Erosion

Pick up the paper, go online or turn on the news and there is some discussion about how to alleviate stress. Over and over, people are told to work out, take a long walk, leave the office or go out with friends. I grin at the irony that, in offering these sound solutions, they miss the obvious. Yes, the point is to break the pattern and change the focus. But breaking the pattern shouldn’t have to be about making time that you don‘t have. It should be about making use of the time you do have . . . and that is what RELAX. SET. GO. is all about. For people under stress, having the time is everything and they never have it. Even when they know it will help, they feel pressured to make time at the cost of something else, something more urgent, something more important. That in itself causes stress. For people who practice RELAX. SET. GO., having the time is irrelevant because it’s always available and it never comes at a sacrifice.

Stress can be defined as anything that causes emotional, mental or physical strain. That covers a lot of ground: money, work, deadlines, family issues, fatigue, scheduling, the expected, the unexpected, and all of the juggling, juggling, juggling in between. Even good stuff like getting a promotion, getting married or having a baby can cause stress. There are so many day to day contributing factors that people tend to see stress as a part of life and not life threatening. But it is.

Health experts maintain that the majority of all diseases and disorders in the United States are stress related. Think about this: if a person is in overdrive due to stress, so is the body. Stress can contribute to a host of menacing health issues including high blood pressure, hypertension, heart arrhythmia, addiction, depression, anxiety, insomnia, exhaustion, memory loss, mood swings, muscle aches, headaches, hair loss, eating disorders, irritable bowel, constipation, ulcers, adult acne, infertility, impotence and lack of sexual desire.

Most people recognize the emotional pitfalls of stress (which is why so many people medicate for depression and anxiety) but few make the same connection to overall health. In fact, society conditions us to overlook, ignore or tolerate the connection. That’s what makes stress so insidious and the consequences so great. To me, it’s just like beach erosion. You don’t see the day to day destruction until you wake up one morning and the ocean is hitting your back porch. The damage from stress is there, even if you don’t see it right away. RELAX. SET. GO. gets you see to it, manage it and reap the benefit of a balanced life and better health. More to come . . . Less to stress.