In her insightful book, “The Superstress Solution,” Roberta Lee, M.D. assesses the stress level in most homes today, and offers a word of caution about chronic stress. In her introduction, she writes:
We’re deluding ourselves if we think that we can indefinitely endure the macro stresses that accompany impersonal encounters, less sleep, more work, less leisure, raising kids in this dangerous world, bad marriages, less exercise, junk and processed foods eaten on the run, hyper-caffeinated and sugar-saturated beverages, addictive devices that give us “screen sickness,” traffic jams, flight delays, and so much more, and come away unscathed.
Stress isn’t all, bad, of course. In fact, like dark chocolate, small chunks here and there can be good for you, or at least give you a reason to get of bed in the morning. But chronic and severe stress can damage your body and mind, blocking the fluid communication to and from most organs — especially in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and in the limbic system, the brain’s emotional center. Believe me, you want these two systems — much like the House and Senate — running as smoothly as possible, with low levels of the delinquent stress hormones in your bloodstream.
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Great article, Therese! Long-term persistent stress is definitely bad for everyone. If chronic stress is allowed to run its own course without intervention, it can cause systematic inflammation in the body and lead to heart disease and other degenerative inflammatory diseases (check out Chronic Stress, Inflammation and Heart Disease).
Personally, I find that taking conscious efforts to adjust my commitments, meditation (which involves deep breathing), having adequate quality shuteye and eating heathily (more vegetables and fruits, and no deep fried, high-sugar, high-sodium, MSG-laden foods) to be very effective in combating chronic stress. There’s no reason why we should take long-term stress as a fact in life. The quality of life we want is definitely in our hands.
I love these suggestions!!!
I have also found that ‘Energy Medicine’ is also a great place to look for simple strategies to aid relaxation before stress sets in. Techniques such as EFT (a simple tapping method) or using flower remedies can help resolve underlying emotional issues which may be keeping you in a state of anxiety or constant activity.
There are some really helpful suggestions in this article:
http://bit.ly/eTAKGF
And these simple one minute meditation ideas are a great way to build active stress relief strategies into your day: http://bit.ly/cy3AL8
Printed it out. Laminated it. Posted to the fridge. Wonderful post, thanks.
I love i love. Printed it and its on my bedroom wall.every morning i wake upthe first thing i read.thank you so much…