Stress Management Series III (Parts #30 to #40)
4 views
Skip to first unread message
John P.
Nov 15, 2010, 4:43:03 PM11/15/10
to Choose Life Project
Stress Management Series III (Parts #30 to #40)
Stress Management, Part #30
Stress as a Result of a Crisis in Values
Jim Wallis is the president of Sojourners, a Christian social justice
organization. He is also the author of a new book called Rediscovering
Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street.
Wallis recently was in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland. The panel’s title: “Re-thinking Values in the
Post-Crisis World.” The panel concluded that the economic crisis we
now know as the Great Recession is also a crisis in values.
During the economic free for all for the powerful that was the prelude
of the recession, these values dominated:
Greed is Good
It’s All About Me
I Want It Now
According to Wallis, these are the kinds of values that can “wreck
economies, cultures, families, and even our souls.”
Wallis’s suggestion is for change -- a “conversion of our habits of
the heart.” Thus we need a moral recovery to help bring us out of
this stress crisis in the economy. Wallis says we need a new normal.
This situation in his estimation could be a “transformational
moment.” If we take the right moves and learn a lesson from our
errors.
As an alternative, Wallis suggests that the values in the world’s
religions replace the Greed is Good fallacy. For instance:
* Christianity’s Sermon of the Mount teaches not to be anxious about
obtaining material things, a opposed to the present “frenzied
pressure of the modern consumer culture.”
* Judaism teaches that the edges of the field be left for the poor to
glean upon, and feed their families.
* Islam teaches against greedy use of money-lending.
Wallis asserts that “Choices do make change.” And we can change our
purpose in life in a way that results in a moral recovery. And in
doing so, the stresses that will be part of an economic recovery would
be lessened.
SOURCE: “Good News About a Bad Economy” by Jim Wallis in AARP
Bulletin (March 2010), publication of the American Association of
Retired Persons
====================================
--Stress Management, part #31
Calming Stress through Gratitude
Last November, the Readers Digest had this terrific article on
developing a gratitude attitude. A whole lot of the material talked
about how we can feel better if we work on our sense of gratitude. It
seemed to me that gratitude could easily be seen as a stress
management tool in many situations—especially if one is boiling with
bitterness or in a state of deep complaint over minor things.
It’s no small wonder that Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Step
groups talk of the importance of developing an attitude of gratitude
when working one’s way through recovery.
Scientific research is telling us about the benefits of gratitude. One
study told people to make a gratitude list. The idea was to log
everything that that they were grateful for over a period of a week or
a month. The results were that that people who wrote out this
gratitude list were 25 percent happier after a ten week period than
those who did not make the gratitude list. It’s almost like saying—Do
you wanna be happier? Get some more gratitude!
Another study showed that even pretending to be grateful or thankful
increased the brain chemicals associated with pleasure and feeling
good—serotonin and dopamine. Robert Eamons, professor at the
University of Caliifornia, at Davis, suggests living as if we were
grateful, and soon the real gratitude will appear. It’s almost like
saying—Do you wanna be happier through gratitude, but you are still
way too bitter? Just pretend you are grateful. You’ll be happier!
Of course there’s more to this whole question of gratitude, and we’ll
discuss them in coming editions.
Here are some of the things Readers Digest readers said they were
grateful for:
“Second chances, artistic creativity.” -a lady from Illinois
“Long hot bubble baths and a glass of wine.” -a lady from Texas
“Despite my pain, that the sun still shines” -a lady from Michigan
“Doing work that makes a difference.” -a lady from Vermont
“For having a baby, a wonderful daughter.” -a lady from Florida
“Dog, cat, air, allergy shots.” -a lady from Texas
“Indoor plumbing and cold beer.” -a fellow from Delaware
“My children, my job, my therapist.” -a lady from North Dakota
“Pizza, spell-checker, green lights, and plumbing.” -a fellow from New
Jersey
“Bumping into random acts of kindness.” -a fellow in the Philippines
It’s amazing. Being grateful for even small things might make us
happier. Here’s an idea worth looking into more.
SOURCE: Readers Digest (November 2009), article by David Hochman
=============================================
--Stress Management, part #32
More on Calming Stress through Gratitude
The recent Readers Digest article on gratitude pointed out that often
we have forgotten the value of little things. We may be bitter in
discontent, when all the while we are surrounded by an abundance of
little things that could make us happy if we would only allow them
to.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of
California at Riverside, suggests taking time off of something you
appreciate but take from granted. For example if you just love coffee,
give up coffee for three days. On the fourth day you will surely love
coffee greatly, and enjoy it without taking it for granted. It’s an
exercise to see the value in the small things in our lives. Things
worth having gratitude for.
