The Path to Stress Reduction

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."
—Chinese Proverb

It's hard to say when we began recognizing our collective stress. Hans Selye, a highly regarded Austro-Hungarian physician, began studying the effects of stress back in medical school in the 1920s. During his career, he wrote 30 books and penned over 1,500 articles on the topic that linked stress and disease. Selye died in 1982, and in 1983 Time Magazine picked up the proverbial stress ball with its first cover dedicated to the topic, "Stress! Seeking Cures for Modern Anxieties." Today, a search on Amazon.com of books on stress yields 12,583 listings. Take out about 10% for those that deal with "plant stress" and "stress fractures" and you still have a boatload of authors trying to help us reduce our stress. What we've learned is that stress is not like other illnesses—we can't necessarily eliminate it, but we can manage it. The key is finding ways to reduce its ill effects on our minds and bodies. As it turns out, there are numerous options for coping with stress that are both fun and beneficial.

Breathing

Though a seemingly natural act, breathing efficiently isn't as innate as you think. The goal of the breath is to get oxygen into your cells and to expel carbon dioxide. When we are stressed, we tend to breathe from our chest, taking short shallow breaths which upset the balance of gas in our blood. This type of breathing actually exacerbates symptoms of stress such as chest tightness, feeling faint, and numbness and tingling in the extremities. When we are relaxed, our breathing is focused more on the diaphragm than on the upper chest and it is slow and more rhythmic, which lowers blood pressure, reduces lactic acid build up, and reduces the level of stress hormones. When trying to relax, remember, the goal is to shift the breathing from the upper chest to the abdomen. For practice, place your hand on your abdomen and take as much of a deep breath in as you can through your nose while moving your abdomen out. Hold it for a few seconds and then exhale through your nose while deflating your abdomen. Be sure that the breath is coming from the diaphragm, not the upper chest. If this type of breathing causes hyperventilation or hyperventilation-type symptoms, discontinue the exercise. 

Yoga

No longer a blast from the past, yoga has enjoyed a huge resurgence in the past 10 years. The word yoga is a Sanskrit word translated as meaning "union," specifically the union of the spiritual body and the physical body. Yoga is all about achieving balance and relieving stress through a series of strength, balance, and flexibility poses. There are several different types of yoga, from the mellow Hatha yoga to the physically demanding Bikram or "hot" yoga practiced in a room where the temperature is set between 90 and 100 degrees to allow the body to go into deeper poses. Yoga classes are offered in gyms and also at private studios. While gym classes tend to focus on the physical aspects, yoga studios often incorporate more spiritual components and meditation into the class. If you can't take a class, pick up a video that you can watch at home. There are all types of yoga books available, including some that teach desk yoga. Desk yoga guides you through stretches that you won't be embarrassed to do at work.  

Meditation/Mindfulness

Meditation goes hand in hand with yoga and breathing exercises. It has been prescribed to lower blood pressure, reduce anxiety, and calm the mind. For many of us, clearing our mind of fleeting thoughts isn't easy, and it's fair to say that meditation takes practice. Start by taking just 30 seconds each day to close your eyes, inhale deeply from your diaphragm a few times, and clear your mind. Or, as some practitioners say, "Just look at the back of your eyelids." You can even focus on counting the seconds as a way to distract yourself from the activity around you. If, at first, you feel self conscious about doing this away from home, try it before you go to bed at night or when you wake up in the morning. While the goal of meditation is to clear the mind of activity and be in the moment, mindfulness is more a practice of observance. The goal is to observe activity around you but not react to it, almost as though you are looking through a window. Without reactions, our minds and bodies are at rest. 

Physical Activity

When we think of relieving stress, we don't always think of the gym as the place to do it. In fact, it's the perfect place. Physical activity not only improves your physical health, enabling you to better handle stress, it helps you mentally as well, both in the short and long term. Brandon Mancine, head of personal training at Lifetime Fitness in Fairfax, Virginia—a suburb of Washington, DC—estimates that about 75% of his clients say that they need to reduce stress. He gives them fitness goals that they can work toward. This helps them focus on a long-term project and it takes their minds off of their daily stressors while they are at the gym. "When you reach your fitness goals, the benefits are twofold," says Mancine, "you feel a big sense of accomplishment at the time and you can revisit that accomplishment when you need to feel positive about something." When it comes to short-term stress relief, Mancine has a quick fix. He pulls out the boxing gloves for willing clients or directs them to the treadmill for a run. "Sometimes you just need to take a few minutes and let it all out."  

Time Management

A lot of our stress comes from the fact that we simply don't have enough time to do what we need to or want to do. The consequences of missed appointments, late meetings, and overdue assignments are far reaching and just add to the stress we are feeling. The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research suggests a few tasks to help you better manage your time. Creating realistic expectations and deadlines is important. Try to limit your to-do list to a few important items. If you see a lot of items on your list at the close of business, chances are you're going to feel anxious. Organize your desk, and throw away papers that you don't need. Chaos breeds stress, so use a planner to keep important dates, addresses, and phone numbers. Don't just write things in your organizer, make time during the day to check it too. E-mail systems such as Microsoft Outlook have a calendar and task system to help you stay organized. The calendar has a notification system that will audibly alert you to pending appointments. PDAs and cell phones are a blessing and a curse. If possible, keep your device on silent and then set aside a few times a day to gather your messages. A phone that constantly rings doesn't allow you to focus on the tasks at hand.  

Eating Healthy

Our bodies need a wide variety of vitamins everyday in order to function properly, and some of these vitamins are particularly helpful during times of stress. The adrenal glands need vitamin C to make stress hormones, so, the more you are stressed, the more vitamin C is diverted from where it should be—boosting your immune system—to aid in stress fighting. That's why it's important to eat foods high in vitamin C such as oranges, grapefruit, and dark green leafy vegetables. The B-complex vitamins are also important in combating stress in that they keep the nervous system healthy, so take a break at work and grab an orange, an apple, some nuts, or whole grain cereal. Try to avoid foods that will quickly raise and then lower your blood sugar levels like sugary snacks, pasta, and white bread. These high-glycemic foods can leave you feeling tired, depressed, and sluggish. To make matters worse, these are the types of foods that you will probably crave during stressful times, so beware of your intake. When you are stressed, your body also needs calcium and magnesium to aid with tense muscles. Try low-fat yogurt, orange juice, or fortified cereal to boost your calcium levels.

Positive Thinking

A broader approach that often helps in stress management is positive thinking. Studies have shown that positive thinking can affect how well and how long you live. Researchers have shown that optimism is responsible for decreased stress, better immunity, a sense of well being and better health, reduced risk of coronary artery disease, and better coping skills. Like meditation, positive thinking isn't something that comes naturally for some of us, it takes practice. If you need a good primer, try reading or listening to The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent Peale.

Just Take a Break

Not interested in going to the gym or practicing your down dog yoga position? Simply take a break. Go for a walk, call a friend, or write in a journal. Try listening to a spoken word CD that will help relax you with guided imagery. There are also CDs with soothing nature sounds that are designed to refocus your attention and help lower your stress level. Simply lighting an aromatherapy candle can do wonders for your mood. The path to stress reduction is different for everyone, and the key is finding something that works for you.

Renee Dexter is a freelance writer and partner in Rainmaker Publishing.

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