can rebound and further develop your resilience and stress resistance.
The women in the San Francisco study who viewed their situation positively did not seem to suffer any ill effects from their stressful situation. A positive outlook on life, a regular stress-management regime, and the support of friends can help buffer the potential damage of ongoing stress, Dr. Epel recommends.
Lengthen Your Life
A great way to reduce your stress and slow down the aging process is laughter. Laughter protects your nervous system and gives your endocrine system a much needed rest all at the same time. It is actually a tremendous healing activity.
When you laugh you boost your immune system, clear waste products out of your internal organs and tissues, and increase the oxygen in your body at both cellular and organ levels. It is also interesting to note that cancer cells die in the presence of oxygen.
So if nothing else, at least do get a good laugh about something.
The author, Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com and in the QuantumBrainGym, the first online brainwave training center.
The Stress Cops Radio Show
We always talk stress management and stress reduction.
http://radio.weblogs.com/0148642/
10:33:22 AM 
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In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a special article about stress burnout, how stress elevates into burnout, how to recognize the signs of stress burnout, and the steps to take to manage your stress to avoid stress burnout.
If lately you are finding your tasks and responsibilities at work more than you can bear, you may be approaching stress burnout. Stress burnout is not an imaginary mental condition. Stress burnout is a very real physiological condition caused by a serious, and often ongoing, stress overload.
Stress related burnout arises when we are overworked, overtaxed emotionally, or physically exhausted -- and as a result find it increasingly difficult to cope with our everyday stress load.
Commons sign of stress burnout include: a loss of enthusiasm for your job, reduced social life, and weakened interest in your relationship and normal personal interests. Sound familiar.
A True Stress Burnout Story
I once had a crisis call from a CEO I was advising in Silicon Valley, California. He was in a critical stress mode, and had a serious problem on his hands. We’ll call him Steve.
Like many CEOs of growing companies, Steve was balancing a heavy work load. Among other things, he wanted to increase his sales. Steve was impressed by a presentation by a representative of an outside marketing organization, and signed a binding contract for their services.
Then less that one month later, after the outside company was all geared up and going out to his customers, Steve realized he had made a terrible mistake: The contract gave the outside reps paid them three times the commission he paid his own in house sales staff.
His in-house sales staff was boiling, and their stress levels had virtually shut down in-house sales. The immediate outcome was two lawsuits totaling millions of dollars.
Why did this happen. Because Steve had been so stressed when he signed that contract that his higher thinking centers had been shut down. (This is a common symptom of chronic stress).
He told me that at the time he could no longer understand what he read, and mental focus was impossible. Steve was in the grips of a spiraling adrenalin high stress trap, and had not realized the consequences.
The Adrenalin High Stress Trap
Many executives and entrepreneurs claim to thrive on stress. But what they are enjoying is just the physiological excitement of a potentially exhausting adrenalin high.
Adrenalin rushes are designed to prepare your body (and mind) to either fight or run. They are a key component of the stress response.
But during an adrenalin rush your higher thinking centers actually close down. Older, more primitive portions of your brain rush into action to prepare you for the emergency. Over a period of time this leads straight to stage 2 burnout and serious mental and physical exhaustion. And if you think YOU are immune to this stress response, you are seriously kidding yourself.
The Major Factors in Stress Overload
Stress occurs when the demands around you exceed your capacity to meet them. The four major factors involved stress overload include:
* Stressful time pressures,
* Excessive responsibility or high stress accountability,
* Lack of adequate support, and
* Excessive expectations by yourself and/or those around you
The Stages of Stress Burnout
Stress burnout is a process that progresses through stages of stress overload. With some self-monitoring, you have the opportunity to take steps to stop the process at any stage. The three stages of stress burnout include:
* The stress arousal stage,
* The low energy stage, and
* The stress exhaustion stage.
The Stress Arousal Stage
You are experiencing this early burnout stage if at work you feel irritable, anxious or forgetful, or are having difficulty with your mental focus.
Some of the common signs of early burnout include: flare-ups of high blood pressure, bruxism (grinding teeth during sleep), insomnia, headaches, and acute gastrointestinal symptoms.
The Low Energy Stage
As your stress becomes more and more chronic, your body tries to compensate for your growing mental and physical exhaustion. The feeling of low energy so common with chronic stress is a sign your body is trying to compensate for exhaustion by shifting into an energy conservation mode.
Behavior consequences often include: Forgetfulness, serious inability to focus, a tendency to procrastinate, excessive time off from work, lack of interest in your work or business, loss of hope and enthusiasm, decreased desire for intimacy, and a persistent feeling of tiredness or exhaustion.
