Do any of these sentiments sound familiar to you? Every morning, we all wake up to a world full of stress. Stress means different things to different people: gaining weight, work deadlines, relationships, traffic jams, and endless responsibilities. A stressor can be anything that makes our lives busy, for good or bad. Stress is the “ wear and tear” that our bodies experience when stressors cause us to have either positive or negative feelings.
In general, stressors oblige the body to make necessary physical and chemical adjustments to promote physiological balance and homeostasis. With a relationship problem, for example, the first stress reactions are typically anxiety, headache, nervousness, increased heartbeat and shallow breathing. In many situations there is a rise in blood pressure. This “fight or flight” response helps prepare us for confrontation. Once, the situation has passed, the body goes back to normal. There are times, however, when an increase in stress levels continues until we experience burn-out and our bodies go into the exhaustion phase. As a result, our physical and mental sense of well-being faces danger in the forms of anxiety and depression.
Forms of stressType-one stress is usually triggered by an identifiable source, and the stress can be resolved within a short period of time. An example of this stress is when we deal with traffic. Type-two stress results from unclear sources that are not immediate. Some examples are: arguments with a co-worker, conflict with a supervisor, problems with a significant other, divorce, separation, or health and mental problems. Nearly all of our stresses fall into the category of type-two stress, during which we are not responding to an immediate threat, although our bodies react as if we were (Luskin, 2005).
The Stress ResponseImagine that you are having a conflict with your supervisor. Suddenly, he argues that the work you have presented is not good. As a result, your heart starts pounding, and you experience rapid, shallow breathing. The heart pumps faster to get more blood to the muscles. Your blood pressure rises, and the arteries around the heart become narrower and inflamed The breathing increases to facilitate more oxygen to the body, and the muscles become tense and stiff. You begin to sweat, so as to help cool off the body.
The stress response is designed to help our bodies get through stressful situations by ensuring that our nervous systems are fully functioning. It is the body’s way of responding to the stress of an argument. Our bodies react much in the same way to rush hour traffic as they do to an extreme conflict situation
Stress Reduction MethodsOne simple and effective stress management technique is to breathe from the abdomen to balance the nervous system. As you inhale, imagine that your belly is like a balloon. Fill it with air slowly. Place a hand over the abdomen and make sure the hand rises as you breathe in, to ensure that you are using the belly properly. As you exhale, relax the belly.
It is wise to practice this technique when angry, nervous, or having trouble falling asleep.The technique helps lower the blood pressure, relax the muscles, and manage the emotions. This deep-breathing technique is the foundation of stress management and can be practiced at least twice daily for about five to ten minutes.
The second stress management technique that may be used in dealing with stress is appreciation. Appreciation simply means to see the value of our health, our family and friends and to be grateful for all we already have. Although appreciation sounds really simple to many of us, it may be much harder for others. People usually have the tendency to look at problems rather than focusing on what’s going well in their lives. Also, many people are so used to being so stressed, they hardly have time to relax or are unable to relax!.The appreciation technique reduces the stress response via positive thinking. When we think positively, we start sending messages to our body that we are okay. Stress increases our blood pressure and heart rate. Thinking of a loved one and being compassionate help in lowering the blood pressure and heart rate.
All of these mind-body methods are proof that finding peace is achievable even in the most turbulent times.
Reference:
Luskin, F. & Pelletier, K. (2005).
New York: Harper Collins Publisher
