Stress Management In the modern age, stress is an accompaniment of our lives. Most Americans rate stress as their number one health concern and report a high level of stress in their daily lives. A little stress is needed to help us accomplish the tasks that we are supposed to perform; however two much stress can cause a variety of deleterious effects. It is estimated at 60-80% of diseases for which patients seek treatment are stress related. Conditions which can be caused or exacerbated by stress include: Joint pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypertension, repetitive strain injury, cardiac disorders, chronic pain, infertility, migraine headaches, diabetes, early menopause, gastrointestinal disorders etc. Stress is a feeling of tension as the body’s response to a perceived physical or emotional threat. The release of adrenaline, nor-adrenaline and other related hormones increase the metabolism, blood pressure, breathing rate, and muscle tension to arouse the body. At the turn of the century, the Harvard physiologist, Walter B. Cannon, M.D. coined the term ‘fight or flight response’ to characterize these changes.
There is a bewildering array of practices from various world cultures such as Indian, Chinese, Korean and western including Yoga, Tai Chai, Biofeedback, Transcendental Meditation(™) and other kinds of meditation to help reduce stress. Around 1900 Vogt had developed autohypnosis and found that it helped patients in reducing tension. In the early 1930s, a German named Johannes Schultz developed the technique of autogenic (self-regulation) training which is still very useful, easy to learn and compares in benefits derived from other relaxation and meditative techniques. It lowers heart rate, breathing and muscle tension and increases blood circulation to the extremities. One can listen to autogenic tapes available through a variety of sources or make one’s own tape to induce a state of relaxation. The usual stages of autogenic exercises invoke sensations of heaviness throughout the arms and legs followed by sensations of warmth, sensation of warmth and heaviness in the area of heart, focus on breathing, sensation of warmth in the abdomen and focus on coolness in the forehead. The autogenic state can be induced through commands as follows
Silently, repeat the following three times each:
My right arm is getting heavier and heavier.
My left arm is getting heavier and heavier
Both of my arms are heavy.
Do the same with right leg, left leg and both legs
Repeat the same sequence for warmth. My right arm is getting warm and so forth.
Repeat five times for heart, breathing, solar plexus and forehead.
My heartbeat is regular and calm
My breathing is calm and relaxed
My solar plexus is warm.
My forehead is cool.
Repeat the cycle for twenty minutes.
The scientific basis of the usefulness of relaxation and meditation exercises was firmly established by the pioneering work of Herbert Benson, M.D. at Harvard Medical School in the early 1970s. Building on the earlier work of the Nobel Laureate Dr. Walter R. Hess, and working in the same laboratories as Dr. Cannon, the physiologist who characterized the ‘fight and flight response’ Dr. Benson identified the opposite response. He objectified the effects of Transcendental Meditation (™) on involuntary functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature and coined the term ‘Relaxation Response’ to describe the changes brought about as result of meditation and other interventions. He took the principles of meditation and divested them of the context of Hinduism to make them more usable by everyone. The Relaxation Response is a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional response to stress and involves the following steps.
· Sit comfortably in a quiet and not too lighted room away from distractions with eyes closed.
· Pay attention to your breathing. Breathe through your nose using diaphragmatic breathing. Silently repeat a word or phrase of your choice. (mantra in TM).
· Don’t make an effort to strongly focus on getting relaxed. Maintain a passive attitude. When you notice your mind wandering, repeat your mantra as a vehicle to return to the meditative state.
· Practice for 20-30 minutes everyday. Don’t set an alarm but you can look at a clock, if necessary.
The elicitation of the ‘Relaxation Response’ is the cornerstone of all stress reducing strategies. It has been shown by numerous studies that regularly experiencing this response results in the alleviation of many disorders caused by stress such as hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, chronic pain, insomnia, anxiety, depression, PMS, and infertility. Practitioners of meditation are more in touch with their bodies, are able to easily relax when stressed, and stay more relaxed all the time. They have improved concentration and are able to calm their ‘negative chatterbox’. This practice turns off the negative stress chemicals and turns on natural antidepressants. The relaxation response has now become part of the mainstream medicine and mind-body medicine is taught in the majority of US medical schools. The renowned cardiologist Dean Ornish, M.D. has been able to show that heart disease can be reversed by following a program incorporating lifestyle changes such as intake of low fat diet, exercise and a stress reduction regimen. Other strategies such as a ‘cognitive/behavioral’ approach aimed at prevention of stress generation in the first place, help better recognize the negative thoughts, and irrational beliefs that cause stress. ‘Cognitive restructuring’ then helps change the automatic negative thought patterns and replacing them with positive ways to deal with challenges of everyday life. Other factors such as physical well-being, adequate and proper nutrition, regular physical activity and a reliable support system are also essential for preventing generation of stress.
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