What about when great misfortune hits us. Can we really feel any
gratitude then. Professor Robert Emmons of the University of
California at Davis says yes. But it’s a particular form of
gratitude. It’s the ability to find something in life worth
appreciating, even when under a period of darkness. Emmons says this
form of gratitude can save us from despair in a way that abject
complaining cannot.
Professor Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania is one the
nation’s foremost experts on the study of happiness. And there is
little surprise here that he too emphasizes the role of gratitude in
feeling better. Seligman suggests making a sort of “gratitude visit,”
where you thank the unsung heroes in your life. He suggests that we
compose a letter to someone who has been very valuable to us at some
point. The letter can be sent, or even read to the individual in
person. Seligman warns us happily that this little exercise in
gratitude is often very moving for both the giver and the receiver—
often to the point of tears.
The Readers Digest article has some more tips on gratitude, to be
discussed next issue.
SOURCE: Readers Digest (Nov. 2009), article by David Hochman
=========================================
--Stress Management, part #33
Final Words on Calming Stress through Gratitude
“Life is better with a gratitude attitude”—that’s the title of the
recent Readers Digest article on gratitude.
Even science backs this up. Research studies show that having a sense
of thankfulness increases the level of brain chemicals serotonin and
dopamine—brain chemicals associated with contentment and happiness.
One expert suggests learning gratitude by visualizing it. He suggests
building a “thank you tree” on the refrigerator or wall using Post-it
notes as leaves. On the notes write something each day that happened
worth being grateful for. At the end of a couple weeks you’ll be able
to see a whole array of things to have an attitude of gratitude for.
Or keep a written journal of things worth being grateful for. It can
be a permanent record for you to refer back to. David Hochman, the
writer of the Readers Digest article, went through a sort of gratitude
training exercise to teach himself to move from a mental position of
regular mental dissatisfaction (what he calls “reflexive complaining”)
to a mental position of being regularly thankful and grateful. He says
now that he summons up that training when he feels saddled by life.
And too, he says—“The aggravations are still there, but appreciation,
I’ve learned, has an echo—and it’s loud enough to drown out the
grumbling of one man emptying out the dishwasher.”
SOURCE: Readers Digest (Nov. 2009), article by David Hochman
====================================================
--Stress Management, part #34
Dean Ornish on Stress Management
Dean Ornish, M.D. is a highly publicized professor of Medicine at the
University of California in San Francisco. Readers Digest recently ran
a short piece by him on handling stress. It’s called the Stress
Management Spectrum.
Ornish points to four things to do during periods of stress. They
are, in his estimation—
1. Beathe Easy
2. Reduce Your Exposure to Stimulants (both physical and mental)
3. Enhance Your Social Support
4. Practice Forgiveness, Altruism, Compassion, and Service
Below are some added words on these four items.
--Breathing. This is the link between one’s body and mind, in
Ornish’s words. He believes, as do others, that we can reduce our
stress level by taking slow, deep breaths.
--Reducing Stimulants. Ornish focuses on reducing caffeine, which he
says shortens our fuse, and makes us more reactive to stress.
--Social Support. People without a strong sense of social connection
get sick more often. Ornish says call a friend, get a pet, volunteer,
connect with family.
--Forgiveness, Altruism, Compassion, and Service. Ornish states that
chronic hostility and hatred are among the most toxic stress-makers.
The four behaviors in this suggestion work against chronic hostility
and hatred.
SOURCE: Readers Digest (Oct. 2009)
=====================================
--Stress Management, part #35
More on Mindfulness
USA Weekend ran a short article recently on the role of mindfulness
as a stress reducing practice. We've discussed mindfulness before in
this series, but it's always good to see what things bear repeating
and what sorts of new things pop up. Actually, I myself have not had
that much luck with practicing mindfulness--but some people swear by
it.
The big thing in mindfulness is being constantly present in the
moment. Some of these applications go back to Buddhist forms of
everyday meditation. The things about mindfulness is that you can be
doing about anything, and really focus on what you are doing. As your
mind is totally immersed in savoring this element of the present and
what is right before you, many experience a profound stillness of
experience that is just the opposite of stressful thinking. I know
that Professor Jon Kabat Zinn at the University of Massachusetts
stress reduction program has his participants take a simple raisin and
slowly eat it over a period of time. Most people get bored with this
really quickly, but others get the mindfulness benefit that he is
trying to teach. This latter group that gets it, then is able to get
an extra boost in stress reduction because they now have another tool
to promote it.
The new article in question quotes a book called Fully Present: The
Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness by Susan Smalley and Diana
Winston. They talk about paying attention to the present moment with
openness and curiosity. They say that with mindfulness stress
reduction comes from a heightened sensory awareness, increased
attention span, a boost in creativity, and strengthening of the immune
system.
Smalley and Winston suggest two things to become more mindful:
--Clear your head
--Connect with your body
Here are some more thoughts under these two categories:
Clear you head. Focus. Really really focus. Even if you concentrate
on your breathing, that brings your mind to focus.
Connect with your body. Notice each physical sensation without
interpreting it or labeling it.
The authors say that the more you practice it, the better chance
you'll have of "getting it." And according to this model of ideas,
you'll feel less stressful.
SOURCE: USA Weekend, Aug. 15, 2010
============================
--Stress Management, part #36
Brain Boosters
Stress wears out the brain. It actually wears down brain cells.
But there's good news. Scientific research in the past decade shows
that our brain cells can be protected and even grow back. It's about
trying out some "brain boosters" that make for healthy brains, and
that pay off in times of stress.
Readers Digest recently suggested four brain boosters. They are--
* Seek out different ideas and challenging people.
* Use your imagination.
* Pay attention and focus on details when starting out on something.
* Exercise more in order to improve the flow of blood to the brain.
When we work on new ideas or learn something new, we are actually
building new neural pathways in the brain--new routes for processing
information. The new talent or knowledge stimulates our brain and
spurs the development of new brain cell networks. And that makes our
brain more resilient in times of stress.
When we use our imagination it can work in the same way. This is
true
in the area of visualization. If we have a problem or upcoming
event,
we can in our mind's eye visualize ourselves solving the problem or
handling well the event. This act of imagination creates a larger
"neural footprint" for walking our way through stressful situations.
We can even role play or stage a simulation in our imagination that
helps prepare us for real-life circumstances that may come up.
When we learn something new, if we try to focus well at our effort,
it's easier to develop those healthy new neural pathways in the
brain. This brain booster then helps us out when it's time to solve
stressful problems.
Scientists at the Salk Institute in California have shown that
physical activity and exercise bring more blood to the brain and that
helps in the growth of new brain cells. So exercise is good for the
heart and the brain.
SOURCE: Readers Digest (May 2010)
==============================
--Stress Management, part 37
Investing in Experiences
A neat study at San Francisco University has suggested that it’s a
good idea to invest in experiences, not stuff. This idea in the
context of this series is that we could ward off stressful feelings
sometimes by the memory of the neat experiences.
The study concluded that when we buy stuff (shoes, shirts, devices),
we get a temporary lift. The trouble is this temporary lift passes
pretty quickly. But when we invest in experiences (vacation, concert,
theater play), the memory of the neat experience stays with us for a
long time. The experts call this a form of “’memory capital’—an
emotional reserve of happy memories you can call on again and again.”
There were two other neat points in the study—
* There was no correlation between the price of the experience and
the happiness it produced.
* Whereas material things tended diminish over time, the good
memories seem to get better over time.
I wanted to demonstrate four examples of investing in experiences
from my own memory bank.
About 15 years ago, I went to a community theater production in a
town about ten miles away from here. They put on the popular musical
play The Fantastics. This community theater ticket cost me maybe two
bucks more than going to a movie. Man it was a memorable
performance. I still member all the main actors and actresses and
what a great job they did. The songs were great. And the story line
was so neat. A really good stress-buster investment, I’d say.
When I was a kid in the early 1960s, my Dad used to take us on a
yearly vacation to a town named Oscoda on the shores of Lake Huron.
We would have a cabin there near the shore for a week. It was about a
hundred mile drive from my home in Michigan. It was not an
extravagant vacation—my Dad was a middle-income employee and my Mom
was a homemaker. But the memories of those vacations from nearly five
decades ago have an amazing place in my mind today. They were
fantastic!
Here are two more examples from the 1960s. In the Detroit area then
there used to be an island in the Detroit River called Boblo, and on
it was an amusement park. To get to Boblo, you got on this neat river
boat in the downtown area and “sailed” down the river for an hour.
Once you got the island, there was this terrific amusement park with
all those neat rides that kids like. And there was a picnic area for
lunch. It was an all day affair. Again, the whole package wasn’t
extravagant at all—but it produced these ever so neat memories that
never fail to bring a smile to my face.
And speaking of amusement parks, in the 1960s we used to have a
permanent establishment of this nature in our county called the
Walled Lake Amusement Park. You could go there every summer, and you
never had to leave the county. Again not extravagant—the price of
admission and rides were all within any working family’s situation.
And all sorts of fun, without having to travel to the other side of
the world. Sure am glad that the grown-ups let us kids have those
kinds of worthwhile memories!
