STRESS MANAGEMENT MANTRA

If I was ever asked to name a subject, which has got the mixed blessing of being ‘too well known and too little understood’, my answer definitely will be Stress. 

In the contemporary times, the word stress has many connotations and definitions based on various perspectives of the human condition. In Eastern philosophies, stress is considered to be an absence of inner peace and in Western culture, stress can be described as a loss of control. In simple words we can define stress as a response to the events that are perceived as harmful and that strain a person’s coping skills.

 

The word stress is not as old as you think. If you were to browse through any newspaper or magazine article prior to 1960, you would be hard-pressed to find the word stress in either the text or the headlines. Stress basically is not a medical term, it has its origin in physics, and is being used in physics from many decades to describe enough tension or force placed on an object to bend or break. The word stress as applied to the human condition was first made popular by noted physiologist Hans Selye in his book Stress of Life in year 1960. Since then stress has become the object of much speculation and now the use of this word is as common as the term global warming and cell phones. 

 

It has excited from the beginning but has now become an omnipresent phenomenon in the life of modern man. It has pervaded all layers of life and stress & strain of modern living can become increasingly hard to bear. Stress is something which can not be avoided. Modern life with its quick pace, occupational achievement, personal ambitions, social pressure, environment poisons and our orientation to sedentary mental work, presents almost all of us with constant stressful conditions. What makes long term stress so damaging is the fact that it produces tension & a great pressure on human body. The mind and body are in a perpetual state of high alert without the much required periods of rest and recuperation.

 

In spite of being in the clinical practice from many years, even I was stunned after going through the latest statistics of medical sciences, which clearly indicate that chronic stress is a causative factor in most of the illness. World Health Organization (WHO) has also supported this finding by adding that 80% of bed occupancy in hospital is the result of overstress. So alarmed were they by the result of their study that the WHO researchers cited stress as “a global epidemic.”

 

It’s easy for the medical fraternity to label a patient as a heart, diabetic, hypertensive or cancer patient, but if we investigate deeply, as WHO people do, to find out the underlying real culprit responsible for all these menace, undoubtedly it would be stress. And to make it worst is the fact that when mankind of this modern civilization is able to find a cure for all diseases, it is still struggling for the proper management of stress which is taking a heavy toll on its well being.

 

Most often it takes a warning as severe as a heart attack for the individual to realize he has been under prolonged stress. So it is very important to recognize stress before it has drastic effects. The onus is not only on doctors, but on general public also because a proper knowledge of this subject can prevent many impending threats. 

 

In the coming issues of this magazine, I will throw some light on this shady subject and proper understanding of it will definitely give you many benefits in all aspects of your precious life. In this first chapter of the series, my focus will be to introduce you with stress, in an all new perspective.     

 

Contrary to the general perception, stress is not always bad. In fact psychologists have divided stress into two types—Good stress (Eustress) and Bad stress (Distress). Without stress, life would be very dull and unexciting as stress adds flavor to it. We need stress in our life, stress is must. It’s very rightly said that complete freedom from stress is death. Some stress is definitely required to stimulate us to perform simple day-to-day tasks. In today’s competitive world, its presence is all the more important. It is the optimal level of ‘educational stress’ which transforms a simple kid to a brilliant student. All high-quality doctors, scientists, teachers and other professionals are the product of stress. What to talk of humans, even a small seed of a huge tree needs stress of the earth to start its life. But it’s also true that on the other side of good stress (eustress), there lies the distress—responsible for all the ill effects which mankind has to face. The point I want you to understand is that stress is a powerful force which can do much good or much harm. It is like a flowing river, when tamed & directed, it can spread much goodness along its path. However like the havoc caused by an untamed river, stress can also become a devastating way of life.

 

One more fact I would like you to understand is that never imagine your life without stress. It was there, is there and will be there. In fact only two persons are free from stress—first one is that child who still has to take birth and second is the person who has died. In between birth and death we have to live with stress and thus should learn all the best ways to manage it. Just see, the word is ‘stress management’, there is no world like ‘stress eradication.’ All the trainers—spiritual or non-spiritual—are equipping you only with stress management skills because they are well aware that stress can never be eradicated.   

I heard when the famous astronaut Neil Armstrong returned back from the moon, he was asked one very interesting question by a press correspondent, “Mr. Neil will you be kind enough to tell us the most interesting thing you noticed on the surface of moon.” Neil smiled and said, “The most astonishing and interesting thing I noticed on moon was my actual weight; I found myself six times lighter over there than on earth. The reason behind this was the least atmospheric pressure at moon. It was for the first time in my life when I realized that under how much pressure I was living on earth.”

 

Neil Armstrong was fortunate enough to experience a change and we are not as fortunate as him. And while living on this planet perhaps we may never realize how this environment is constantly pressing us; somehow all of us have become habitual to live with it for we are experiencing it right from our birth. Apart from the atmospheric pressure there is another ‘pressure’ which is putting us constantly under its influence, without our realization, and that is stress. Like the atmospheric pressure, we become habitual to live with it also.

 

But the need of the hour is not to allow yourself to live with stress but to learn all the skills to come out it. I do agree that we don’t have influence over atmosphere but we certainly can make a great impact in the field of stress management. Just imagine the world when all of us will be able to cope up our day-to-day stress. In that beautiful world life will not be the same, it will become a blessing and every word you listen will become music to your ears. Every step you take will not be less than a dance and at that realm of existence your mind will be always in state of meditation. So let us take a pledge to bring a positive change in our lives so that we may able to enjoy every moment of our life which is a beautiful gift to all of us from that great Almighty.  

 

Before concluding this article, it will not be fair on our part if we don’t gauge the severity with which stress has engulfed us in our day-to-day life. So let’s see…..  

 

Are You Stressed ?

 

Although there is no definitive survey composed of twenty questions to determine whether if you are stressed or burnt out, or just exactly how stressed you really are, questionnaires do help increase awareness that, indeed, there may be a problem in one or more areas of your life. The following is an example of a single stress inventory to help you determine the level of stress in your life. Read each statement and circle either “Agree” or Disagree.” Then count the number of “Agree” points (one per question) and use the stress level key to determine your personal stress level.

 

1.  I have a hard time falling asleep at night.                                                 Agree               Disagree

 

2. I tend to suffer for tension and/or migraine headaches.                             Agree               Disagree

 

3. I find myself thinking about finances and making ends meet.                   Agree              Disagree

 

4. I wish I could find more to laugh and smile about each day.                     Agree              Disagree

 

5. More often then not, I skip breakfast or lunch to get thing done.              Agree              Disagree

 

6. If I could change my job situation, I would.                                              Agree              Disagree

 

7. I wish had more personal time for leisure pursuits.                                    Agree              Disagree

 

8. I have lost a good friend or family member recently.                                Agree              Disagree

 

9. I am unhappy in my relationship or am recently divorced.                        Agree              Disagree

 

 10. I haven’t had a quality vacation in a long time.                                      Agree              Disagree

 

 11. I wish that my life had a clear meaning and purposes.                            Agree              Disagree

 

 12. I tend to eat more then three meals a week outside the home.                Agree              Disagree

 

 13. I tend to suffer from chronic pain.                                                           Agree              Disagree

 

 14. I don’t have a strong group of friends to whom I can turn.                     Agree              Disagree

 

 15. I don’t exercise regularly.                                                                        Agree              Disagree

 

 16. I am on prescribed medication for depression.                                        Agree              Disagree

 

 17. My sex life is not satisfying.                                                                    Agree              Disagree

 

 18. My family relationship is less then desirable.                                         Agree              Disagree

 

 19. Overall, my self-esteem is rather low.                                                     Agree              Disagree

 

 20. I spend no time each day dedicated to mediation or centering.               Agree              Disagree

 

 

Stress Level Key

 

     

 Less than 5 points                  You have a low level of stress and maintain good copying skills.

    

 More than 5 points                 You have a moderate level of personal stress.

     

 More than 10 points               You have a high level of personal stress.

   

 More than 15 points               You have an exceptionally high level of stress.

 

No doubt, all of us are getting overpowered by a stress prone work-ethic and there is need to stop and learn new as well as age old stress coping techniques. There is need to find a balance between peak performance, high energy and excitement on the one hand and rest, rejuvenation, harmony and tranquility on the other. We will discus in details all this stuff in the up-coming issues. Till then stay blessed, stay stress free.