Stress

Are you just TOO stressed out?

One of the components of daily living is Stress. It seems as if we can’t live with it and we can’t live without it! It's an unavoidable consequence of Life. It is the result of Change.

Whether Change is positive or negative, whether it makes us happy or unhappy, it still has an impact on us. It's our skill at coping, our ability to relax and let go of the negative impact of stress that can affect our well-being.

When our ability to handle the daily consequences of life is over-worked, then not having an ability to let go and relax becomes a problem affecting our health and well-being. When this happens on a regular basis it may lead to poor or failing health and wellness.

You may already be suffering the negative effects of a stressful life. Heart problems? Anger issues? Failed relationships?

Help! What can I do?

Often the techniques we use to deal with our problems – drugs, alcohol, overeating – are even more harmful to our well-being. In order to remain healthy or regain our health, we may need to learn coping skills or healthy techniques of relaxation.

The Negative Effects

The negative effects that follow cause loss of quality of life, poor health, high cost of health care, family turmoil, and relationship problems among others.

It's No Small Problem

This health related problem takes a toll on the total health and productivity cost to American business. It's estimated at $50 to $150 billion annually – it has been reported that 1 million absences each day and 40% of job turnovers are due to stress.

Can you afford to ignore the stress in your life - or the lack of stress management programs for your employees?

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences estimates that 70 to 80% of doctor visits are stress related.

A Canadian survey found that most employers believe that over 25% of all sick time taken by employees is related to stress. Many other studies have confirmed this.

Disability rates have tripled.

Also related to this, corporate disability rates doubled in the ten years from 1990 to 1999.

Prescriptions for anti-depressants and minor tranquillizers now nearly equal those for high blood pressure and related cardiovascular problems.

In Canada work absences rose by 12% in the year from 2000 to 2001, due to the problems of juggling work and family in two career families. You already guessed that, didn’t you?

Workplaces today are like incubators for serious problems. And, highly over burdened employees are less able to complete their job tasks at their workplace. The drain on employees is both physical and emotional.

What do people do? The best people, the smart ones, simply leave, if they can.

So, what is it?

It's anything that causes change in your life. Change can be positive or negative but still take it's toll. Therefore, if we win the race, get the promotion or get married to the one we love, that’s positive.

If we need to react in a hurry, we appreciate the ‘fight or flight response’, but if it doesn’t get turned off due to ongoing pressure, it affects our health and well-being negatively. Planned surgery or a dentist appointment or going for a job interview can all cause us nervous but sometimes our worries are almost unnecessary as when we imagine ‘something that may happen’. (And, mostly, don't.)Sometimes a one time occurrence can cause ongoing anxiety as our thoughts ‘race’; we may even have anxiety or panic attacks whether we know the cause or not.

So, it can protect us, drive us to excel (sports) and help us to achieve great things. But ongoing situations that are stressful (work-related, separation and divorce, our own or family major or chronic illness, aging parents, general poor health and lack of exercise, financial worries, retirement, and so on), pressures that nag at us or fears that become over-bearing, even out of control, can play a major role in our body’s – mental, emotional, intellectual, physical, or spiritual – breakdown.

How does it affect ME?

It can affect most of the systems of our body:

· menstrual periods may stop, impotence may occur , or even difficulty getting pregnant may occur with otherwise healthy people,

· immune systems may be affected, leading to greater susceptibility to infections, such as colds and the flu,

· prolonged stress has been known to aggravate arthritis, chronic pain, and diabetes,

· changes in the lungs may occur, affecting asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory illnesses,

· may cause rise of degenerative disease – cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular disease – irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, even heart attacks,

· can cause, affect or exacerbate emotional problems such as depression or anxiety,

· increase the risk of back and upper extremity musculo-skeletal disorders, especially on the job site,

It can affect us emotionally, causing a lowering of our confidence, loss of humour, increase in fear. People who are stressed may withdraw from social activities, increase in loneliness or aggressiveness, or may have increased feelings of rejection.

There may be a lowering of our mental abilities, concentration, memory, lowering of our intellectual abilities, feelings of boredom and apathy, and an inability to make decisions.

When life is just too hard to handle, sometimes people feel a sense of hopelessness, desperation and emptiness, often they lack joy and lose touch with their spirituality.

We are also affected economically through the loss of our own, or our employees, work days or early retirement.

What can I do?

We can’t always change the situation but we can learn coping skills. We can learn healthy techniques of managing the daily grind.

Relaxation and visualization skills have proven to be two of the most beneficial methods of learning coping skills. Learning these skills can help us to become resilient to the cares and worries of daily living. We can learn to let go and relax.

How do I cope?

There are many healthy coping strategies. Among them are:

· increase physical activity; stretch, go for a walk, join a gym, do yoga or tai chi

· have regular, nutritious meals

· talk about your problems with someone you can trust

· go to a funny movie, laughter and humour help (so can crying at a tear-jerker)

· take up a new hobby or revive an old one

· learn something new

· play with pets

· know your values and goals; have a sense of purpose

· limit consumption of alcohol, coffee and other sources of caffeine and sugar

· stop smoking

· learn time management skills

· journal about what is stressing you and how you felt

· do something creative; write, draw, garden

· breathing exercises or self-massage

· meditation

· aromatherapy

· hypnotherapy, visualisation, progressive relaxation (have a session, listen to a cd or learn self-hypnosis)



How can Hypnotherapy help?

Learning Progressive Relaxation and Visualization Techniques with hypnosis will make relaxation not only possible but pleasant. Learned coping skills, such as, Thought Stopping and Problem Solving will give you tools to use in your daily life. You will see yourself being successful at making changes.

You can gain insight and understanding and even be able to work through difficult relationships (work or personal) until you can resolve issues and develop new approaches. You can learn to access your Inner Wisdom and strengthen your intuition as you discover your own unique Place of Peace and Relaxation. With every session, as you increase your skill at self-hypnosis, your body increases it’s skill to relax and feel at ease. Practice makes perfect.

Releasing Anxiety is one of the most successful uses of hypnosis. The coping skills you learn will improve every aspect of your life. It may seem impossible to overcome Panic Attacks, but you will be amazed and thrilled at the wonderful outcomes of a Panic Attack program. Panic attacks may be easily and quickly alleviated.

Hypnotherapy sessions can also:

· elevate your mood

· lessen anxiety

· overcome insomnia

· lower your blood pressure

· boost your immune system

· help you to gain insight into your goals and needs

· help with goal-setting and to solidify your goals in your mind

· help you to problem-solve

· serve as an instant Stress Release that you can do in minutes, anytime, anywhere.

Is there anything else I can do?

Yes! There are many other things we recommend that can help alleviate the problem of stress in your life or in the lives of your employees. One way to look at it is that you want to Meet Your Human Needs

· Know and understand your values and beliefs

· Set goals to gain a sense of purpose

· Journal for release, insight and tracking

· Learn Time management skills: planning your day eliminates procrastination

· Make Lifestyle and habit changes, exercise, nutrition, sleep, fresh air

· Make an Attitude adjustment

· Improve Communication skills

· Develop Healthy hobbies, improve family and social time

Warning: Stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, can cause death. While these stress management techniques have been shown to have a positive effect on reducing stress, they are for guidance only, and readers should take the advice of suitably qualified health professionals if they have any concerns over stress-related illnesses or if stress is causing significant or persistent unhappiness. Health professionals should also be consulted before any major change in diet or levels of exercise.

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