SOURCE: AARP Magazine (September 2010), by Pepper Schwartz
==========================
--Stress Management, part 38
Loneliness vs. Volunteer Work
A recent magazine had an article about loneliness and how stressful it
can be. Normally we think of stress being associated with being
around difficult people. But it can be stressful being alone too. The
article states:
“Chronic loneliness, experts tell us, is an ever-present, self-
perpetuating condition that pushes people away from relationships that
sustain us and make us happy.”
According to an expert at the University of Chicago, loneliness has
broad and profound health effects. There is evidence suggesting it can
contribute to diabetes, sleep disorders, and high blood pressure. Per
the article, heightened stress comes with chronic loneliness.
Loneliness has increased in American over the past decade. Now, about
35 percent of Americans over the age of 45 have chronic loneliness.
This is compared to 20 percent in this age group in 2001.
Helping others through volunteer work can reduce loneliness. About 40
percent of those who did not do volunteer work in the past year
reported being lonely. This number lowered to 28 percent reporting
being lonely among those who did volunteer work.
On this coming October 23rd, on Saturday, will be the annual national
Make Difference Day. It encourages people all around the country on
that day to make some kind of voluntary effort to help people or do
some good. USA Weekend magazine gives these examples of something
that could be done:
-Decorate a pumpkin and give it to a senior center.
-Make get well cards and deliver them to hospitalized children.
-Bag canned good ingredients for chili, including recipe, and deliver
it to a food pantry.
Any type of good volunteer activity would be a good thing.
One family of kids and parents set up a lemonade stand and sent the
$11 earnings to a charitable foundation. The action was good enough
to be reported in the national press. Not every lemonade stand is
going to get coverage this way, but it’s hard to imagine that any such
lemonade stand could be any less good than this one was.
In the AARP article on loneliness, it suggests six things to do to
lower chronic loneliness. One of those six things was to take time to
do some volunteer work. October 23rd is National Make a Difference
Day.
SOURCES: USA Weekend (Sept. 24, 2010); AARP Magazine article on
loneliness (recent issue, 2010)
==========================================
--Stress Management, part 39
Article on Men, Women, and Stress
Parade magazine recently had this neat article on how men and women
react differently to stress. Some of the work on this has been done
by researcher Mara Mather at the University of Southern California.
Here are some of the main points:
-When men get tense, the areas of their brain that relate to reading
emotions and facial expressions shut down, which results in the guys
clamming up or withdrawing.
-Also, men under stress have a situation where the part of the brain
used for social understanding become less coordinated with other parts
of the brain—and this is true especially when looking at angry faces.
-For women, the regions of the brain used for social understanding
were far more coordinated then the men’s. One thing that can happen is
that when looking at someone displaying emotion, women try to put
themselves in the other person’s shoes.
-The higher one’s testosterone level during stress, the less activity
there is in the facial expression reading region of the brain.
It sure looks like men and women have different wiring in the brain
during times of stress.
SOURCE: Parade magazine (10-24-2010)
========================
--Stress Management, part #40
More on Gratitude as a Release from Stress
We’ve discussed recent articles on the role of gratitude as a buffer
against stress. Another article on this appeared in a local Chamber
of Commerce publication and this article gives some additional
suggestions. The article was authored by Mary J. Lore of an
organization called Managing Thought, which helps folks achieve
personal and business success.
According to Ms. Lore, stress causes us to have “thoughts of fear,
self-doubt, worry, anger, and depression.” But, she further states that
—“One of the quickest and most powerful ways to create a change in our
circumstances is to practice thinking thoughts of thankfulness.”
Can this be true? Although Ms. Lore doesn’t provide any research data
to support this statement, earlier articles in this series do report
studies that suggest that some of what she is saying in this claim
could be true.
Ms. Lore does present a very quick and easy method for practicing
gratitude, which she calls Thankfulness. Here are the five steps in
the method:
1. List everything you have to be thankful for. Examples could be
home or apartment, enough food, clean water, family and friends,
transportation availability, areas of good health, skills, good
values, and others. [You might keep in mind in each of these, that
there are many people in the world who do not have some of these
things, and would be grateful if they could have them.]
2. At the end of the day, think back of everything that you had to be
thankful for that day.
3. During each day, from morning to evening, think of things that are
happening right this hour that you have to be thankful for.
4. When you catch yourself being angry or worrying, take a deep
breath, exhale deeply, and then ask yourself—“What can I be thankful
for in this moment?”
5. See what happens!
Will this method work for everyone? Will this method work for some
folks some of the time? If the answer even to the second question is
Yes, then that is surely something to be grateful for.
