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Stress is a Double Edged Sword

Date: January 7, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
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One standard medical text estimates that 50 – 80% of all diseases have their origins in stress. Stress has both negative and positive effects on the body. It is positive when physical activity strengthens the heart and muscles. Exercise is a form of stress that produces positive physical and psychological results. The negative effects of stress are evident in diseases that originate from poor diets, lack of exercise, pollution and increased amounts of social stress. Emotional stress is more likely to cause disease than physical stress.

Disease is a long term effect of stress. Short term effects include elevated blood pressure, accelerated heart rate and loss of appetite. Stress can also alter a person’s brain wave activity, endocrine and immunological balances. Stress can cause sweaty palms (among other types of perspiration), dilated pupils, and difficulty in swallowing, which is often characterized as a ‘lump in the throat’. A person under stress may feel a tightness in the chest, and when the stress is relieved, the person says it is like ‘getting a load off the chest’. The stomach is also in danger from stress. Acid is pumped into the stomach during extreme stressful situations, creating an ideal environment for an ulcer to form. Many skin diseases result from emotional stress as well. The prolonged exposure to stress can also lower the body’s resistance to infection.

Stress has a tremendously negative effect on our ability to fight illness and disease because it suppresses our immune system’s capacity to produce and maintain lymphocytes and natural killer (NK) cells.

There are two factors responsible for illness or disease: an invading foreign substance and a lowered resistance. Stress can alter and may even shut down the immune response. This lowers our resistance and leaves us susceptible to attack from everything from the common cold virus to cancer cells. One cancer theory is that everyone at some point in his or her life develops a cancer. The difference between those who are afflicted and those who aren’t is their immune system response, which is controlled by stress. Cancer victims are the ones whose natural killer cells were weakened or made inactive by stress and therefore could not control the damaging cells.

The body responds to stress in three stages. Stage one is called the alarm stage. In this stage the body prepares to fight or flee when confronted by a stressor. Hormones are released from the endocrine glands and cause an increase in heartbeat and respiration, elevation in blood sugar level, increase in perspiration, dilated pupils and slowed digestion. At this point the body has a burst of energy that can be used to either fight or flee the stressor. It is during this stage that the resistance of the body is reduced.

Stage two is called the resistance stage and is used to repair any damage caused by the stress. Resistance can occur only if the stressor is not too powerful. Body adaptation develops to fight back the stress or possibly avoid it.

If the stressor remains consistent, the body is thrown into stage three, the exhaustion stage. Stage one symptoms reappear at this point. This is the most dangerous stage because disease can develop if the stress persists. If the stressor does not let up, the person may experience migraine headaches, heart irregularities or even mental illness. The body can even run out of energy and may even shut down its basic functions.

This three stage process is called the General Adaptation Syndrome. The resistance stage is dangerous in that we adapt to the stressor. In other words, we become adjusted to a higher level of stress without noticing it. We feel good, unaware that our body is still in a state of stress resistance.

Our body works overtime during this stage to keep us healthy, but at the same time it loses its ability to keep up with the demand the stress puts upon it. The General Adaptation Syndrome is thought to be the reason stress is becoming such an abundant source of health problems. Today’s society is becoming more complex, offering increased demands and new challenges we must constantly face at a faster and more intense pace. By changing the way our body normally functions, these stress challenges disrupt the natural balance crucial for well-being. Stress can virtually eliminate our chances for extending and improving life. It does so by breaking down resistance and increasing the odds that all our bodily functions will eventually give out and fail us.

To understand what physiological processors take place during stress, we must look at the brain. When stress occurs, the nerve impulses reach the brain and stimulate the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus does two things. First, it sends nerve impulses to the adrenal glands located on top of our kidneys, and second, it sends a chemical message to the pituitary gland located at the base of the brain.

Stimulation of these glands is what prepares the body for the fight or flight response mentioned earlier. This process causes three more reactions: a surge of adrenaline, a discharge of cortisol and a release of endorphin. Adrenaline causes the heart rate to quicken, which increases blood pressure and blood flow. This brings extra oxygen – nature’s purest fuel – to every cell in the body. Adrenaline also increases glucose or blood sugar necessary for extra energy needed during stressful encounters.

Cortisol causes an increase in blood amino acids as well as an increase in blood sugar. Protein is made up of amino acids, and because stress leads to tissue damage, proper recovery depends on cortisol being released by the adrenal gland.

Endorphin is released by the brain in any stress situation. It is several hundred times more potent than morphine and works as a natural tranquilizer. Exercise causes endorphins to be released, and therefore a regular exercise program will heighten one’s ability to combat normal daily stressors. People who do not exercise are more susceptible to the negative effects of stress reactions.

Good versus Bad Stress: The Difference can Help or Hurt You

Although the stress response is basically the same in all of us, the degree to which it affects us depends on how we handle stress as individuals. Stress can be either good or bad depending on how we perceive it. We can become more stress tolerant by changing our attitudes and conditioning ourselves to look at it in a new way. We need to change our response to stress from negative and harmful to positive and beneficial – to view it as something constructive rather than destructive.

