Stress

I got this from CK uni this week and thought I'd share it. I'm sure it will help so many people.

I. Dr Stress on Stress
Hi! My name is Dr. Stress. I am a nasty and frustrating character that can do you a lot of harm. I can permeate every corner of life and have a profoundly negative effect on its length and quality.
As Dr. Stress I like to show myself off in all sorts of ways. If you see a lot of these symptoms in your life, you'll know I'm thriving!
Symptoms of Stress:
Anger
Depression
Diarrhoea
Emotional overreaction
Exhaustion
Fingernail biting
Headaches
Increase of addictive behaviour
Irritability
Lack of concentration
Nausea
Poor memory
Pounding heartbeat
Rapid breathing
Repetitive behaviours
Sleep disorders
Stomach pains
Tightness in the chest or shoulders

A note of caution: Some of these symptoms can be early signs of other illnesses. We suggest that you talk to your doctor if you have any concerns about these symptoms.
I love change, conflict and frustration and my hideouts can be social, environmental, physical or emotional. Extreme temperatures, fights with the boss, traffic jams, illness, lack of money, and changes to lifestyle, and even basic biological functions including digestion, can cause me to erupt in your life. And I just love it if you have insufficient rest and an inadequate diet because they impair your ability to boss me around or try to kick me out.
Change of any kind has the potential to let me thrive. How many changes have you experienced this year? In your family, job, living conditions? Have you given me a lot of opportunities to develop?
Conflict also causes considerable stress for many people. Conflicts can occur within and outside of your control, with colleagues, family members, friends or community members. Most people also experience a degree of internal conflict, struggling within themselves over decisions, attitudes and beliefs. I love conflict! I can do all sorts of damage if there is enough conflict around. How much conflict is there in your life, both internally and with others? Can I feed well off your conflict?
Frustration is something you may experience, most often when things don't go your way. Some of you are very easy going even when things don't work the way you want them to, but I much prefer people who get extremely upset in frustrating situations. Something as simple as wanting to hang a picture but having difficulty hammering a nail into the wall can cause frustration, if you let it. If you are the sort of person who gets very upset when small things go wrong, I will be prominent in your life. What makes you frustrated?
Losing the car keys
Not being able to contact a person
Forgetting to pay bills
Getting stuck in traffic
Not having enough money
Getting lost
Losing a game
Waiting in line
Did you know it hasn't always been so easy for me to survive? This is what psychologist Pat Fiducia says about why I do so well in modern culture and lifestyle:
"When you perceive a stressful situation, you activate a mechanism called the flight-or-fight response. This is the same response that prehistoric humans experienced when confronted with life-threatening dangers.
An aggressive driver beeping his horn at you triggers the same pattern of autonomic nervous system responses that your ancestors experienced when being attacked by a predator.
This arousal response activates the release of adrenaline and steroids, diverts blood from the internal organs to the brain, increases heart rate and elevates blood pressure. Accompanying these physiological responses to stress are their emotional counterparts: fear and anger.
However, in most stress-inducing situations today, there is no physical fight or flight – no bear to kill or attacking tribe to run from. Therefore there is no release for the stress that has been pent up in your body. It gets stuck in mid-stream so to speak and that is why today people look to other forms of relief from stress, some of which are positive, such as exercise, and some of which can be negative, such as alcohol or food".
II. Food and Stress
One thing I manage to do while working away at making your life difficult, is convince you that relief is just a bite away. Many people use food as their drug of choice to temporarily deaden the emotional and physical effects I can cause in their lives. Eating can provide momentary relief from me because when you are eating, you are not thinking about other problems.
I know humans are motivated to avoid pain, and that is why they seek relief from me through food. But the relief is fleeting. After you eat, you are left with the same problems, plus a few more. Often you also feel guilty or depressed because you ate too much, and then that just gives me even more room to grow!
There are also certain foods I just love because they eat up the good nutrients in your body and let me thrive. If you want a lot of stress, consume the following:
Caffeine (cola, tea, chocolate): Caffeine inhibits your sleep, and depletes precious B vitamins. Caffeine is also a stimulant and if you already have me in your life you don't need more stimulation!
Alcohol: Alcohol also depletes your body's B vitamins and can disrupt sleep and impair your judgment or clarity of thought. Some studies suggest that drinking in moderation has some health benefits, however, new research has cast doubt on the protective effects of alcohol.
Sugar: The immediate short-term boost of energy from sugar often has a rebound effect followed by a prolonged 'low'. Sugar can cause irritability, lack of concentration and depression.
Fried foods and foods rich in fat: These are very immune depressing.
High-protein animal foods: These elevate brain levels of dopamine and nor epinephrine, both of which are associated with higher levels of anxiety and stress.
But then there are some foods I hate because they replace used up nutrients and help both the mind and the body to fight me off. If you want to reduce my influence on your life, try eating the following:
Whole grains promote the production of the brain neurotransmitter serotonin, which increases your sense of well-being.
Green, yellow and orange vegetables are all rich in minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals, which boost immune response and protect against disease.
High-fibre, carbohydrate rich foods, such as baked sweet potatoes or minestrone soup – classic 'comfort foods'.
Citrus fruits are full of vitamin C, which is a great stress-busting antioxidant.
Are you a person who seeks relief from me through food? You can determine this by keeping a food/stress diary for a week or two. See if there is a connection between specific stressful situations and specific foods. If you see a connection between stresses and eating, then write down the sorts of foods you eat when you are stressed – find out what the fat, sugar and calorie counts are for those foods. Is eating when you are stressed causing you to consume excess calories or unhealthy foods?
III. What Can You Do About Me?
I seem to have the upper-hand with so many of you that it might be only fair to give you some hints as to what you can do to beat me at my job:
Alter your perceptions: One of the best ways to manage me is to rethink your perceptions. You may not be able to control a situation, but you do have absolute control of your point of view.
"There is nothing neither good nor bad, only thinking makes it so."– Shakespeare
Sometimes, if you are feeling very stressed, you might just need to re-think your response to an event. Is it really the end of the world because you can't hang a picture up quickly; or because the traffic is moving slower than usual; or because you spilt a glass of milk? Sometimes you need to learn to laugh at what you might perceive as a 'disaster'. Sometimes you need to let go of what you cannot control. Try shifting your focus from what is not working in your life, to what is.
It is important not to confuse day-to-day events with tragedies and drastic events. This discussion is only about day-to-day occurrences that impact your life negatively because of how they are perceived by you. More tragic events need more dramatic responses.
Limit changes: Once you identify the changes that induce stress, you can make decisions to limit the number of changes you allow in your life. Of course, you cannot simply quit your job, postpone your move, or permanently avoid everything in your life that has a high stress potential. But you can have some control over how many of these events happen at any one time. You can learn to prioritise for the sake of your sanity. Get used to asking yourself questions about your immediate and distant future: What can I rearrange? What is not a priority? What can I say "no" to? What is really important to me this weekend?
Manage conflict: By determining what you really value and what is really worth battling over, you can limit the amount of conflict in your life. Avoid certain situations that lead to conflict. Limit the number of interactions with people who battle with you. Examine conflicting drives and determine which one should prevail. You cannot expect a perfect world without conflict, but you can make a decision to limit the amount of self-inflicted turmoil in your life.
Let go, mind and body: If you think you are overwhelmed or cannot cope with stress, your body will respond with physical symptoms. But the mind/body connection works both ways: your thinking can produce positive responses as easily as it produces negative ones. You can calm your mind just by relaxing your body. Deep breathing, visualisation and meditation are just a few methods to help relax your body and your mind.
Exercise: Exercise fuels the brain's stress buffers. Twenty to thirty minutes of physical activity, on a regular basis, is a great way to manage stress. You'll find that a consistent exercise schedule not only keeps you alert and focused during the day, but also helps you sleep better at night. If you have a lot of pent up tension, going for a fast walk or for a relaxing swim can ease it out of your system.
It's the little things: Just as little things can get you stressed, little things can help to control stress. For example, a spray of your favourite scent in the air will do wonders to keep you in a calmer frame of mind. Listening to music you enjoy can also slow your breathing and heart rate, and act as a medicine for your mind. If you feel stress beginning to overwhelm you, take some long, slow, deep breaths and then let go of your shoulders. Visualise a pleasant place that you like to go for escape. Call a friend, plant a seed, pull up some weeds, clean out your closet, take a bubble bath... there are so many little things you can do to manage stress and stop yourself from reaching for the cookie jar!
IV. Final Words
Stress is a fact of every day life. We cannot avoid Dr. Stress, but we can manage him so that he does not overwhelm us. Awareness is the first step toward change and management, so if you are even conscious of the way stress affects you and whether it induces you to eat more than you need to, you have a good start. However, if you are having a lot of difficulty getting stress under control, it is a good idea to talk with your doctor or a mental health practitioner.
Good luck with kissing Dr. Stress goodbye!