SOURCE: Adapted from article by Mary J. Lore, “Practicing Thankfulness…
Even in Difficult Times”—published in a local Chamber of Commerce
publication.
Stress Management, Part #30
Stress as a Result of a Crisis in Values
Jim Wallis is the president of Sojourners, a Christian social justice
organization. He is also the author of a new book called Rediscovering
Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street.
Wallis recently was in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland. The panel’s title: “Re-thinking Values in the
Post-Crisis World.” The panel concluded that the economic crisis we
now know as the Great Recession is also a crisis in values.
During the economic free for all for the powerful that was the prelude
of the recession, these values dominated:
Greed is Good
It’s All About Me
I Want It Now
According to Wallis, these are the kinds of values that can “wreck
economies, cultures, families, and even our souls.”
Wallis’s suggestion is for change -- a “conversion of our habits of
the heart.” Thus we need a moral recovery to help bring us out of
this stress crisis in the economy. Wallis says we need a new normal.
This situation in his estimation could be a “transformational
moment.” If we take the right moves and learn a lesson from our
errors.
As an alternative, Wallis suggests that the values in the world’s
religions replace the Greed is Good fallacy. For instance:
* Christianity’s Sermon of the Mount teaches not to be anxious about
obtaining material things, a opposed to the present “frenzied
pressure of the modern consumer culture.”
* Judaism teaches that the edges of the field be left for the poor to
glean upon, and feed their families.
* Islam teaches against greedy use of money-lending.
Wallis asserts that “Choices do make change.” And we can change our
purpose in life in a way that results in a moral recovery. And in
doing so, the stresses that will be part of an economic recovery would
be lessened.
SOURCE: “Good News About a Bad Economy” by Jim Wallis in AARP
Bulletin (March 2010), publication of the American Association of
Retired Persons
====================================
--Stress Management, part #31
Calming Stress through Gratitude
Last November, the Readers Digest had this terrific article on
developing a gratitude attitude. A whole lot of the material talked
about how we can feel better if we work on our sense of gratitude. It
seemed to me that gratitude could easily be seen as a stress
management tool in many situations—especially if one is boiling with
bitterness or in a state of deep complaint over minor things.
It’s no small wonder that Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve Step
groups talk of the importance of developing an attitude of gratitude
when working one’s way through recovery.
Scientific research is telling us about the benefits of gratitude. One
study told people to make a gratitude list. The idea was to log
everything that that they were grateful for over a period of a week or
a month. The results were that that people who wrote out this
gratitude list were 25 percent happier after a ten week period than
those who did not make the gratitude list. It’s almost like saying—Do
you wanna be happier? Get some more gratitude!
Another study showed that even pretending to be grateful or thankful
increased the brain chemicals associated with pleasure and feeling
good—serotonin and dopamine. Robert Eamons, professor at the
University of Caliifornia, at Davis, suggests living as if we were
grateful, and soon the real gratitude will appear. It’s almost like
saying—Do you wanna be happier through gratitude, but you are still
way too bitter? Just pretend you are grateful. You’ll be happier!
Of course there’s more to this whole question of gratitude, and we’ll
discuss them in coming editions.
Here are some of the things Readers Digest readers said they were
grateful for:
“Second chances, artistic creativity.” -a lady from Illinois
“Long hot bubble baths and a glass of wine.” -a lady from Texas
“Despite my pain, that the sun still shines” -a lady from Michigan
“Doing work that makes a difference.” -a lady from Vermont
“For having a baby, a wonderful daughter.” -a lady from Florida
“Dog, cat, air, allergy shots.” -a lady from Texas
“Indoor plumbing and cold beer.” -a fellow from Delaware
“My children, my job, my therapist.” -a lady from North Dakota
“Pizza, spell-checker, green lights, and plumbing.” -a fellow from New
Jersey
“Bumping into random acts of kindness.” -a fellow in the Philippines
It’s amazing. Being grateful for even small things might make us
happier. Here’s an idea worth looking into more.
SOURCE: Readers Digest (November 2009), article by David Hochman
=============================================
--Stress Management, part #32
More on Calming Stress through Gratitude
The recent Readers Digest article on gratitude pointed out that often
we have forgotten the value of little things. We may be bitter in
discontent, when all the while we are surrounded by an abundance of
little things that could make us happy if we would only allow them
to.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of
California at Riverside, suggests taking time off of something you
appreciate but take from granted. For example if you just love coffee,
give up coffee for three days. On the fourth day you will surely love
coffee greatly, and enjoy it without taking it for granted. It’s an
exercise to see the value in the small things in our lives. Things
worth having gratitude for.