Other common signs include: Social withdrawal from friends and family, cynicism, resentment, apathy and increased substance use (nicotine, caffeine, alcohol or prescription drugs).
The Acute Stress Exhaustion Stage
The acute exhaustion stage is where most people finally get a clear sense that something is seriously wrong.
The signs of acute stress related exhaustion often include: Chronic sadness or depression, chronic stomach or bowel problems, chronic mental fatigue, chronic physical fatigue, chronic headaches or migraines, difficulty reading or understanding communications, and almost total inability to focus.
Other common signs may include: A desire to drop out of society, quit work, or abandon your business or profession -- plus the desire to avoid family, friends, and social situations.
The author, Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the QuantumBrainGym -- the first online brainwave training center.
The Stress Cops Radio Show
We always talk stress management and stress reduction.
10:24:29 AM
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In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a special article about laughter – a powerful stress reduction and stress management tool. Learn how and what stress does to your immune system, why stress elevates into disease, and how laughter dissolves stress, and even gives you the equivalent of a stress free aerobic workout. You will be surprised.
There is a long history of the use of laughter as stress therapy. In certain places such as India and the Australia outback, laughter has been used for thousands of years as a therapeutic stress reduction and stress management technique.
What Stress Does in the Body
When you process a thought that has an attached an emotion, your body automatically produces certain natural chemicals and hormones. Depending upon the thought, you may produce immune enhancing, stress relieving hormones. But if the thought has attached stress, you will produce hormones that increase your heart rate, tighten your muscles, restrict your blood flow, and stress your immune system.
These stress hormones suppress the immune system, increase the number of blood platelets (which can cause obstructions in arteries) and send your blood pressure soaring. And long term stress also has a serious impact on the adrenal glands, causing them to shrink and become unproductive. This causes cellular damage, and sets off a chain reaction affecting all parts of your body – and accelerates the aging process.
The Effect of Laughter on Stress
But researchers now agree that laughter can reduce your stress and improve your health, and actually brings balance to all the components of your immune system. This helps you actively resist stress related diseases and disorders.
Laughter immediately shuts off the flow of stress hormones and the fight-or-flight compounds that swing into action when we experience stress, anger or hostility.
Plus when we are laughing, our natural killer cells that destroy tumors and viruses increase. So do Gamma-interferon (a disease-fighting protein), the T-cells which are a major part of the immune response, and the B-cells which make disease-destroying antibodies.
Laughter also protects your adrenal glands, which are responsible for producing two primary hormones -- DHEA and cortisol. These hormones are considered the major shock absorber hormones in your body, and buffer you from the potential negative impact stress can have on your mental and physical functions.
The Aerobic Benefits of Laughter
You may be surprised to learn that researchers estimate laughing 100 times is equal to 10 minutes on a rowing machine, or 15 minutes on an exercise bike.
A good laugh can actually provide a total body workout. Your blood pressure is lowered, and the increased vascular blood flow and oxygenation of your blood, further assists healing. Plus laughter also gives your diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg and back muscles a workout. You can feel exhausted after a strong bout of laughter, because you have actually just had an intense aerobic workout.
The author, Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the QuantumBrainGym -- the first online brainwave training center.
The Stress Cops Radio Show
We always talk stress management and stress reduction.
10:14:01 AM
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Saturday, November 05, 2005 |
In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you an important stress reduction and stress management article by the famous stress expert - Dr. Herbert Benson, MD. Benson outlines the 4 fastest way to bust your stress response fast -- and go on to establish more stress free living.
Stress, stress, stress, stress. It has become the enemy of our modern life. The docs tell us it causes illness. We know that. What we need to know is how to stop it -- NOW.
Scores of studies have proven the benefits of what we call the *relaxation response* -- a mental state causing your blood pressure to drop, your heart and breathing to slow down, and your muscles to become less tense.
Actually creating the relaxation response is basically very simple. Once you are comfortable with it, you can use it to cope better with everything from minor frustration to performance anxiety.
There are four simple ways to stimulate the relaxation response:
(1) Progressive Relaxation
One of the most powerful ways to stimulate deep physical and mental relaxation is progressive relaxation. First choose a short phrase such as just let go.
Then sit quietly in a comfortable position and close your eyes. Relax your muscles – beginning with your feet, then progress upward to your calves, thighs, abdomen, shoulders, neck, face and head.
