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In a 24/7 world, we're flirting with total burnout. But as long as we treat ourselves well in our downtime, whether by getting a manicure or a massage, we're minimizing the toll of stress, right? Well, not exactly. Despite our growing awareness of the effects of stress, we're going about reducing it all wrong, say experts. Rather than trying the "a little here, a little there" approach to repairing the damage in short spurts over weekends and on vacations, we'd do much better, they say, to minimize tension over the course of a day, every day. "What you want are daily pockets of peace," says Pamela Peeke, M.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore and author of Fight Fat After Forty (Penguin, 2001). "Exercise and self-massage are just a couple of examples of what we can do every day to keep stress levels from becoming toxic." We can't eliminate all stress, of course, nor would we want to. Stress spurs us to meet demanding deadlines, or sprint to catch a bus. So, when does normal stress turn toxic? "You've got toxic stress when three specific emotions are involved: The first is defeat; the second, hopelessness; and the third, helplessness," Peeke says. "When you have the toxic trio on board, it's ugly." Toxic stress doesn't ease up over time, either; instead, it builds on itself. It's the kind that keeps you awake at night, or fills you with dread when you're commuting to work in the morning. "Toxic stress is being dragged around on a chronic basis--you're not letting go," Peeke says. "It becomes one with you." Perhaps not surprisingly, for most people work is the major cause of this particular kind of tension. "Numerous surveys show that stress levels have risen progressively over the last four decades and that job stress is far and away the leading source of stress for American adults," says Paul J. Rosch, M.D., a clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at New York Medical College and president of the American Institute of Stress, a nonprofit clearinghouse for stress-related information in Yonkers, N.Y. "'Technostress' is a major contributing factor," adds Rosch. In the era of cellphones, e-mail, faxing, call forwarding and voice mail, the boundary between our work and our personal lives is increasingly blurred. For many people, there are no boundaries anymore. (Rosch puts it this way: "It's now possible to reach anyone at any time anywhere in the universe, including the Gobi Desert and outer space.") It's not news to researchers that chronic stress isn't just bad for your mental well-being--they've long known that it's physically harmful too. The effects of elevated levels of cortisol--the hormone you produce under stress--are virtually endless. For instance, stress can cause headaches, result in an erratic menstrual cycle, impair fertility and even weaken immune function, exacerbating the symptoms of conditions from asthma to gastritis. Over time, unrelenting stress also can contribute to the development of the big killers: heart disease and cancer. With exposure to toxic stress at an all-time high, it's more important than ever to take stock of what you can control day in, day out. Following are 10 simple strategies from experts to help you stop stress now. 1] flee your computer. Just sitting in front of a desktop PC evokes a moderate fight-or-flight response in most people, says Erik Peper, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Holistic Healing Studies at San Francisco State University and co-author of Make Health Happen: Training Yourself to Create Wellness (Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 2002). When using a computer, you automatically tighten your shoulders, breathe 30 percent more quickly and shallowly and blink significantly less. Further adding to the muscle tension: Your arm may be extended to the far side of you, with a finger poised on the mouse, ready to pounce. To give your muscles frequent breaks while at the computer, drop your hands to your lap or by your sides every 30 seconds and get up and move around every 20 minutes. Blink every time you end a sentence, and make sure you don't have to reach for your mouse (a split keyboard or one without a number pad--which is narrower--can help). Remember too to stop occasionally and simply breathe. "You want a nice, deep yoga breath," says Peeke, who adds that deep breathing is an effective stress reliever in virtually any situation. 2] break your e-mail addiction. E-mail is the biggest time waster at work, according to professional organizer Julie Morgenstern, author of Time Management From the Inside Out (Henry Holt, 2000). "Limiting how much time you spend on e-mail will help you complete your more critical tasks," she says. First, turn off the e-mail alarm. ("So you're not hearing a bell and running to check it like Pavlov's dog," Morgenstern says.) Second, schedule specific times to check your e-mail, like every other hour instead of every 15 minutes. Third, don't use e-mail when in-person communication is more efficient. And when you do open your inbox, read and respond to what's there. "When you're leaving e-mails unread, you're just checking for something interesting," Morgenstern says. Repeat after us: Open, answer, file or delete, and move on. 3] deflect "stress carriers." Some people are what Peper calls "stress carriers." "They themselves have no problem with stress--they just leave in their wake a path of frustration and anger in their co-workers," he says. Peper cites a Dutch study led by stress-management professional Kees Lanser of six cheese-factory workers, five of whom experienced repetitive strain injury syndrome (RSI). What the workers with RSI had in common: their disdain for the sixth worker--the stress carrier--who had no pain at all. Sometimes an effective solution for deflecting a workplace tormenter is a surprising one: Pity him. By feeling sorry for the person, you don't react with anger and resentment. Try this exercise, says Peper: "Take a deep breath, think of a peaceful image and say, 'I wish him goodwill. I wish him what's best for him, so he can grow in his human potential.'" Explains Peper, "This doesn't mean, 'I don't need to solve the problem.' You may need to talk to the person about some issues. But you can't solve every problem." 