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What is stress? How can it be reduced?
Tue, 08/23/2011 - 8:34am
Stress is known as the silent killer. It impacts everyone in a variety of ways, and most of which do not appear to be stress-related but truly are. When a person is stressed out, the stress has huge negative effects on the human body. In addition, I use the term 'person' loosely, because yes... kids do have stress too. Being the young age of 24, it is understood that I have a lot of stress and even more on my plate; however, it would be superficial to say that my students (who are 6th graders) do not have stress. Being human is a prerequisite for gaining stress at some point in life.
Some stress is a GOOD thing. Do not get me wrong. It is crucial for us as humans to have stress as a form of motivation to allow us to keep chasing our dreams and to get things done. Stress becomes a problem when it starts to affect a person physically and emotionally.
*Common effects of stress are ...
... On your body ... On your mood ... On your behavior
- Headache Anxiety Overeating or undereating
- Muscle tension or pain Restlessness Angry outbursts
- Chest pain Lack of motivation or focus Drug or alcohol abuse
- Fatigue Irritability or anger Tobacco use
- Change in sex drive Sadness or depression Social withdrawal
- Stomach upset
- Sleep problems
* Source: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-symptoms/SR00008_D
Contrary to popular belief, stress does indeed do all the above to people of all ages and sometimes more. Many illnesses that are present can often have an underlying cause, and stress is frequently the cause or a contributor. Lucky for us, when stress gets to this point, there are techniques that can be used to help reduce stress and to keep some of the symptoms at bay.
As a 6th grade health teacher, I teach my students about stress and ways that they can reduce stress. The techniques appear to be very simple-minded, and one may look at them and think “that’s so easy,” yet it is commonly overlooked by most people and that is because they have not been tried.
One technique I ask my students to do starts off as a homework assignment. It is to start a journal of stress. Students are to write down what stresses them out and what he or she thinks causes the stress. How did it make you feel? How did you deal with it?
Then, after this is written down, we take a look at them and see the patterns in the answers. Most of the time, each student has a similar problem to someone else in the class. By realizing that other 6th graders have the same stressors, it puts it into perspective that he or she is not alone in this. In addition, by keeping a journal, a person can keep track of the stressors and determine what happens as a result.
For example, if a student is constantly stressed out about upcoming tests and then gets a really bad headache, and this happens pretty much every time, we can determine that the headaches are causes from stress, and not necessarily from a major health problem. By identifying the causes of stress and how stress impacts each person, it can help get it to be reduced and managed.
Another way to reduce stress is meditation. When a person hears the word 'meditation,' the first thing that comes to mind is the stereotypical technique where a person sits on the floor with their legs crossed, but that does not always have to be the case. Meditation to reduce stress can be done in as little as one minute. A very helpful resource that demonstrates how to mediate and to help reduce stressed is explained in this lumigrate piece with a fun short video link: http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/one-moment-meditation-learn-meditate-quickly-video-cartoon-fun.
Furthermore, a way to reduce stress is to try to avoid the situation, or adapt it. I know there are times when it is impossible to avoid a stressor, especially as we get older. However, there are ways to help adapt them in order to keep the from feeling stressed or lessening it and not severely damage a persons health. A person can adapt stress by being on time with things. In other words, do not wait until the last minute to complete necessary tasks.
For example, if paying bills stresses you out, don't wait until a week or less before they are due to complete the task. Try to begin planning and organize the bills as they come in rather than waiting. Simply by focusing on things as they come in rather than waiting until there is a huge pile of bills to be paid will make the task appear to be less threatening and easier to complete. The same techniques are used in my classroom when it comes to tests and projects. Rather than waiting until the day before the test to study, start studying a week before and you will feel more confident and know that a great deal of effort was put into it.
Stress is a very powerful and often mutated form of illness that occurs in everyone at some point or another. By using the simple techniques to help reduce stress, a person can see a great improvement in how they feel. In addition, there are many many more techniques available to reduce stress and it can take a process of elimination to determine what works for you. My students as well as myself have proven the techniques I have explained above to work and be beneficial. I'm confident they would be for you as well.
I hope that as a result of this article, you have gained a better understanding of how stress can have a negative impact and that there are techniques available to help reduce the stress at hand. After all, it is evident that it is impossible to fully eliminate stress, but by being able to handle stress properly, a person will see a GRATE difference!
__________________
Faith Young is the pseudonym used by one of Lumigrate's longest content providers, as she began writing at the age of 24 in Lumigrate's FIRST year on the Internet! In real life, this young woman who has been living with FMS for many years received her Bachelors degree in Health Education from Montclair State University and graduated Magna Cum Laude. To further her career, she is currently working on two Masters degrees, one in Counseling from Seton Hall University. Since she is a 6th grade health teacher working to educate students on the importance of being physically and emotionally healthy, we found it best to provider her with a pseudonym of her choice and "Faith Young" is what resonated. In the long run, this very real young woman has faith and hopes be able to use health education in counseling and provide up to date information at Lumigrate which will appeal to the younger people 'out there' and bring them 'in here' to Lumigrate in addition to our more mature adults. In addition, she is a LumiLiaison for Lumigrate.com and helps facilitate Lumigrate FMS fan pages on facebook. Search on Lumigrate and Lumigrate: Fibromyalgia and join us related to general and/or FMS specific information; Like us and those #s count with our advertisers and supporters and also allow YOU to keep up with what we're up to!
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Faith, this is such a nice piece, thank you for contributing it! I'm going to send the link to a friend who teaches elementary and has a son about your age; I think it's really important for us to acknowledge the stress you young adults have and then ALSO children. Thank you for making us think about this, and right now as you posted it is the start of the school year where I live. I just talked with a friend who has elementary age girls and one changed schools to one that is specialized for learning disabilities and she runs from the car to the school and in the past it was always a battle. She even came home today and all on her own did her homework without being asked. It had been a battle every night in years past. That's what happens when the teachers and schools are getting it right if you ask me! Your students are lucky to have you Faith, as are we!
This is a picture I took this summer and really find it relaxing. The water is the Colorado River and I took this during a break from a concert at the Fruita State Park. I just really like it, maybe because it wasn't the clearest due to the lighting and it being my phone's camera. I thought I'd add it here to 'embellish' and be my gift to YOU and any who are reading and might want to just stop here and take some comfortably deep breaths, relax your shoulders, jaw -- find your 'tension' and look at the photo. As you say, all it takes is a moment sometimes! Good luck to all in school! And thanks for reading, I hope it helps you and you refer people to Lumigrate by sharing, printing and emailing links or just talking it up! ~~ Mardy
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
Mardy,
Excellent Picture!! It definitely depicts what calmness and stress free looks like! That is also another tool that is helpful. Using an image in mind (imagination) that is relaxing in combination with the meditation techniques to allow people to see a picture in their mind of what "stress free" looks like! Thanks for sharing the picture!
Faith Young is the pseudonym used by one of Lumigrate's longest content providers, as she began writing at the age of 24 in Lumigrate's FIRST year on the Internet! In real life, this young woman who has been living with FMS for many years received her Bachelors degree in Health Education from Montclair State University and graduated Magna Cum Laude. To further her career, she is currently working on two Masters degrees, one in Counseling from Seton Hall University. Since she is a 6th grade health teacher working to educate students on the importance of being physically and emotionally healthy, we found it best to provider her with a pseudonym of her choice and "Faith Young" is what resonated. In the long run, this very real young woman has faith and hopes be able to use health education in counseling and provide up to date information at Lumigrate which will appeal to the younger people 'out there' and bring them 'in here' to Lumigrate in addition to our more mature adults. In addition, she is a LumiLiaison for Lumigrate.com and helps facilitate Lumigrate FMS fan pages on facebook. Search on Lumigrate and Lumigrate: Fibromyalgia and join us related to general and/or FMS specific information; Like us and those #s count with our advertisers and supporters and also allow YOU to keep up with what we're up to!
Faith Bubeleh,
So I've been told and have experienced for myself that dogs reduce stress as well. Those happy go lucky things that don't seem to care where you've been, who you've spoken to or what you might have gotten into are just excited to see you when you get home. You could leave for three seconds and walk in the door and to them it's been a life time and they want to crawl inside your body just to say "hello".
My girlfriend Ellen received a phone call from her son, Rubin (such a mensch) to say he wanted to come home for a weekend. Why? He missed Lucy, his dog. The after thought was to say he missed his parents too but the dog was in the fore front. Ellen understood being that she was raised in the dog world, anyone else might have been offended. The first semester of the first year of college life can be a stressful one, of course the bohker (young man) needs his dog. He needs some decent rest and food too but we'll kibbitz about that another time.
Thank you for putting this in your repertoire. Now it's time for my bio-feedback meditation so I'll just say Shalom.
For those of you without a pet, try volunteering at a shelter or a Humane Society perhaps. It'll get you out and about, you'll meet new people and new animals. It couldn't hurt!
Your
Yenta
Yenta Tellabenta is truly a 'creation' for outreach and education with Lumigrate.com through storytelling and reinforcement of key concepts related to body, mind, spirit. Written by a very talented and somewhat mysterious younger wise woman who found her way to Lumigrate the summer of 2009, we hope you enjoy having your own Yenta with us at Lumigrate! Yenta (meaning 'town gossip' or 'connector') has a dedicated Forum at Lumigrate at http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibro... and can also be found on facebook.
Yenta, that's such a good point about animal therapy. Thank you for making it! I was just out walking your biggest feline fan (Amber), who has discovered there is a CAT that lives in the next house.... that has her very disturbed and it's hysterical. Yes, I walk her on a leash! There was a cartoon that made me LAUGH yesterday: It was a dog and a cat sitting outside their house with a doghouse on the lawn and the dog said to the cat "They walk me on a leash because they want you to run away." I have found it very Zen-like to walk a cat... she often will hunker down and eat grass or sniff things or be scared of something awry like a person walking somewhere or something and I just have to stand there and breathe, think and go along with things.
When I went to college, I had my own car and it was about a 2 hour drive and I came home every other weekend. For several reasons; I had a boyfriend there, it was easier to use the washer and dryer at my parents house than it was at the dorms, and my parents were kind of at a transition time in their lives; I was the youngest. We've talked elsewhere in the past that I too was raised with dogs -- that and singing are among the uniqe things we have in common, Yenta. My dog had been the runt of the litter almost 10 years before and was the only litter born to all the female golden retrievers that was a total 'oops'; a male collie in the area had apparently jumped the fence long after my parents were 'done' being in the business of puppies. My dad wanted me to take one of the big males but I wanted the runt.
I'd trained her and we'd won first place in 4-H, but she really didn't enjoy being around all the other dogs and the next level required jumping and she really REALLY didn't like jumping, so we'd stopped there. When I'd leave to go back to college, if my dog was out running around on the property, she used to follow me to the car. Since about the time she was born, I'd become the primary care-taker of the kennel/dogs but after I went to college my dad had started feeding her; she was the last of many many dogs my family was blessed to have. I mean, the home movies are of me pulling myself up to walk on these beautiful dogs NOT furniture the way most kids do! So it was very sad when one time I was going to get in the car and she started running over my way and saw my dad outside and turned and went to him. She'd switched loyalties and now was 'his' in a way. I think she brought him much company over the next years -- he retired and she lived another few years past that. She was one of those truly special ones, and I've not had a dog since, with the exception of sharing a few years 'closely affiliated' with "Scooter the Wonder Dog", who became a therapy dog at my request and helped me out at work for a while.
Having worked with the elderly, or as a friend of mine from Israel pronounces it, the 'olderly', another suggestion is to talk with neighbors and see if there's someone in the area who could use dog walking/sitting assistance. You never know what they might be able to do for you in return! ~~ Mardy
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!