Just breathe slowly and naturally. As you exhale, silently repeat your word or phrase to yourself. Do not be concerned if other thoughts flash into your mind. Just return calmly to focusing on your phrase. Ideally continue this exercise for 10 to 20 minutes. But even five minutes will leave you calm and refreshed.
(2) Power Breathing
Your breath is the primary source of oxygen for your body and brain. The more oxygen available, the clearing your thinking, and the better your general vitality and healing ability.
Start by inhaling slowly through your nose only. Pull in air way down until your belly begins to expand. Pause briefly, then exhale slowly and gently through your mouth. Pause briefly again, then pull in another slow breath through your nose.
Do not force this process. Just do it at your own pace. Think *five* during your first exhale, *four* on your second, and continue down to the count of *one.* This exercise gets easier with practice, and has great benefits.
(3) Relaxing Activities
You do not always have to sit quietly to create the relaxation response. You can do it while walking, jogging, playing a musical instrument, writing, painting, or while engaging simple repetitive tasks such as knitting. Yoga, tai chi, meditation and repetitive prayer are other great ways to put yourself in this healthful mental frame.
(4) Brainwave Training
If relaxation is still difficult, you may want to do some mental re-programming to improve how your mind responds to stress. Chronic stress is a mental habit. And like any other habit, it will only go away if replaced with other behavior patterns.
Over thirty years of research have proven that brainwave training is the fastest instant stress reducer known. Instant stress management is great. But a regime of alpha/theta (A-T) brainwave training has an even bigger payback -- it trains your brain to easily order your mind and body to relax on its own, and makes you far more creative.
You will find more great stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the Quantum Brain Gym -- the online brainwave training center.
by Herbert Benson, MD with Julie Rosset, MA
(c) 2005 All Rights Reserved
The Stress Cops Radio Show
We always talk stress management and stress reduction.
2:36:55 PM
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In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a stress reducing article by stress cop Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler. Learn the *real* difference between good stress and bad stress -- and how to develop stress reduction and stress management skills to make more of your stress a positive and very healthy experience.
You have heard a lot lately about the dangers of stress, and how stress can damage your immune system. But stress also has the potential to *strengthen* your immune system. The difference is how you respond to the stress in your life.
Scientists have known for some time that intense chronic stress is a primary cause of health problems because it depresses the health of our immune system. But this is not to suggest you should try to lead a stress free life. That is probably impossible.
Response vs Reaction
The difference between good and bad stress is often controllable. Here is why: Stress is *not* an event. Stress is actually your response or reaction to an event. That begins in your mind with an attitude – which leads to an interpretation, and then to a physiological reaction to your interpretation of the event.
For example: Suppose you feel annoyed (stress) with a co-workers behavior. Among the possible outcomes are: You can internalize your stress and do nothing; you can instantly *react* to the person with open anger; you can choose to *respond* to the person by opening a discussion of the stress producing issue, and try to sort things out.
This is a situation in which you can just react – or instead make a stress management decision to respond and seek some form of resolution.
But sometimes we face a stress situations we can only passively cope with by trying not to focus on the event. For example, if a loved one dies, all you can do is try to deal with your negative feelings because you are powerless to change the source of your stress.
An Interesting Research Study
University of Amsterdam researchers wondered how these two different types of stressful situations affect your immune system. To find an answer they conducted an experiment.
Thirty-four undergraduate students were exposed to three different types of stress creating conditions: (1) A time-paced memory test measured their active coping abilities; (2) A stressful situation involving passive coping involved showing the students a video of various surgical operations; and (3) A baseline control situation had the students watch a boring documentary.
The researchers took samples of saliva from each participants mouth before, during and after each of the three situations.
They then measured the amount of secretory immunglobulin A (S-IgA) present in the saliva samples. S-IgA is secreted by your body to protect against the invasion of microorganisms and toxins. The less S-IgA present, the higher the risk of health problems such as upper respiratory infection. The participants also completed a questionnaire after each test to further measure their stress levels.
The students reported feeling equal stress from both the memory test, and the intense surgery video. But the S-IgA tests revealed a critical difference: Although the students reported feeling equally stressed in both conditions, their levels of S-IgA increased in the active stress condition (the memory test) -- but decreased in the passive stress condition (the surgery video).
These findings indicate that the students in the passive stress condition were less defended against microorganism and toxin invasions during the passive stress condition over which they had no control (the surgery video).
But interestingly, they were actually better defended than normal (high S-IgA levels) in response to the stressful situation they did have control over (the memory test).
Why This is Important
Based on this experiment, it seems that all stressful situations are not equal. Passive stress situations over which you have no control seem to have a debilitating effect on your immune system. But in the case of active stress situations you have control over – your body seems to respond with very positive actions.
Assuming this effect extends to other aspects of your immune system, it now seems obvious that more active stress coping strategies are superior. By actively dealing with your stress instead of passively trying to ignore it, you may better protect your health.
What You Can Do
If you have difficulty breaking a negative response to the stress in your life, you may want to do some mental re-programming to improve how you responds. Your stress response is a habit. And like any other habit, it will only go away if replaced with other behavior patterns. One way to modify your response to stress is to build the ability to laugh it away.
But over thirty years of research have proven that brainwave training is the fastest instant stress reducer. Instant stress management is great. But a regime of alpha/theta (A-T) brainwave training has an even bigger payback -- it trains your brain to easily order your mind and body to relax on its own, and makes you far more creative.
The cited research: Bosch, J. A., Kelder, A., Veerman, E. C. I., Hoogstraten, J., Nieuw Amerongen, A. V., De Geus, E. J. C. (2001). Differential effects of active versus passive coping on secretory immunity. Psychophpysiology, 38, 836-846.
By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
© 2005 All Rights Reserved
The author, Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the Quantum Brain Gym -- the web's first brain gym and brainwave training center as close as your computer.
The Stress Cops Radio Show
Where we always talk stress management and stress reduction.
1:59:47 PM
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In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a quantum-self article about the tie between emotions and the stress response. Emotional mastery is a critical key to stress free living, and leads to high emotional intelligence, or EQ. And a high EQ is now recognized as a sign of a good leader with solid stress management skills. Reduce your stress by building your EQ.
A coworker makes a passing comment about the condition of your desk, and a sudden rush of heat rolls up your neck and onto your face. You squeeze your fists in an attempt to control yourself. On one level you know your intense stress is overblown, but you feel ready to level him with a barrage of unkind words.
To be effective as a friend, significant other, coworker, manager, leader -- or in whatever role you are playing -- learning to manage your emotional responses is a critical step toward stress free personal effectiveness.
But by this I do not mean stuffing or repressing your emotions. Not at all. Too many of us were taught that as children, and it just creates more stress. What I am suggesting is to develop your emotional intelligence (EQ) -- an aspect of our native intelligence that runs high in successful leaders and naturally happy people.
So what are emotions. Emotions are energy in motion (e-motion). They are our energetic bodily response to how we interpret something inside or outside ourselves.
Our emotions actually reflect our beliefs about ourselves, and about life itself. For example, if you believe that you ARE your work and you suddenly lose your job, you’re likely to feel overwhelming emotions of fear and rage.
But suppose you view your job simply as only one aspect of your life. And you are confident you have valuable marketable skills and qualities. In that case your feelings about losing your job will probably be a whole lot different, and less packed with overwhelming negative emotions.
The Power of Emotional Mastery
Emotional mastery (high EQ) gives us the ability to process our emotions so that we receive their message, and use their energy for appropriate action.
A high EQ is a sign you are aware of what is going on inside of you, and are able to manage your emotions responsibly. Along with this goes the ability to recognize other peoples emotions, and respond to them constructively.
Our emotions are only a problem when we let them run our lives, or we totally miss the message that they carry. The bottom line is this: How you feel in any situation reflects what you believe about yourself and your situation.
Knowing that you can change how you feel simply by changing how you think about each experience is a powerful concept. Master your beliefs, and you'll master your emotions.
How to Use This Information
Begin to examine any beliefs you hold around emotions, and the situations triggering them. Just start by becoming more consciously aware of your emotions. If you feel upset about something you might ask yourself: How can I reinterpret this event in a such a way that I can feel good, or at least feel OK.
Observe your emotions when they arise, and identify any judgments you might have about them. Focus on listening to the message they hold for you. This alone will begin to built your valuable emotional intelligence (EQ). And along with increased EQ comes less stress and more personal satisfaction.
Stress management programs are more important than ever because of the stress producing fast pace business operates under today. If you have a challenge managing your stress, you may want to do some mental re-programming to improve how you respond. Your stress response is a habit. And like any other habit, it will only go away if replaced with other behavior patterns.
Over thirty years of research have proven that brainwave training is the fastest instant stress reducer. Instant stress management is great. It trains your brain to easily order your mind and body to relax on its own, and makes you far more creative and emotionally intelligent.
By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
© 2005 All Rights Reserved
The author, Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the Quantum Brain Gym -- the webs first online brainwave training center.
The Stress Cops Radio Show
Where we always talk stress management and stress reduction.
12:01:11 PM
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