4] take a walk at 4:34 p.m. That's the average meltdown moment for people on a diet who relapse into overeating, according to a study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology of 57 dieters with a long-standing weight problem and a history of failed diets. Late afternoon is a time of low energy and increased tension for most of us, says Robert E. Thayer, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, and author of Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood With Food and Exercise (Oxford University Press, 2001)--putting us at greater risk for overeating, which often makes us feel stressed and guilty. Thayer conducted a study with chronic late-afternoon snackers, asking that they take a brisk five-minute walk at certain times, mainly in the late afternoon. The result: Subjects reported their desire for a snack decreased by half. "Often such urges are cyclical," explains Thayer, "and if you can withstand the peak of the urge, such as with a five-minute walk, this alternative way of regulating your mood may substitute for the substance." 5] play offense against work stress. Every job has some stress, but some workplaces are truly harmful. "When you have enormous demands being put on individuals, without appreciation or praise, that's a toxic environment," says corporate consultant Ann Coombs, author of The Living Workplace: Soul, Spirit and Success in the 21st Century (HarperCollins, 2001). So how can you survive a workplace that's beyond stressful? First, says Coombs, identify your support system, both at work and at home; it should include your closest confidantes--the people who share and reinforce your values and motivate and inspire you. Second, keep contact with disgruntled types and cynical naysayers to an absolute minimum. 6] end your trapped-animal mind-set. If you're in a truly miserable situation, recognize that you're probably not as stuck as you think you are. Coombs, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer and given four months to live 24 years ago, is a firm believer that we always have options, even when they're not readily apparent. "Fear is the thing that holds back most people," she says. Start addressing your fears by putting them on paper--many are likely to seem less consequential in writing; talking to a loved one or professional therapist can help too. 7] keep problems from supersizing. It's an especially female phenomenon: Every night women everywhere lie awake in their beds, ruminating, whether over a relative's rudeness, an abrasive comment the boss made that day, or how in the world they're ever going to meet crushing demands at work. The stress caused by worry can easily spiral out of control--which is why it's essential to reduce problems to their actual size. "Ask yourself, 'Is this worth dying over?'" Peper says. It may sound ridiculous, but posing that question aloud, as often as necessary, will help you put problems in their proper perspective. 8] don't make stress worse. Many times we create our own stress, Rosch says. "There is a turning point when stress goes from increasing our productivity to taking a progressively downhill toll," he adds. "That point differs for everyone; you have to determine what yours is so that you can learn how stress can make you more productive, rather than self-destructive." This may mean saying no more often, delegating work, or relieving yourself of some of your tech gadgets--the more phone numbers, e-mail addresses and the like you have, the more messages you have to check. Keep what you need--and ditch the rest. 9] do the self-massage workout. Massage decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol. But you don't need to turn to a spa, or even a partner, to get kneaded. "Yoga is a very good example of self-massage. You're stimulating pressure receptors on your own body by rubbing your limbs together and against the floor," says Tiffany Field, Ph.D., director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida. On the days you can't fit in a yoga class or video, Field advises trying massage implements--such as massage balls or battery-operated massagers (available at most drugstores)--and using them to rub your muscles several times a day, especially in hands and feet, where we hold a lot of tension. 10] find what de-stresses you. A week of seclusion at a luxurious spa may be your idea of the perfect stress antidote. Or you might be bored silly by all those salt scrubs and body wraps. What helps, in other words, is individual. "There is no stress-reduction strategy that works for everyone. Jogging or meditation is great for some people, but boring and stressful when arbitrarily imposed on others," says Rosch. "You have to find out what works for you and stick with it--not do it because someone tells you to, but because you want to." Source Shape , Nov, 2003, by Gail O'Connor Related Articles: Anger, Depression  TopBack Your comment |
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