To achieve this shift in attitude we must be highly internally motivated. The internally motivated person feels that he or she is in control of events that occur – that they are masters of their own fate. We commonly refer to these people as self made individuals, who, in spite of the odds against them, pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps.

On the other end of the spectrum is the external person, who feels that ‘no matter how hard I try, the deck is stacked against me’. In general, good stress results from situations we can control and bad stress results from situations we have no control over. This internal/external view of life determines whether an individual feels control over stressors. External people are stress prone because they feel powerless to control or influence the events around them.

Stress Prone Personalities

A more common identification of internal/external personalities is Type A and Type B people. A type A personality is someone who is hard driving, excitable, volatile, and success and career oriented. These people rush from appointment to appointment. They’re continually bombarded with short term stress and create dangerous health situations because they allow no time for relaxation. They are the prime candidates for a heart attack.

Type B personalities are just the opposite. They’re relaxed and unhurried, patient, non competitive, non aggressive, and are not under severe time constraints. But being at this end of the spectrum is not necessary healthy either. Selye theorized that some people suffer from too little stress – something he called hypostress. These people actually need more external stimuli and more activity into their lives. They become addicted to drugs or alcohol due to a lack of motivation and the stabilizing effect of constructive goals. This does not mean that all type B personalities are unmotivated or spend all of their time meditating. It’s just a factor that must be considered when weighing the pros and cons in each type of personality.

It’s possible for type A people to modify their behavior by changing their outlook on stress and breaking some of the long term stress habits they’ve acquired over the years. Certain exercises, called Type B Behavior Exercises, can help a type A person achieve a new approach to stress. These exercises include: putting down your knife and fork between bites at meal time, forcing yourself to do more recreational activities, spending the entire day without your watch, and turning your frowns into smiles even when it hurts. The idea is that once people recognize themselves as type A, they can then modify their behavior.

Utilize, Eliminate & Transform Your Stress

Date: January 7, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

In these days, up to 40% young people to 80% workers report stress. Where does the stress come from? One time, a friend of mine complained of feeling stressed. Then he pointed out how loud his girls were speaking. To me, that was perfectly normal. Stress can come from external world as well as our own beliefs, standards, perceptions and health.
Stress can also be a good motivator, and let us fly to the moon. This mechanism helps some people recover from severe injuries since stress can increase blood flow to 300% to 400% in the brain, lungs and muscles. It takes skills to keep a good balance, not to get over strained, nor age fast.
Stress costs U.S. corporations $300 billion annually in medical costs, turnover and absenteeism (American Institute of Stress 2006), and makes 52% companies struggle to retain their top employees (Watson Wyatt 2007). In addition, stress can disable our clear thinking, the key to solutions and productivity.
Stress relievers at work, such as plan for the unexpected and yoga in the conference room, and stress-relieving workouts, like biking and brisk walking, are important. It would be better if we can increase personal control, and look into the underlying problems while having a personal relaxation hierarchy to relax efficiently from airline delay to Second War World II.
There was an article about stress management for a disabled lady who lived on second floor and had a hard time to get out. While she could benefit from many relaxation exercises, her deep problem remains — isolation, physical and psychological, which made her more vulnerable to stress. Stress is the most severe when an individual has high demand and little control, proven by research. What she needs most is an easy access for her wheel chair, so she would have more control and enjoy more outdoor activities. Volunteering for charity can help her further.
Having a good insights of self and others can not only eliminate the stress created by our own, but also save a lot of future stress. A high school principal in New York disciplined one student who was then sent to prison. After he got out of jail, the student went back to school to revenge the principal. The principal answered the student’s hot button push, unfortunately, lost his control and put his career in jeopardy.
Sometimes, an “unconventional” solution just works better. A huge family “mess” stressed out an attorney. One big issue was that his sister sued them. His parents favored him over his sister, and gave him nearly 90% of the inheritance. The sister filed one lawsuit after another to fight for her share. No family fund had been set up, which could spare usually 20-45% of parents’ assets when they died. If they could give her part of the estate tax, the sister would be happy to drop all the lawsuits. The legal solution is the simplest way here to alleviate their stress, and make it easier to look into the underlying problem. The attorney was speechless.
An extra piece of knowledge can be the most powerful stress switcher. A poor man ran into an abusive officer who loved to gain her pleasure “legally” out of his misery because his social class and gifts were “superior to hers.” He had tried several ways and failed. At the end, he lost his sleep and appetite once he knew her coming. The poor man was pleased with his finding after I raised the question of “territory” and quickly moved out of her “jurisdiction.”
To eliminate stress may be hard but possible. One physician suffered a sever head injury that every expert predicted 100% and permanent disability. Cognitive ability to an MD is like running ability to a Marathon athlete — life or death. None of the stress relievers, from deep breathing, to painting, to horseback riding, to massage … could spare the pain or stress permanently, but bought her the time and mind to try everything that we could possibly find. At the end, the doctor fully recovered, and did excellent in her practice. For someone who would rather die than be disabled,to recover fully is the only solution. Her will and personal relaxation hierarchy helped to find her the tools to eliminate her deep stress.
We can also “artificially” eliminate the stress. A CEO suffered newly onset insomnia due to her business. Neither her personal relaxation methods nor sleeping pills could work — it was the feeling of insecure stressed her most. Sleep is very important to productivity, wellness and beauty. However, she would not have the “real” sense of security until her business thrived. She chose self-hypnosis over several ways and placed her faith as “the sense of security” directly into her unconscious. From the day of the installation, she could sleep like a log at night. Her business has grown bigger and bigger.
Stress can also be transformed. Here is my favorite case. A physician could not overcome severe depression two years after he lost his wife. Dr. Viktor E. Frankl, the author of Man’s Search for Meaning, asked the doctor what would have happened if he had died first, and his wife had had to survive him. The doctor said that would be terrible to her to suffer. After Dr. Frankl told the patient that it was his suffering that had spared his wife’s, the patient said nothing but shook Dr. Frankl’s hand and left calmly. Nobody could revive the patient’s wife, but the meaning that Dr. Frankl had found transformed the stress into something worth bearing. Bad things can happen to good people. The stress can be a door opener if we can find its good meaning.
The above are sample cases used at The Prince Synergy. You can tell that stress can come from external worlds as well as our own mind, health and our relations with external and internal world. We can utilize stress, prevent stress, relax well from stress, and ultimately handle stress efficiently at different stages. We don’t have to let stress govern our life. Furthermore, we can reduce medical costs, turnover and absenteeism, yet enjoy better work/life balance, look and feel young.

Detecting Stress

Date: January 5, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Are you suffering from stress? Have you been lately feeling low about anything that’s happening in your life? Is stress the main reason behind all the negativity you suffer from?

A lot of people suffer from stress these days. However, only few of these people actually come to know that they are stressed out.

There are a lot of things you can do to remove stress in your life. However, to make certain efforts and getting relief from the stress you are suffering from, you need to know that you have been attacked by stress.

Here are some symptoms that would indicate that you are stressed out.

a) Memory problems

This is one of the major problems suffered by people who are stressed out.

b) Indecisiveness

Most of us are indecisive at one point in our lives. However, if this becomes a regular affair then take it seriously. There is something wrong. This is one of a strong indication that you are undergoing a lot of stress.

c) Inability to concentrate

When suffering from stress, you are generally not able to focus. It becomes almost impossible to concentrate on one thing.

d) Trouble thinking

One is unable to think clearly when stressed out.

e) Poor judgment

Most often, we are not able to judge properly. Most of our judgment goes wrong. This is due to the stress we face in our life.

f) Negative approach

Experiencing a lot of stress can put negative impact in our lives. You tend to take every single thing in a negative manner.

g) Anxiety

When under stress, you tend to show a lot of anxiety. You may also suffer from racing thoughts of either past or what’s going to happen in future.

h) Constant worry

Stress makes an individual worry constantly about different things in life.

i) Loss of objectivity

This is another strong sign of stress. One tends to feel that he or she does not have any object in life.

j) Fearful anticipation

Nothing seems to go right when one under goes stress. Stress makes one feel that something wrong has happened or something wrong is going to happen. Thereafter one tends to think about the bad consequences.

k) Short temper

Stress can affect one’s temperament. One tends to get very short tempered. So, if you feel that you have become unusually short tempered or tend to lose temper easily, you need to do something about it. You are suffering from a lot of stress.

l) Depression or general unhappiness

When under stress, one tends to feel depressed or get unhappy without any reason.

m) A sense of loneliness

One may feel lonely, is unable to retain a relationship or make friends. This is due to the stress one is facing.

n) Unable to sleep

A lot of stress makes it difficult for an individual to enjoy sound sleep.

Other major symptoms of stress include the following:

• Feeling overwhelmed

• Chest pain; Rapid heart beat

• Skin breakouts

• Loss of sex drive

• Frequent cold

• Nervous habits; Overreacting to unexpected trouble

• Picking fights with others without a good reason.

• Teeth grinding

Remember that in order to remove stress from your life, you need to recognize stress.

Is Everyday Stress Making You Underperform?

Date: January 3, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
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Every day seems the same.You never seem to have enough time to relax and take time for yourself. If it’s not the kids and their hectic schedules, it’s the pressures of work. Are you constantly striving to balance your domestic responsibilities with the high demands of the work place?Sometimes you are irritable and restless thinking about those unpaid bills, the kids needs, your partner’s needs, and the demands of your boss.

If your answer is yes, you have something in common with nearly half of all Americans today–stress.

What is Stress?

Stress is a combination of psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions that we experience in response to events that seem to threaten or challenge us. As defined by the famous stress researcher Hans Selye, “Stress is the non-specific response of the body to any demand made upon it.” These demands may be physical or emotional in nature and the perceived threat/challenge can be real or imagined. However, it is the perception of threat that triggers the response.

During a stress response, the body experiences increased levels of cortisol, adrenalin and other hormones that produce an increased heart rate, quickened breathing rate, and higher blood pressure. Blood is shunted from the extremities to the large muscles, preparing the body to fight or flee. This is also known as the fight-or-flight response.

The stress-response system is self-regulating. It decreases hormone levels and enables your body to return to normal once a crisis has passed. However, due to our hectic lifestyles, many of the stressful circumstances tend to be prolonged. As a result, you may be on the fight-or-flight reaction longer than is necessary. During this time, you may often end up feeling overwhelmed, tense, and frustrated. What is good for your body during a short-term crisis could be quite harmful over long periods. This long-term activation of the stress-response system can disrupt most of your body’s processes, and may lead to other long-term complications.

What Causes Stress ?Leading Causes/Sources of Stress:

 

Stress may be linked to external factors such as:

 

Stress can also be a result your own:

 

How does one recognize stress?

It’s not always easy to recognize stress, especially when you are experiencing the symptoms of stress as part of your daily life. Reportedly, women and men exhibit stress differently. While women confess feelings of nervousness, lack of energy, or wanting to cry, men talk about trouble sleeping, or feeling irritable and angry.

The most common symptoms of stress are:Emotional: Worry, anger, irritability, anxiety, frustration, and impatiencePhysical: Fatigue, headache, back pain, jaw pain, trembling, cold hands and feet, and muscular stiffness.Digestive: Heartburn, diarrhea, constipation, flatulence, and fullness.Vital sign: Rise in blood pressure; rapid heartbeat.Mental: Confusion, inability to concentrate, indecisiveness, nervousness, occasional sleep problems, and blankness.

How can stress affect you?Stress affects performance of daily duties and responsibilities, resulting in negative lifestyle changes including relationship challenges, career dissatisfaction, deteriorating health, complacency, and substance abuse. It not only steals vitality, health, and energy, but also undermines our ability to perform at our best.If the cause of your stress is temporary, the physical and psychological effects of stress are usually short-term as well. Normally, our bodies rest when stressful events cease and life gets back to normal. However, stress becomes dangerous when it interferes with the ability to live a normal life for an extended period of time.Recent studies suggest that stress and anxiety contribute to a majority of illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, dyslipidemia, obesity, lung ailments, allergies, sexual problems, cancer, and psychological disorders.In some cases, stress may result in short term memory loss, poor mental ability, lack of focus, poor concentration, poor judgment, difficulty making decisions, and depression.

Further, stress has been reported to affect the vitality and reproductive systems in both males and females, and is linked to some of the leading causes of death.

Stress Management:

Meditation,

Yoga,

Natural Supplements.

Though hundreds of natural products claim safety, I personally feel,we need to bother about efficacy first and safety next. I came across very few clincally tested natural products which are available over the counter/online in United states.Please go for that, they work.

Drugs:

 

            

 

Simple Ways to Reduce Your Stress and be Happy

Date: January 2, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Stress can be a good thing. Do I have your attention? Does that statement sound contrary to everything you have ever heard about stress? Well, too much of anything is bad for the health and a small amount of stress is actually good, as it could actually help you function at your best. However, as we all know, too much stress can take a serious physical toll as well as a mental toll on your body. As with many things in life we need everything in moderation and this is especially so for stress which should be recognized, evaluated and managed carefully.

So how should you manage that stress? The following sections are some very simple and easy to apply tips and advice to help manage your stress.

Stress Tip 1: Write it out, schedule it out.

You can help reduce your stress by making lists and writing things down. It is best to write down everything that seems to be overwhelming stressful. People under stress often find a things-to-do-list is much easier to manage than having errands all crumpled up in your head. You have enough to worry about without stressing about little things. Writing down the tasks, and putting a specific schedule and time to do them, helps you manage activities one item at a time. Also, the task of crossing out an activity that has you have accomplished is very rewarding as you see items coming off your list can really relieve stress as you see more goals completed.

Stress Tip 2: Complete one task at a time works.

You may cause yourself a lot of stress by trying to focus on many things and tasks at once. Focus and put all your attention and effort on one task at one time until it is complete. It does not help to feel stressed about the other undone or to-do tasks. Thinking about other tasks while undertaking another only adds unnecessary stress and could even hamper in doing the task you are attempting to accomplish at present.

Stress Tip 3: Take it slow and relax!

Just like the Rabbit and the Tortoise in the fable, “Slow and steady wins the race”. At least, try not to expend too much energy on activities that are currently not priorities. Prioritizing tasks and realizing which ones are less important can really alleviate stress. When we stress on too many things at once and realize some of these items are not absolute priorities it leaves us mental focus to deal with the tasks that really are important. This way you have the energy for the tasks you must do now and the easier or less important tasks can either be tackled later or dealt with in another way. This latter point leads into our next tip…Stress Tip 4: Delegate, delegate, delegate, and if you can, delegate

You can really help your stress by realizing you do not have to do everything all at once or by yourself. If you need help to get something done then get help, or pay for help. When you are stretched too thin and getting stressed you are not able to perform at your best so if needed hire someone to mow the lawn or get a sitter for your children. The stressful feelings of being pushed to finish something on time will somehow be eliminated if tasks are delegated. This stress relief takes a load off unnecessary worry and anxiety. Moreover, it is easier checking up on other people’s progress than worrying yourself and stressing over doing everything on your own, all at once.

Stress Tip 5: Give yourself a reward, you earned it.

One of my favorite anti-stress tips is to acknowledge your accomplishments, no matter how big or small. This is something you need to do before getting on to the next tasks and activities as it places a mental smile in your thoughts and gives you a fresh feeling before you move on. It reduces stress and could even make you happier in doing the next task.

Stress Tip 6: Take a break.

Everyone needs a break or mental rest occasionally to be more productive. A ten to fifteen minute break during your work is absolutely necessary. Go visit a nearby cafe, take a swift, brisk walk, or do anything to take your mind completely off work, at least for a little while.

This is necessary to refresh your mind and recharge your batteries. If there is no way you can leave your stressful environment, you can also stay where you are and simply close your eyes as you visualize a peaceful landscape or a relaxing scene. This frees the stress from your muscles and your mind. If you have an iPod or mp3 player you can also download plenty of peaceful music tracks to drown out the noise around you to help you relax.

Stress Tips Conclusion

There are many other great guides available online that can really help you reduce stress and anxiety. You should check them out and see which ones really address your needs so you can find the complete road to minimal stress

To Work and Live Without Stress

Date: December 31, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Too much of stress is bad for our health. And I believe the stress is not coming from the work or environment. It is coming from our thinking. I mean, it is generated by our own mind.  

 

Many people think that stress is coming from the work( or your boss ), environment or certain situition. It is not. When we are facing something, our mind is generating the stress. It is also saying that, we have the choice not to generate the stress, if we can adjust our mind.

 

We may work without stress. It is all depends on how we think when we are facing something. One of my regular jobs( on credit card system ) is to solve or to find out the cause of system problem. The System Support department always keep telling me that “The problem needs to be solved fast”. For me, I won’t tell myself or keep emphasizing that “I need to solve it fast”. I will tell myself, I just need to do whatever I need to do now and I don’t need to care about other things, just concentrate on looking for the cause of the problem. By this way, the stress does not exist at all. I just doing whatever I need to do now. This is the most important part. I have to know what should I do now. And the concentration is the first entity that making the stress does not be generated at all. If I don’t waste my time and always be trying my best, eventhough I pass the due date or due time, I won’t feel guilty. But most of the time, if I really concentrate on my work, I am able to deliver fast.  

 

If you keep telling yourself that “I need to solve it fast”, then you can’t be concentrate on your job. When time goes by, you will be sweating and feel the stress. And sometime, how you handle the job is important. For example, we received some orders or directions from our boss or supervisor which is not clear. We have to ask for the clarification instead of starting the job blindly. This is common when we are a technical staff and our boss is a management staff. Terms used by management staffs usually are different from terms used by technical staffs. As a technical staff, we have to get the correct definition from our boss. When we know very well what should be delivered, then there won’t be any stress. You won’t generate the stress.

 

I fix my lunch time. Everyday I go out for lunch at the exact time. I will forget about my work temporary and fully enjoying my lunch time very much, no matter what I did during the working hour. I may say, this is also a kind of concentration, I concentrate on my lunch. In other words, balance between work and privacy is important. I am also saying that I never bring the job back to my home. I seldom talk about my work with my wife, unless it is a happy event happened during working hour. When I am at home, I will be doing my own job( on music ). This making me no time to think about my work at office. I am the kind of person, if you give me 25 hours a day I will still telling you that it is not enough for me. I have no time to feel boring. Where is the stress? It is not generated at all by my working style or my thinking.

 

If you think you are facing too much of stress, please think deeply and ask yourself, where does the stress come from. You may practise what I do everyday. It is just a habit of thinking. It is not difficult to practise it. The most difficult part in our job probably is when we work together with somebody who does not know very well their own job function. Some staffs may not know what should they do and could not be taking their own responsibility. They may affect us. Stress may be generated from there. If everybody knows very well what should they do, there should not be any stress.

 

If you are given a responsibility to complete a job within a time frame, and if you can’t complete it before the due date, as I said, stress won’t be generated with my mentioned working style. There is another possibility that you totally can’t proceed with the job. I believe you have to report it to your boss or supervisor, asking for help. Stress is still won’t be generated. If the job is totally owned by you ( you are the boss ), then you are generating the stress for yourself. By adjusting your mind, stress is also won’t be generated. Just like my music business. I own Double Melodies. I try to get more traffic to my website. I keep learning. Where is the stress? I won’t generate the stress on myself because I know what should I do for the moment and I keep trying.

 

Does the game or competition gives us the stress? Allow me to tell you my story. I play bowling every week with my wife. I joint some bowling tournaments. When I come to the tournament, I won’t tell myself “I have to win”. Everytime I will keep reminding myself to hold the ball firmly, to swing the ball consistently and keep staring at the target( the arrow ) even after ball releasing. If I follow all the rules which I set for myself, I usually play well. The most important thing is, I may play well without stress and pressure. You will have the stress if you keep thinking that everybody is hoping you to play well. You will have the pressure if you think everybody is looking at you. I believe, for all kinds of games and competition, they are part of psychology game. If you are not prepared mentally, you will lose the game. What does it means by “prepared mentally”? It is just what you think and what you can’t think before the game.       

 

Does the traffic jam gives us the stress? If we start our car engine early( spare some time for the traffic jam ), we have done our best. When we are caught in the jam, we can’t do anything to improve the traffic flow. If you think you have the stress, then the stress is generated by your own mind, not by the traffic jam. If you say, the stress is generated by the jam, how come I don’t have the stress? I enjoy driving in the jam. There are a lot of beautiful scene you may enjoy at the jam. If you worry that you will be late, then you are not live at the moment. You are at the future. You can’t do anything on your future because you cannot control your future. What you can control is the current moment. Please come back to the current moment and enjoy the current moment, which is the jam. And concentrate on your driving.

 

When you keep guessing on what will be happened, stress will be generated. Guessing on what will be happened is a harmful thinking habit. This is refer to what you can’t change and control. This is different from your planning. If we really live at the moment, enjoy the moment, stress won’t be generated. So, have I prove that stress is generated by your own mind?

 

No matter what you are doing, please enjoy the process. Don’t keep thinking of the destination. We may think of the destination only when we are doing our planning. And the best way to live without stress is to avoid generating the stress, not to keep thinking on how to handle the stress after it is already exists.

Stress Really Affects Your Health

Date: December 29, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Stress is something that everybody endures on a fairly regular basis, but when it starts to impact negatively on your body and mind, it means you are not only stressed you are distressed.
Alot of people don’t realise that stress is not only something we cope with but also a state of being that negatively impacts the body. In fact, stress has a bigger impact on our bodies than most of us care to acknowledge.
Here are some facts about Stress and the affects on your body.
When you look at these facts it is hard to deny that we all need to learn how to manage our stress more effectively. Some of these facts include: * 75-90% of all doctor visits are stress-related
* 43% of all adults have health problems related to stress
* Stress is known to cost American businesses more than $300 billion each year
* 82% of workers are at least a little stressed in the workplace
Seven Ways Your Body is Affected By Stress
There are two kinds of stress. The “good” stress is called eustress but we generally only hear about the “bad” stress known as chronic stress or distress.
Chronic stress creeps up on you and gradually affects your health. At first, you may not even notice the symptoms of chronic stress at all! And if this stress is not managed, the symptoms will get worse and its effects may even be irreversible.
Seven ways in which stress may manifest itself in your body are:
1. Anxiety. Those who are stressed are likely to deal with uncontrollable levels of anxiety. Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand, and this can cause many different changes in the physiological functioning of the body.
2. Depression. When you are stressed out, it is very common for people to become depressed. There are only so many chemicals in the brain to help a person deal with stress, and when they are used up, they’re used up. This can lead to a person becoming profoundly depressed in what seems like a relatively short period of time.
3. Diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is one of the fastest growing epidemics in the world and both mental and physical stress can cause rapid fluctuations in blood sugar levels. The long-term effects associated with this include heart disease, blindness, liver problems, kidney disease, and more.
4. Heart disease. Stress is very closely linked to heart attacks and death associated with cardiovascular disease. When stress is not managed, the body breaks down quickly and the heart is often profoundly impacted.
5. Obesity. We often cope with stress by consuming unhealthy, fattening foods. Plus, stress prohibits the control of necessary chemicals that are needed to break down fat, which can lead to obesity.
6. Sexual dysfunction. Stress is one of the most common reasons associated with impotence in men and lost libido in women.
7. Hair loss. We often tease our friends and family when they begin to lose hair, but this can be a symptom of unmanaged stress. If your hair is falling out prematurely don’t blame genetics, look closely at how you are dealing with the stress in your life and see if there are things you can do to control it more effectively.
As you can see, stress can affect your health in many ways. This is by no means an all-inclusive list of how stress affects your body and health. You may also suffer from hyperthyroidism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, tooth and gum disease, ulcers, and even cancer. Stress is serious stuff! This is all the more reason to start actively managing your stress today.
Little things add up! Even if your stress seems overwhelming, start trying to change things by adapting small strategies to combat your stress. Every little positive thing you do can lead to a big change!
Dont let sress affect your health and get onto it now!

Stress: the Silent Killer

Date: December 28, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Stress is an overlooked reason people have health problems. Reducing stress is guaranteed to give you a healthier life and can prevent future health problems!
Stress!!!
Most of us feel some kind of stress every day.
The dictionary defines stress as physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension. Everyday 87% of the population lives under this type of stress. We worry about money, children, jobs, our spouse or significant other and hundreds of other things on a daily basis.
Just driving to the corner store can cause tension as you dodge that crazy driver or see the price of gas at the pump.
Some people are very aware of the strain and tension in their life, but many of us live with stress that we don’t see or are unwilling to admit we have. We just go about our daily life thinking this is the way it is supposed to be, the norm.
We build our lives and behaviors around stress. Even children and especially teens have stress. They worry about their friends, their weight, if they are wearing the right clothes or if they have a zit (acne).
More Medical Problems are caused by Stress than anything else!
Learning the right way to relax and reduce tension can help your body work better and create a healthier life. Your body’s natural processes are affected by stress. Stress can be a killer and reducing your stress should be a top priority in your life.
Stress can cause:
1. Your Body to Age: – Which means all your cells and organs are getting old before their time. When your stomach ages, food sits in it longer and can start to spoil before its even digested. This can lead to colon problems. Your skin and heart can also be affected by stress.
2. Sugar to Build Up: – When humans were hunters and gatherers, they had stress when they were being stalked by a predator. The body understood this stress and released sugars for instant energy so we could flee or fight. Now, when the stress causes the sugars to release, we don’t use them for energy. They go unused and the body stores them as fat instead.
3. Your Blood to Thicken: – Thicker blood allows it to carry more oxygen to help with our fight or flight as previously mentioned. Again we don’t use this feature as nature originally intended and now thicker blood only starts the process of building up plaque on the walls of our arteries.
4. Increased Number of Diseases: – Stress depresses the immune system. Colds and viruses are more common in stressed people. Viruses can cause some cancers, thus keeping a strong healthy immune system is a must. Stress has also been linked to Parkinson’s disease.
99% of all Disease is caused by Stress!
When your body senses stress, it automatically gets you ready to run or fight. This is just part of your biological makeup.
First, the natural response causes the stomach and colon to shut down. – Extra blood is needed by the body and it takes it from the stomach and colon. – With no blood, these organs age faster. – Food that was being digested now just sits there and starts to rot. You end up with rotten food in your colon. As you can imagine, eating rotten food can make you sick, so can having it sitting in your body. – 90% of your immune system is battling disease in the colon. Ask any doctor who does autopsies about people’s colons. It’s not a pretty picture.
Second, your metabolism changes. – The body needs energy and it needs protein. – It goes to the muscles to get it. – If you don’t replace the protein and all the amino acids and enzymes, you lose muscle. – You lose body shape when you lose muscle. – The body replaces the muscle with FAT!
I have just described a majority of the human population.
We are stressed out and because of the stress we are battling colds, the flu, allergies, you name it because of our reduced immune system. So What Can I Do to avoid this downward spiral?
Dealing with stress is something we can manage. There are several steps that can reduce stress and when that becomes too difficult, there are things we can do to counteract the negative effects stress has on our bodies.
First and foremost, the best way to alleviate the problems associated with stress is to get rid of the stress in our lives.
Some things you can do include learning relaxation techniques and ridding yourself of stressful habits. Everyone is different and deals with everyday situations in different ways, but we can all learn to reduce the stress in our life. Second, because it is impossible to get rid of all stress, we need to give our bodies the things it needs to be healthy and overcome the ill effects that stress creates.
These can include:
1. Provide you body with the nutrients it needs. While this sounds simple enough, when you body is under stress , the stomach shuts down so even if you are eating a good diet, your body isn’t getting what it needs.
Supplementation is the answer. However, not all supplements are created equal. Make sure your supplements can be used by the body when it is under stress. This means they get the nutrients to your cells where they are needed and not just take them on a nice ride through your digestive tract.
2. Boost your immune system.
Stress makes our bodies more susceptible to disease. It lowers the overall immunity and creates a situation where a majority of the immune system is battling disease in the colon.
3. Get more protein.
Most people don’t get enough protein. Stress causes the body to need more of it and so your body raids the muscles to get what it needs. When there is nothing to replace the muscle protein it gets replaced with fat. We slowly lose our shape and definition as we lose muscle.
Adding more meat to our diet is not the best solution. Today, almost all commercial meat is contaminated in some way. The beef, pork and chicken you buy from the supermarket is pumped full of antibiotics.
A better solution is soy protein. This is a plant protein that has all the amino acids a human body needs.
I read a great article once about everything I ever needed to know I learned in Kindergarten. It said something like “Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.” It’s amazing, if we think back to when we were young and now as adults followed some of those same rules how much better our lives could be. I can hear my Mom saying “Eat your vegetables and Take your vitamins”.
We can all learn a thing or two about life and living if we sit back and watch little kids.
So relax, listen to your body and learn how to reduce the stress and its effects on your health. This could be the most important action you can take towards living a longer, healthier and more enjoyable life.
THINK ABOUT IT!

Caught in a Stress Storm?

Date: December 27, 2009
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Imagine you’re on your way to meet friends at a bar. You’re late and stuck behind a slow-moving van when the entire street lurches into darkness. Suddenly that man crossing the street in front of you looks like a potential robber. The cars around you seem to be hemming you in. Everyone and everything appears dangerous. You’ve gone from slightly stressed to completely strung-out in an instant.

When you finally get to the bar, your friends are deep in conversation about blackouts, crime and their plans to leave the country. What should have been a light-hearted, fun-filled evening has turned into one riddled with anxiety.

It’s as though a cloud of dark heaviness is hanging above us right now. Most of us are unaware of the extent to which worrying issues are affecting us. But if a high level of stress continues over a long period, paralyzing feelings of being overwhelmed can set in. Many of us could be in the heart of what is termed as a ‘stress storm’. Have you ever been in the situation where, because of stress, you couldn’t remember the name of one of your own family members? Perhaps you’re stuck in a depression, or maybe you’ve accomplished something great but the next morning you don’t want to get out of bed because you’re so down.

These are indications that you are caught in a stress storm – a place filled with fear and confusion, where you’re no longer thinking rationally. If this sounds familiar, read on to understand better what’s happening to you – and how to get to grips with it.

Why are we so Stressed?

In the USA we have a set of stressors to contend with – high crime rates, rising costs of food and gas, and an economic situation in which retrenchments are increasingly common. These compound everyday stressors such as work, family conflicts and financial pressures. We don’t let our bodies or minds relax, and develop distorted perceptions about ourselves – for example, we may think we’re accepted only if we’re performing well.

When people are taxed on so many levels, their resilience rapidly erodes. Most people can deal with one stressful area in their lives – even two – but few people can function optimally when every area of their life is affected by instability and stress.

Stress Poisoning

Our bodies are built to handle stress in short, sharp bursts, but when there is no let-up, stress can in fact be toxic for our bodies. When we’re stressed, our adrenal glands pump out cortisol. This ‘stress hormone’ is preparing our muscles for the fight-or-flight response triggered when our lives are in danger. All energy is diverted from other functions, such as digestion, giving our bodies a burst of energy to ensure we can fight or flee if necessary. Modern stressors, however, such as traffic jams, don’t come and go quite as fast as, say, an attacking buffalo. Consequently, the cortisol and adrenaline that our stressors produce never leave our bodies – our lives are constantly turned to a high-alert setting.

On a physical level – which is where symptoms are easiest to detect and treat – stress may show up as migraines, headaches, muscle aches and pains, skin breakouts (acne, psoriasis, eczema) and stomach problems (including irritable bowel syndrome and constipation). Emotionally, we become more prone to outbursts of temper, mood swings and negativity. Mentally, we feel less able to cope. Our outlook becomes distorted and it becomes very difficult to keep our perspective. Highly stressed people become ‘reactive’. This means they react more to everything in their lives, from the lack of milk in the fridge to the geyser bursting. We become so overwhelmed that we literally get ‘beside ourselves’.

Living on Autopilot

Jane, 27, a fashion planner, knows this feeling all too well. While working in a high-pressure corporate fashion job reporting to a demanding boss, she was being pushed to work longer hours and perform tasks she didn’t feel prepared for.

‘As the pressure built up over about five months, I began feeling increasingly anxious. My short-term memory started to let me down and I would forget things I was meant to do. For example, I’d walk into a room and then go blank, forgetting why I was there. I felt confused all the time and began talking more slowly and slurred my words. I lost a lot of weight and at the height of my stress my right arm would get very tense and feel taut. It’s a scary place to be. It can feel as though you don’t know yourself – as though you’re having a mental meltdown.’

This feeling is not uncommon. Stressed people often describe themselves as being on autopilot – as though they’re participating in the show of their own life, but not starring. They’re overwhelmed and often feel clumsy, awkward and off-centre. They may forget names of people or even the names of simple, everyday objects. This is due to the prolonged periods of cortisol production, but also, because we’re trying to remember too many things.

High levels of stress can affect our relationships too. Some people, like Jane, are too tired to go out and socialize, and often feel they’re a burden on other people. ‘Friends tried to help,’ remembers Jane. ‘I’d lost a lot of weight so they could see I was in distress but they didn’t really know how to help other than telling me to chill out’.

Others may drink more to be more sociable or in an attempt to forget, so the glass of wine suddenly turns into a bottle of wine. According to research women could be more prone to developing stress-related addictions (such as cocaine addiction) than men. The good news, though, is that stress is our body’s way of telling us to do something. But what?

The suggestions below are a good start. Don’t knock them for sounding obvious – at least not till you’ve actually tried them.

Stress Busters

Gain Perspective

Understand that there are certain things in your life that you have control over and others that you don’t. If, for example, you are concerned about the political situation, vote. If you’re concerned about crime, join or start a neighborhood-watch program. Be proactive about things you can influence and let go of those you can’t.

Breathe

At work, if you find yourself getting stressed or anxious, go somewhere quiet and concentrate on your breathing. Imagine your breathing is like waves breaking on a beach. Maintain a regular rhythm. Imagine you are breathing all the way down to your toes when you breathe in, and all the way back up again as you breathe out.

Eat Well

Don’t hand your power over to food and drink. That fatty hamburger isn’t going to release your stress. Rather ask, ‘What will this drink or food do to my body over the long term?’ Cut down on sugar. Sugar gives you a temporary lift followed by a downer. If you’re craving something sweet, try eating fruit or a handful of nuts. Drink lots of water. Stress tends to dehydrate the body. Keeping your body hydrated will lessen stress symptoms such as fatigue and headaches.

Exercise More

One of the most effective ways of dealing with stress is to exercise. Try to do some form of exercise at least three times a week for 30 to 60 minutes.

Develop a Positive Internal Dialogue

This is a powerful way to help ourselves when we’re stressed. We tend to feel anxious about things we have no control over (the future, other people), and most of what we fear never happens. Remain in the moment. If you start to stress about tomorrow, remind yourself that you can only live today – tomorrow does not yet exist.

Talk to a Professional

Jane consulted a psychologist, who helped her see that getting through her stress storm meant removing herself from her stressful job. ‘I took three months off, stayed home and just slept, watched TV and did nothing.’ She saw her psychologist for a few months and gradually became her old self again, but this time with the tools to recognize and avoid another stress storm.