What about when great misfortune hits us. Can we really feel any
gratitude then. Professor Robert Emmons of the University of
California at Davis says yes. But it’s a particular form of
gratitude. It’s the ability to find something in life worth
appreciating, even when under a period of darkness. Emmons says this
form of gratitude can save us from despair in a way that abject
complaining cannot.
Professor Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania is one the
nation’s foremost experts on the study of happiness. And there is
little surprise here that he too emphasizes the role of gratitude in
feeling better. Seligman suggests making a sort of “gratitude visit,”
where you thank the unsung heroes in your life. He suggests that we
compose a letter to someone who has been very valuable to us at some
point. The letter can be sent, or even read to the individual in
person. Seligman warns us happily that this little exercise in
gratitude is often very moving for both the giver and the receiver—
often to the point of tears.
The Readers Digest article has some more tips on gratitude, to be
discussed next issue.
SOURCE: Readers Digest (Nov. 2009), article by David Hochman
=========================================
--Stress Management, part #33
Final Words on Calming Stress through Gratitude
“Life is better with a gratitude attitude”—that’s the title of the
recent Readers Digest article on gratitude.
Even science backs this up. Research studies show that having a sense
of thankfulness increases the level of brain chemicals serotonin and
dopamine—brain chemicals associated with contentment and happiness.
One expert suggests learning gratitude by visualizing it. He suggests
building a “thank you tree” on the refrigerator or wall using Post-it
notes as leaves. On the notes write something each day that happened
worth being grateful for. At the end of a couple weeks you’ll be able
to see a whole array of things to have an attitude of gratitude for.
Or keep a written journal of things worth being grateful for. It can
be a permanent record for you to refer back to. David Hochman, the
writer of the Readers Digest article, went through a sort of gratitude
training exercise to teach himself to move from a mental position of
regular mental dissatisfaction (what he calls “reflexive complaining”)
to a mental position of being regularly thankful and grateful. He says
now that he summons up that training when he feels saddled by life.
And too, he says—“The aggravations are still there, but appreciation,
I’ve learned, has an echo—and it’s loud enough to drown out the
grumbling of one man emptying out the dishwasher.”
SOURCE: Readers Digest (Nov. 2009), article by David Hochman
====================================================
--Stress Management, part #34
Dean Ornish on Stress Management
Dean Ornish, M.D. is a highly publicized professor of Medicine at the
University of California in San Francisco. Readers Digest recently ran
a short piece by him on handling stress. It’s called the Stress
Management Spectrum.
Ornish points to four things to do during periods of stress. They
are, in his estimation—
1. Beathe Easy
2. Reduce Your Exposure to Stimulants (both physical and mental)
3. Enhance Your Social Support
4. Practice Forgiveness, Altruism, Compassion, and Service
Below are some added words on these four items.
--Breathing. This is the link between one’s body and mind, in
Ornish’s words. He believes, as do others, that we can reduce our
stress level by taking slow, deep breaths.
--Reducing Stimulants. Ornish focuses on reducing caffeine, which he
says shortens our fuse, and makes us more reactive to stress.
--Social Support. People without a strong sense of social connection
get sick more often. Ornish says call a friend, get a pet, volunteer,
connect with family.
--Forgiveness, Altruism, Compassion, and Service. Ornish states that
chronic hostility and hatred are among the most toxic stress-makers.
The four behaviors in this suggestion work against chronic hostility
and hatred.
SOURCE: Readers Digest (Oct. 2009)
=====================================
--Stress Management, part #35
More on Mindfulness
USA Weekend ran a short article recently on the role of mindfulness
as a stress reducing practice. We've discussed mindfulness before in
this series, but it's always good to see what things bear repeating
and what sorts of new things pop up. Actually, I myself have not had
that much luck with practicing mindfulness--but some people swear by
it.
The big thing in mindfulness is being constantly present in the
moment. Some of these applications go back to Buddhist forms of
everyday meditation. The things about mindfulness is that you can be
doing about anything, and really focus on what you are doing. As your
mind is totally immersed in savoring this element of the present and
what is right before you, many experience a profound stillness of
experience that is just the opposite of stressful thinking. I know
that Professor Jon Kabat Zinn at the University of Massachusetts
stress reduction program has his participants take a simple raisin and
slowly eat it over a period of time. Most people get bored with this
really quickly, but others get the mindfulness benefit that he is
trying to teach. This latter group that gets it, then is able to get
an extra boost in stress reduction because they now have another tool
to promote it.
The new article in question quotes a book called Fully Present: The
Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness by Susan Smalley and Diana
Winston. They talk about paying attention to the present moment with
openness and curiosity. They say that with mindfulness stress
reduction comes from a heightened sensory awareness, increased
attention span, a boost in creativity, and strengthening of the immune
system.
