April’s Stress Awareness Month Brings Silent Killer Forward
Walk into a grocery store, into in-patients, and into an office rank with politics, and you will see stress. In fact, sometimes you can feel it in the ominous presence of an overwrought person beside you, you will see it in their tense muscles and tightly drawn facial features, and you will hear it in the harsh, clipped or harried tones of their voice.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stress as a “state of…tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.” Stress is an actual physical, emotional and mental response of the body. Your palms may sweat and your stomach may turn to “butterflies” before public speaking; you may feel “shaky” after a fight with someone you love or after a traumatic incident.
This body reaction was put in place to protect us from danger by igniting the “fight or flight” instincts used in times of personal danger. This is where you get stories of mothers lifting cars off of their children, or a surfer fighting off a man-eating shark. So while stress can aid you in times of great need, it has also been shown to destroy a brilliant career or a thriving family—and the difference lies in the duration of its stay.
So it isn’t stress that is the problem, the problem is when you don’t respond to the stresses in a positive way. When instead of rising to meet the challenge of the stress head-on, managing the situation and then deescalating the stress, you find yourself hanging onto the stress so that your normal daily functions become disrupted, you know that you have a problem.
In 2017, a survey was taken of 400 Canadians who work in an office environment. The survey, done by staffing agency Accountemps, found that 58 percent reported feeling job-related stress on a daily basis while another study, this time done by Monster Canada, found that one in four workers quit their job due to work stress.
How do you know if you have too much stress? If your life is so hectic that you can’t hear your emotions or analyze your mental state, your body will try to make you “hear” in other ways. First, you might be fatigued, irritable, and unable to concentrate on normal everyday tasks, these are signs of elevated stress.
Then, if the stress continues, it might become chronic, and your body will likely up it a notch. You might experience pain and tension in your head, neck and other muscles; digestive and reproductive issues may come marching hand in hand, and changes to your heart-rate and blood pressure could make your risk for strokes and heart-attacks even higher. Bottom line—elevated stress isn’t good and chronic stress is even worse. How do we manage our stress?
The American Physiological Association suggests taking a “from the ground up” approach. First, take a look at your health. Are you getting enough rest? Are you eating foods that are building a strong body? Are you practicing body care such as getting exercise, making personal-care appointments and actively teaching your body how to unwind? If your body is healthy, it will be better able to deal with stress and destress more quickly and effectively.
If sleep is your issue, try adding just a few more minutes each day, use a bedtime app to help you stick to schedule; experiment using a sleep/white-noise app to make your sleep more effective. If your food is clogged with refined flours and sugars, try adding a whole-foods meal at least once a day. Exercise, even 5 minutes each day with a workout app, does wonders to help your body push the stress out.
Next, figure out what is causing the stress, and work out a plan to either dump it or work around it. This is often where a trusted friend, mentor, or counselor is invaluable, as they will be able to help you pinpoint the issue and then help you navigate the steps needed to declutter and destress your life.
Thirdly, build strong relationships; here comes the trusted friend, counselor, and mentor again. These awesome people can help you sniff out the health of your relationships, then give advice as to how to build strong, healthy ties for both parties. Resist the urge to borrow stress from those around you and instead learn to avoid unhealthy stress triggers.
And finally, rest your mind, and know when to get help. Whether it is reading a book, taking a long walk, learn to tell your mind and body “slow down.” If even reading this list makes you stressed, then you might want to seek some help. The West Central Crisis & Family Support Centre in Kindersley can be reached at 306-933-6200 or westcentralcrisis.ca. The Farm Stress Line, private and confidential, is 1-800-667-4442, and the Healthline at 811, staffed by registered psychiatric nurses and social workers, can be all great resources to get that silent killer, stress, kicked out of your life.
For the latest information and for more updates on everything Kindersley ‘Like’ the Kindersley Social Facebook page below…
