Stress and your body

So what is stress? The dictionary defines stress as a constraining force or influence; a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.

Chronic stress can produce physical or psychological damage by overloading the "fear response" system. Today we are aware of the association between chronic stress and cardiovascular disease, irritable bowel syndrome and peptic ulcer disease and worsening of other medical conditions such as diabetes, autoimmune disorders, and chronic pain.

Job stress is associated with health complaints, psychological problems, increased absenteeism, poor work productivity, as well as low job satisfaction. Stress originating in the work place negatively affects the personal and family relationships of workers and in certain situations is associated with aggression and violence both in the work place and at home.

So, in sum, we can effectively deal with stress in the following ways:

1. Take an inventory of what we have control over and what we do not.

2. Consider changing some of our stress-related activities, events and reactions. This may be a simple thing such as having your spouse take over math homework if that is a battle ground. Or it may mean re-evaluating your work hours.

3. With stress-related health conditions being so common, it would be reasonable to begin addressing stress management with a visit to a primary care physician for a general health screen.

4. Get regular sleep and exercise, which are basic health recommendations, yet very valuable. Adequate sleep and exercise enable us to garner more reserve to handle daily stress.

5. We should take time to recreate. This seems counter-productive in a busy life, but yet it is this slower, unstructured leisure time that can free us to be more creative and responsive.

6. There should be a place for music, art, dance and entertainment in our lives.

7. Laughter, remember releases the brain's "feel good" chemicals and is therefore, good medicine.

8. Develop a sense of inner peace and balance through meditation and/ or spiritual nurturing from structured religious practice or personal devotion to relieve stress.

9. Spend more time alone or more time with positively focused people. Find what you need to protect your individual emotional balance.

Even with all of these suggestions, however, people can find themselves too overwhelmed or burned out to make positive life changes on their own. Good counseling may be necessary, which may come through a relationship with a friend, a member of the clergy or a mental health professional. Professional counseling can determine if the stress in one's life is leading to other health problems, including clinical depression or anxiety. With help we can choose not to pay the physical and emotional price caused by work-related stress.