Smalley and Winston suggest two things to become more mindful:
--Clear your head
--Connect with your body
Here are some more thoughts under these two categories:
Clear you head. Focus. Really really focus. Even if you concentrate
on your breathing, that brings your mind to focus.
Connect with your body. Notice each physical sensation without
interpreting it or labeling it.
The authors say that the more you practice it, the better chance
you'll have of "getting it." And according to this model of ideas,
you'll feel less stressful.
SOURCE: USA Weekend, Aug. 15, 2010
============================
--Stress Management, part #36
Brain Boosters
Stress wears out the brain. It actually wears down brain cells.
But there's good news. Scientific research in the past decade shows
that our brain cells can be protected and even grow back. It's about
trying out some "brain boosters" that make for healthy brains, and
that pay off in times of stress.
Readers Digest recently suggested four brain boosters. They are--
* Seek out different ideas and challenging people.
* Use your imagination.
* Pay attention and focus on details when starting out on something.
* Exercise more in order to improve the flow of blood to the brain.
When we work on new ideas or learn something new, we are actually
building new neural pathways in the brain--new routes for processing
information. The new talent or knowledge stimulates our brain and
spurs the development of new brain cell networks. And that makes our
brain more resilient in times of stress.
When we use our imagination it can work in the same way. This is
true
in the area of visualization. If we have a problem or upcoming
event,
we can in our mind's eye visualize ourselves solving the problem or
handling well the event. This act of imagination creates a larger
"neural footprint" for walking our way through stressful situations.
We can even role play or stage a simulation in our imagination that
helps prepare us for real-life circumstances that may come up.
When we learn something new, if we try to focus well at our effort,
it's easier to develop those healthy new neural pathways in the
brain. This brain booster then helps us out when it's time to solve
stressful problems.
Scientists at the Salk Institute in California have shown that
physical activity and exercise bring more blood to the brain and that
helps in the growth of new brain cells. So exercise is good for the
heart and the brain.
SOURCE: Readers Digest (May 2010)
==============================
--Stress Management, part 37
Investing in Experiences
A neat study at San Francisco University has suggested that it’s a
good idea to invest in experiences, not stuff. This idea in the
context of this series is that we could ward off stressful feelings
sometimes by the memory of the neat experiences.
The study concluded that when we buy stuff (shoes, shirts, devices),
we get a temporary lift. The trouble is this temporary lift passes
pretty quickly. But when we invest in experiences (vacation, concert,
theater play), the memory of the neat experience stays with us for a
long time. The experts call this a form of “’memory capital’—an
emotional reserve of happy memories you can call on again and again.”
There were two other neat points in the study—
* There was no correlation between the price of the experience and
the happiness it produced.
* Whereas material things tended diminish over time, the good
memories seem to get better over time.
I wanted to demonstrate four examples of investing in experiences
from my own memory bank.
About 15 years ago, I went to a community theater production in a
town about ten miles away from here. They put on the popular musical
play The Fantastics. This community theater ticket cost me maybe two
bucks more than going to a movie. Man it was a memorable
performance. I still member all the main actors and actresses and
what a great job they did. The songs were great. And the story line
was so neat. A really good stress-buster investment, I’d say.
When I was a kid in the early 1960s, my Dad used to take us on a
yearly vacation to a town named Oscoda on the shores of Lake Huron.
We would have a cabin there near the shore for a week. It was about a
hundred mile drive from my home in Michigan. It was not an
extravagant vacation—my Dad was a middle-income employee and my Mom
was a homemaker. But the memories of those vacations from nearly five
decades ago have an amazing place in my mind today. They were
fantastic!
Here are two more examples from the 1960s. In the Detroit area then
there used to be an island in the Detroit River called Boblo, and on
it was an amusement park. To get to Boblo, you got on this neat river
boat in the downtown area and “sailed” down the river for an hour.
Once you got the island, there was this terrific amusement park with
all those neat rides that kids like. And there was a picnic area for
lunch. It was an all day affair. Again, the whole package wasn’t
extravagant at all—but it produced these ever so neat memories that
never fail to bring a smile to my face.
And speaking of amusement parks, in the 1960s we used to have a
permanent establishment of this nature in our county called the
Walled Lake Amusement Park. You could go there every summer, and you
never had to leave the county. Again not extravagant—the price of
admission and rides were all within any working family’s situation.
And all sorts of fun, without having to travel to the other side of
the world. Sure am glad that the grown-ups let us kids have those
kinds of worthwhile memories!
