Women's Health: Stress
Stress is your body's response to demands that are placed on it. It's the 'wear and tear' experienced as you continually make adjustments to changes in your life. Demands may be external (bills, friends, work, relationships), or they may be in your own mind (for example, how you feel about yourself).
Stress is commonly considered to be a bad thing. In fact, everyone needs a certain amount of stress in order to live well. As a positive factor, stress is what gets you out of bed in the morning, giving you extra zest and vitality to do all sorts of things: presentations, sport, work. As a negative factor stress can destroy work and home relationships. Too much stress may cause feelings of distrust, anger, anxiety or fear.
When people feel over-stressed it is often because something happens which triggers the stress-response. the stress-trigger could be a negative thing (a death of a partner, divorce, or loss of a job). The stress-trigger could also be something positive (new partner, a new job, or a holiday). Whether or not the trigger is positive or negative, it is important to note that too much stress may result in a range of health problems, including headaches, upset stomach, high blood pressure, even strokes and heart disease.
Stress becomes a problem ('distress') when you have either too little or too much of it. When you do not have enough stress your body is under-stimulated. This under-stimulation is a depressant which leaves you feeling bored or isolated. Many people who feel isolated from society or who feel bored, suffer from a lack of positive stimulation. In an effort to find stimulation they may start doing things which are harmful to themselves (taking drugs) or harmful to society (crime).
Many women complain about having too much stress in their lives. This over-stress needs to be reduced to a more manageable level. the over-stress that people experience may be acute (such as the loss of a job, divorce, a death) or chronic (such as being unemployed for a long time, being in a bad relationship, or long-term illness). In either case, too much stress at either an acute or chronic level can exhaust your body and ultimately lead to health problems.
Some stressbusters are not only ineffective but also unhealthy. Negative
stress management techniques include:
Instead, try these daily stressbusters:
Take A Nap
Half an hour to 45 minutes of 'downtime' will recharge your batteries. Napping
was used for stress management by President John F. Kennedy, Thomas Edison and
Salvador Dali.
Get A Massage
Either visit a professional massage therapist or ask a friend or partner to give
you an impromptu massage of aching shoulder and neck muscles.
Express Yourself Artistically
Get creative - and divert your energy from stress. Try acting, learning/playing
a musical instrument, painting/drawing, writing poetry or singing. Music is a
great soother of the savage beast of stress - making music or just listening
helps too!
Laugh More Often
Laughter can soften tension into smiles. Practice always having a pleasant
expression on your face.
Be Gentle to Yourself
We all continuously talk to ourselves, even though we may not be aware of it.
Self-talk determines our attitudes and self-image. You can change both through
positive self-talk. In fact, positive self-talk promotes favorable body
chemistry since it activates the parasympathetic nervous system and causes
relaxation. Conversely, negative self-talk stimulates the sympathetic nervous
system and causes the body to feel high stress.
British HealthNet
Stress site
HomeArts 'Body &
Soul'
Two very good sources of more advice on all sorts of mental health problems are: