 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
STRESS—FROM THE BOTTOM LINE TO BREATHING Copyright 2006 Diana Brennan On any given Monday, any given business will lose any given amounts of money because any given number of employees will not be at work. Actually, that loss applies to every day of the week and every shift around the clock. Whether the reason for any employee’s absence from work is illness, or a hang over, or being caught up in a family emergency, or car trouble or simple exhaustion, I believe an underlying cause of people’s absences from work is no more complicated than stress. Long hours at work—sometimes at more than one job—long commutes, never enough money or time or energy, not to mention conflicts at work and home can and do lead to illness or drug and alcohol abuse and thus hours and days off work. Unidentified rattles in a car that folks feel they have neither the time nor the money nor the energy to attend to, can eventually bring the car to a halt and then keep the employee from work. Not to mention family concerns that can fester and erupt, also keeping people home. Stress affects the bottom line of our country’s businesses. Moreover, stress affects you and me! While companies might exercise any number of sanctions to improve employee attendance, it seems to me that it is up to each of us working folk to relieve our own stress! Not only in the interest of commerce in our awesome nation, but in the interest of the quality of our own lives. Let me present a list of possible stress symptoms! Be honest and own the ones that apply to you! These are both physical and emotional, by the way. · Depression · Feelings of low self-worth · Anger / irritability · Fears / phobias · Unwanted or obsessive thoughts · Muscular tension · Hypertension · Headaches · Indigestion / irritable bowel / acid reflux / ulcers · Tics / tremors / muscle spasms · Fatigue / insomnia / oversleeping · Obesity Yes! Obesity and overweight can be symptoms of stress! Watch for that discussion another time. Remember to always check with your doctor and eliminate any physical causes of these symptoms. A yearly physical can reveal the source of physical problems that can cause you additional stress. For now I want briefly to remind you that we DO have some power over the stressors in your life—by endeavoring in both long-term activities and short-term techniques. Whether we like it or not, exercise is one of the long-term activities effective for reducing stress. However, the old guidelines of something like 20-30 minutes 2-3 times a week of moderate exercise just do not cut it any more! New guidelines call for one hour a day—every day--of moderate exercise, such as walking, cycling, swimming, dancing, yoga and best of all, lifting weights. Please feel free to break that hour up into 10 or so minute segments. Make it manageable! A popular and effective short-term technique is changing your breathing pattern and thus your mood! A breathing exercise from Dr Andrew Weil—an MD who practices natural medicine—is said to actually change your brain chemistry from stress to calm in an on-the-spot stressful moment. I hope you might want to build some “anti-stress muscle” by enjoying the exercise more often! It is one of many exercises that help manage stress. Here is the technique from Dr. Andrew Weil: Breathe in for a count of 4. Hold that breath for a count of 7. Blow that breath out for a count of 8! That’s it. Try that exercise during some free moment three times and afterwards, ask yourself how different you feel after than before. If you feel a difference, practice often. And then use this technique instead of sliding into an emotional or physical symptom of stress!
|
|
|
|
|
|