SOURCE: AARP Magazine (September 2010), by Pepper Schwartz
==========================
--Stress Management, part 38
Loneliness vs. Volunteer Work
A recent magazine had an article about loneliness and how stressful it
can be. Normally we think of stress being associated with being
around difficult people. But it can be stressful being alone too. The
article states:
“Chronic loneliness, experts tell us, is an ever-present, self-
perpetuating condition that pushes people away from relationships that
sustain us and make us happy.”
According to an expert at the University of Chicago, loneliness has
broad and profound health effects. There is evidence suggesting it can
contribute to diabetes, sleep disorders, and high blood pressure. Per
the article, heightened stress comes with chronic loneliness.
Loneliness has increased in American over the past decade. Now, about
35 percent of Americans over the age of 45 have chronic loneliness.
This is compared to 20 percent in this age group in 2001.
Helping others through volunteer work can reduce loneliness. About 40
percent of those who did not do volunteer work in the past year
reported being lonely. This number lowered to 28 percent reporting
being lonely among those who did volunteer work.
On this coming October 23rd, on Saturday, will be the annual national
Make Difference Day. It encourages people all around the country on
that day to make some kind of voluntary effort to help people or do
some good. USA Weekend magazine gives these examples of something
that could be done:
-Decorate a pumpkin and give it to a senior center.
-Make get well cards and deliver them to hospitalized children.
-Bag canned good ingredients for chili, including recipe, and deliver
it to a food pantry.
Any type of good volunteer activity would be a good thing.
One family of kids and parents set up a lemonade stand and sent the
$11 earnings to a charitable foundation. The action was good enough
to be reported in the national press. Not every lemonade stand is
going to get coverage this way, but it’s hard to imagine that any such
lemonade stand could be any less good than this one was.
In the AARP article on loneliness, it suggests six things to do to
lower chronic loneliness. One of those six things was to take time to
do some volunteer work. October 23rd is National Make a Difference
Day.
SOURCES: USA Weekend (Sept. 24, 2010); AARP Magazine article on
loneliness (recent issue, 2010)
==========================================
--Stress Management, part 39
Article on Men, Women, and Stress
Parade magazine recently had this neat article on how men and women
react differently to stress. Some of the work on this has been done
by researcher Mara Mather at the University of Southern California.
Here are some of the main points:
-When men get tense, the areas of their brain that relate to reading
emotions and facial expressions shut down, which results in the guys
clamming up or withdrawing.
-Also, men under stress have a situation where the part of the brain
used for social understanding become less coordinated with other parts
of the brain—and this is true especially when looking at angry faces.
-For women, the regions of the brain used for social understanding
were far more coordinated then the men’s. One thing that can happen is
that when looking at someone displaying emotion, women try to put
themselves in the other person’s shoes.
-The higher one’s testosterone level during stress, the less activity
there is in the facial expression reading region of the brain.
It sure looks like men and women have different wiring in the brain
during times of stress.
SOURCE: Parade magazine (10-24-2010)
========================
--Stress Management, part #40
More on Gratitude as a Release from Stress
We’ve discussed recent articles on the role of gratitude as a buffer
against stress. Another article on this appeared in a local Chamber
of Commerce publication and this article gives some additional
suggestions. The article was authored by Mary J. Lore of an
organization called Managing Thought, which helps folks achieve
personal and business success.
According to Ms. Lore, stress causes us to have “thoughts of fear,
self-doubt, worry, anger, and depression.” But, she further states that
—“One of the quickest and most powerful ways to create a change in our
circumstances is to practice thinking thoughts of thankfulness.”
Can this be true? Although Ms. Lore doesn’t provide any research data
to support this statement, earlier articles in this series do report
studies that suggest that some of what she is saying in this claim
could be true.
Ms. Lore does present a very quick and easy method for practicing
gratitude, which she calls Thankfulness. Here are the five steps in
the method:
1. List everything you have to be thankful for. Examples could be
home or apartment, enough food, clean water, family and friends,
transportation availability, areas of good health, skills, good
values, and others. [You might keep in mind in each of these, that
there are many people in the world who do not have some of these
things, and would be grateful if they could have them.]
2. At the end of the day, think back of everything that you had to be
thankful for that day.
3. During each day, from morning to evening, think of things that are
happening right this hour that you have to be thankful for.
4. When you catch yourself being angry or worrying, take a deep
breath, exhale deeply, and then ask yourself—“What can I be thankful
for in this moment?”
5. See what happens!
Will this method work for everyone? Will this method work for some
folks some of the time? If the answer even to the second question is
Yes, then that is surely something to be grateful for.
SOURCE: Adapted from article by Mary J. Lore, “Practicing Thankfulness…
Even in Difficult Times”—published in a local Chamber of Commerce
publication.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages