April is National Stress Awareness Month. We know that stress is an unavoidable part of life, and not all stress is necessarily bad for you. Some types of stress, for example, can actually be healthy and necessary. Other types may not be a wonderful thing to feel, however it won’t do lasting damage. Some types of stress, though, can wreak havoc on your body, and may potentially affect most aspects of your health.
Because it is Stress Awareness Month, I want you to learn more about stress and how you can better manage it in your life. This month my blogs will be totally dedicated to all aspects of managing stress and de-cluttering your lives.
Today let’s just understand the types of Stress that occur.
Find out what's happening in Three Villagewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Eustress: a type of stress that is fun and exciting, and keeps us vital such as racing a bicycle, skiing down a slope or racing to meet a deadline, or a ferry boat etc.
Acute Stress: a very short-term type of stress that can either be positive (eustress) or more distressing (what we normally think of when we think of ‘stress'); this is the type of stress we most often encounter in day-to-day life such as dealing with road rage, an upset co-worker, or having a million things to do with the family.
Find out what's happening in Three Villagewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Episodic Acute Stress: where acute stress seems to run rampant and be a way of life, creating a life of relative chaos, this is the type of stress that coined the terms ‘drama queen.’ This is the type of stress you recognize as being one thing after the other.
Chronic Stress: the type of stress that seems never-ending and inescapable, like the stress of a bad marriage or an extremely taxing job this type of stress can lead burnout and chronic illness.
All of these types of stress trigger the Flight or Fight response and release hormones into our systems. These hormones are Cortisol and Adrenaline. This is what gives us the energy to deal with the stressor at the time. When the perceived threat is gone, our bodies and levels of hormones tend to go back to normal. The problem begins when stress levels become chronic because we physically don’t get the chance to return to a normal state of homeostasis.
Quick Breathing exercise from Dr. A. Weil:
The 4-7-8 (or Relaxing Breath) Exercise
This exercise is utterly simple, takes almost no time, requires no equipment and can be done anywhere. Although you can do the exercise in any position, sit with your back straight while learning the exercise. Place the tip of your tongue against the ridge of tissue just behind your upper front teeth, and keep it there through the entire exercise. You will be exhaling through your mouth around your tongue; try pursing your lips slightly if this seems awkward.
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound.
- Close your mouth and inhale quietly through your nose to a mental count of four.
- Hold your breath for a count of seven.
- Exhale completely through your mouth, making a whoosh sound to a count of eight.
- This is one breath. Now inhale again and repeat the cycle three more times for a total of four breaths.
Note that you always inhale quietly through your nose and exhale audibly through your mouth. The tip of your tongue stays in position the whole time. Exhalation takes twice as long as inhalation. The absolute time you spend on each phase is not important; the ratio of 4:7:8 is important. If you have trouble holding your breath, speed the exercise up but keep to the ratio of 4:7:8 for the three phases. With practice you can slow it all down and get used to inhaling and exhaling more and more deeply. http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART00521/three-breathing-exercises.html
For this month we will be discussing the effects of this chronic stress and what we can do about it. Until next time….
