Tuesday, May 25, 2010

The Spiraling Effect

If I had a nickel for every time I felt guilty about not doing something, I would be a rich woman.

If I spent have as much time actually doing the things that I spend way too much time thinking about doing, I would be far more productive and have more time on my hands.

If I stopped putting so much pressure on myself to accomplish everything I think I should be doing, I would have a lot less stress in my life and feel a greater sense of accomplishment.

If I had a lot less stress in my life, I would be virtually free from captivity of stress related ailments and admittedly, the occasional spell of out of body bad behavior.
Stress starts the chain reaction but even more so, it begets a vicious cycle. . .a spiraling effect.  What should be infrequent becomes every day. What should be forbid becomes tolerated. What should be addressed becomes overlooked. We are hardly to blame but we have no one to blame but ourselves . . . a vicious cycle, indeed! Here are three tell tale signs that the cycle is spiraling into your life.

Restless Sleep: Stress can get into sleep cycles which results in the feeling of not having slept at all. Whether it is insomnia, a restless night of tossing and turning or deep dreams that zap the very energy meant to be replenished, stress will wreak havoc on your ability to get a good night sleep. In addition, teeth grinding, night sweats and snoring are all danger signs that stress is making the body work overtime with no regard to the sleep patterns, especially uninterrupted REM sleep, that are critical to maintaining good health.

Fighting Fatigue: Fatigue and stress are a bad combination. Stress causes fatigue and being tired all of the time escalates the level of stress on any given situation. The more exhausted a person is, the more sleep is needed, yet chronic stress is more likely to result in sleep deprivation. Fatigue affects productivity, the ability to think clearly and to the deftness to act quickly. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can actually effect drivers in the same manner as being intoxicated.

Tension Headache: Tension headaches happen when the muscle and skeleton around the neck and scalp tighten. They are the most common result of stress and can last hours or days depending on the person. As part of the vicious cycle, tension headaches are often caused by and greatly exacerbated by fatigue. The more tired and stressed you are, the more likely they are to occur and to last. They are rarely debilitating but can temporarily effect fine motor skills, productivity and overall mood, which nonetheless, can feel debilitating!

All of this and more can change but it will take you to break the cycle and end the spiraling effect. As promised, the next several posts will point out more of the tell tale signs that signal the need to reclaim a consistently healthy and treasured quality of life. As for now, if you take just one stressor off your emotional plate, you will begin to see a change. So, RELAX. and think about something that you can stress less about. SET. your mind to making that commitment. And GO. enjoy a full but more manageable plate. I am not going to feel guilty about moving items from today’s To Do list onto tomorrow’s. If it’s not a hard deadline, then I’m going to allow myself the flexibility. What will you allow yourself today? RELAX. SET. GO.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Question Stress

Almost everything we do, emotional and physical, is affected by stress. To be fair, it’s true that not all stress is bad. Stress that brings about short term, manageable pressure can motivate action, stimulate creativity and set off an adrenaline rush that will make anyone feel great. However, what goes up must come down so as the adrenaline spike balances out, so will that rush of empowerment. As discussed in the last post (Chain Reaction), it’s how and when adrenal levels come down that make all the difference in how much stress a person can manage. And that can make all the difference in the wear and tear on both emotional and physical health.

Everyone has a barometer for stress and how they deal with it. Some people wear it like a badge of honor, ready to conquer and control. Others relinquish every emotion to stress and become totally consumed by it. Some people try to escape the obvious by ignoring stress completely and others see stressors as problems to be solved like items on a To Do list. Regardless of how you or anyone else deals with stress, in order to manage it, you have to recognize it and question it.

How does it affect the way you physically feel?
How does it affect your state of mind?
How does it affect your productivity?
How does it affect your behavior?
How long does it take to rebound from the affects of stress?

What is stress doing to you or more importantly, what is stress robbing from you? Quality of life? Time? Perspective? Clarity? Memory? Sleep? Energy? Optimism? Your health? All of the above . . . and likely even more? RELAX. Take some time and really think about all of this. SET. The narrative you choose will have everything to do with the way you manage stress. GO. How you deal with stress from this day on is up to you!

Over the next several posts, I will discuss common symptoms that are caused by stress including: tension headaches, fatigue, restless sleep, tension talk, public display of drama, mini meltdowns, mini breakdowns, inability to focus and memory loss.  More to come . . . less to stress.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Chain Reaction

Every body reacts to stress. And while each of us may be on a sliding scale of potential risk, every body is vulnerable nonetheless. When a stress occurs, the brain releases hormones and neurotransmitters (including adrenaline) that set off a biochemical chain reaction to stimulate and suppress different biological functions throughout the entire body. This chain reaction can send a signal to suppress activity related to short term memory such as the ability to focus and think rationally. It can also increase heart rate, blood pressure and put tremendous pressure on blood flow. Blood flow interacts with and affects every system in the body including the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, reproductive, musculoskeletal and immune system. If some systems require more blood flow during the stress response, others temporarily slow down or shut down. Finally, when the stress calms down, so does the body. Hormones and neurotransmitters return to their normal levels and internal balance is restored. Or is it?

The body is engineered to handle the biochemical back-and-forth shift of short term stress but when stress is chronic, or erratic in intensity, it doesn’t always rebound in the same orderly manner. This is when we are most vulnerable to health risks and, over time, to irreversible organ damage. In order to maintain good health, the body needs the proper time to stabilize and, most importantly, it needs to complete the stabilization process. Chronic stress can keep the body in an abnormal state of hormonal activity. Erratic stress will send the body on a biochemical rollercoaster. Either way, the prolonged strain will result in greater wear and tear on emotional, mental and physical health. Rest assured, wear and tear will wear you down and tear you apart.

The goal is to manage stress, not to eliminate it or to succumb to it. Once you acknowledge the biochemical chain reaction caused by stress, you can use RELAX. SET. GO. to help minimize strain and restore balance. Manage . . . Minimize . . . More to come . . .