Get rest away from stress to limit the damage of chronic stress
Stress for Success
March 31, 2009

There’s good news and bad news about stress. The bad news: it can make you vulnerable to illness and disease development. The good news is simple: to protect yourself schedule more rest away from your stress. It’s what I call the easy part of stress management.

The reason that chronic stress, elevated stress that lasts for over four months, is potentially so harmful to your emotional, physical and mental health is that your mind and body are on high alert (fight/flight) too often and don’t return to a state of homeostasis or balance frequently enough. Your mind and body don’t fully recover from the assault of stress hormones, particularly cortisol. Over time too much cortisol coursing through your system leads to many afflictions.

In stress workshops I ask participants to name their ongoing symptoms and I tell them if I’ve read research that says that chronic stress can lead to these conditions. They’ll offer:
Headaches;
Constipation;
Digestive problems of all types;
Insomnia;
Panic attacks;
Depression;
Diabetes;
High blood pressure;
Cardio-vascular problems;
Etc.

My response to all is yes, stress can lead to all of these. The research doesn’t report that all conditions are caused by stress but stress can make you vulnerable to each.

Becoming an excellent stress manager also doesn’t mean that every symptom and illness will disappear. But many would or at least would improve significantly if you consistently sought a healthier balance.

So, in direct proportion to your stress schedule more rest away from it. Scheduling multiple Stress Breaks throughout your day allows your mind and body to gradually return to a state of improved balance facilitating your ability to recover from your daily dose of stress. Even if you aren’t experiencing chronic stress -- yet -- getting plenty of rest away from your anxiety enhances your resiliency so when you experience chronic stress you’ll be in better shape to handle it.

Here are the most important Stress Breaks because each channels stress energy:
Regular exercise uses up stress energy as Mother Nature intended;
Deep relaxation is physiologically the opposite of the fight/flight;
Deep breathing is physiologically the opposite of fight/flight breathing;

The best Stress Breaks for you, however, are the ones you’re most likely to practice regularly, such as:

Release stress energy through:
Hobbies;
Time with family, loved ones;
Anything that gives you pleasure, passion and/or joy;
Laughter;
Tense/relax muscle groups; tense for 10 – 15 seconds, then relax and repeat;
Regular journaling, pour out your deepest thoughts and feelings;

To relax your fight/flight energy:
Sound sleep, 7 – 8 hours most nights;
Yoga, tai-chi, etc.;
Hot bath;
Power naps;

Your health, to a significant degree, is a matter of choice (along with genetics determining your vulnerabilities). You can choose stress and its accompanying hormones, when in excess leading to physical and emotional problems. Or you can choose more Stress Breaks to minimize the damage. What will it be?

Jacquelyn Ferguson, M. S., of InterAction Associates, is a trainer and a Stress Coach. E-mail her at www.jackieferguson.com or call 239-693-8111 for information about her workshops on this and other topics or to invite her to speak to your organization.