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Summer’s Here So Play or Pay: Stress Kills
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Monday, May 25, 2009
Dr. Patricia A. Farrell
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ: Summer is here and, unfortunately, so is the Swine Flu aka H1N1, and that means activities in large gatherings may be curtailed. The fact of the matter, however, is that you should not curtail your fun-filled activities because that's going to work against your physical and mental health.
Laughter, friendships and family have been found to be among the most important health benefits around—and they don't require a prescription or a mental health professional or the costs involved. No insurance, co-pays or deductibles here.
Here's what a two-decades-long study in Europe and other studies have found about stress and its consequences:
1. 90% of all primary care doctor visits were due to stress-related complaints
2. 80% of all industrial accidents are due to stress
3. 50% of lost work days are stress-related
4. Stress was viewed as more dangerous than heart disease, cigarette smoking or eating high cholesterol foods
5. Stress has been linked to deaths from cardiac disease, auto immune disorders, arthritis, the common cold, herpes, cancer, pulmonary problems, accidents, cirrhosis and suicide
6. One corporation found 60% of all employee absences were due to psychological factors involved with stress
7. The Japanese now have a new word in their vocabulary, karoshi, meaning work-related stress death
8. More hospital deaths from medical illness may have been related to stress than the actual disease process
What Can You Do?
Okay, you're going to be stressed and it doesn't seem that you can do much about it. Wrong. You may not feel like it, but just as you brush your teeth every morning, there are things you need to add to your daily routine.
Let's start with:
1. Accept every opportunity to laugh, socialize, take a walk or talk to a friend or loved one. Bah, humbug isn't going to help you maintain your sanity or your health
2. Take 10 minutes out of every day (at the very least) just for you; no thinking about the bills, the kids, the job, your health, relatives or whatever. Do a little guided imagery (see my Self-help page on my website).
3. Exercise. Walk in place, do isometrics at your desk, in your car or while waiting on a line at any store. It sheds stress like water off a duck's back.
4. Slow down and by that I mean physically. Walk a little slower, take a few more minutes to eat your meals and learn to sink into whatever seat is near you and enjoy the feeling.
5. Remember that you're not powerless. The answers are there; you just haven't formulated the questions yet, but they'll come if you let yourself gaze at the sky for a bit.
,
Everything has its time and things may look dark in this sunny season, but things will brighten up. Live in that belief and that hope and it's a mega dose of "vitamins" for you and your stressed body and mind. As the Marines say, "Seize the day." Well, maybe not "seize" it so much as "squeeze it" and all the love and fun you can fit into it.
http://www.drfarrell.net
Laughter, friendships and family have been found to be among the most important health benefits around—and they don't require a prescription or a mental health professional or the costs involved. No insurance, co-pays or deductibles here.
Here's what a two-decades-long study in Europe and other studies have found about stress and its consequences:
1. 90% of all primary care doctor visits were due to stress-related complaints
2. 80% of all industrial accidents are due to stress
3. 50% of lost work days are stress-related
4. Stress was viewed as more dangerous than heart disease, cigarette smoking or eating high cholesterol foods
5. Stress has been linked to deaths from cardiac disease, auto immune disorders, arthritis, the common cold, herpes, cancer, pulmonary problems, accidents, cirrhosis and suicide
6. One corporation found 60% of all employee absences were due to psychological factors involved with stress
7. The Japanese now have a new word in their vocabulary, karoshi, meaning work-related stress death
8. More hospital deaths from medical illness may have been related to stress than the actual disease process
What Can You Do?
Okay, you're going to be stressed and it doesn't seem that you can do much about it. Wrong. You may not feel like it, but just as you brush your teeth every morning, there are things you need to add to your daily routine.
Let's start with:
1. Accept every opportunity to laugh, socialize, take a walk or talk to a friend or loved one. Bah, humbug isn't going to help you maintain your sanity or your health
2. Take 10 minutes out of every day (at the very least) just for you; no thinking about the bills, the kids, the job, your health, relatives or whatever. Do a little guided imagery (see my Self-help page on my website).
3. Exercise. Walk in place, do isometrics at your desk, in your car or while waiting on a line at any store. It sheds stress like water off a duck's back.
4. Slow down and by that I mean physically. Walk a little slower, take a few more minutes to eat your meals and learn to sink into whatever seat is near you and enjoy the feeling.
5. Remember that you're not powerless. The answers are there; you just haven't formulated the questions yet, but they'll come if you let yourself gaze at the sky for a bit.
,
Everything has its time and things may look dark in this sunny season, but things will brighten up. Live in that belief and that hope and it's a mega dose of "vitamins" for you and your stressed body and mind. As the Marines say, "Seize the day." Well, maybe not "seize" it so much as "squeeze it" and all the love and fun you can fit into it.
http://www.drfarrell.net
Patricia A. Farrell, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Patricia A. Farrell, Ph.D., LLC
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
