Stress is always with us, so manage it
by Chris West
Public Relations
Got stress? Of course you do.
Are you managing it? Possibly a much different answer.
Pamela
Rustin, LMSW, is hosting a 4-week workshop that will help participants
place stress where it belongs in their lives—to their advantage.
“The myth of stress is that it is all bad,” Rustin said. “But when it comes to coping with pressure, we want stress on our side, whether we know it or not.”
The first step in managing any stress is understanding it. And where there are a myriad of definitions for stress, Rustin believes it to be “anything that evokes a change.” This also lends to the notion of positive and negative stress, depending on what type of change is brought about.
“Stress can keep us alert, challenge us and increase our performance and efficiency. Respiration in our bodies is done through positive stress on the lungs,” Rustin said.
Conversely, stress exists that seriously taxes the body and leaves it vulnerable to illness. Other physical symptoms of stress can absolutely terrify us.
“It leaves virtually no system of the body untouched,” Rustin said. “It is linked to our heart rate, muscle tension, our senses and our immune system. So with the onset of stress, any or all systems are affected.”
Be it positive or negative, the idea Rustin is driving at is that stress is natural. We, in essence, need a certain degree of it in our lives to perform daily functions. With stress being capable of evoking dual responses, balance becomes an important step in its management.
“Recognizing stressors is pertinent to any amount of management,” said Rustin. “You can't manage what you aren't aware of.” Recognizing potential stressors allows a person to avoid them. But what to do when avoidance isn't possible?
“Go with it, adjust to it, remove yourself from an environment that evokes those types of responses,” Rustin said. “The thing to not do is resist it or ignore it, this almost guarantees that the stress will intensify and, over time, the person may develop serious health issues.”
This leads to the next obvious question—is stress lethal?
“Indirectly, yes,” Rustin said. “Unattended stress can lead to conditions that can damage the body, such as hypertension and heart disease, that's what makes its management crucial.”
Crucial in regards to the astonishing numbers that surround stress in the lives of everyday people.
“First, stress on the job is responsible for an estimated $200 billion a year. Stress has been linked to 50 percent of illnesses in the United States, and more than 80 percent of doctors visits are stress-related,” Rustin said. “With numbers out there like that, management is something that everyone needs to take an active role in.”
Rustin plans to bring that active role to the participants of the workshop. Topics related to stress such as stress in the work place, in life issues, the role of stress in health issues, techniques for coping and what happens to the body in a physiological sense when stress does arise.
“My goal of the workshop is to bring awareness of what stress is and how to get through it,” Rustin said. “After all, it is always going to be in our lives, so learning a degree of control over it can make the ill effects less debilitating.”
The workshop is scheduled for four weeks with the first beginning on
Feb. 7. The workshop is open to university and hospital employees and those
interested should register in advance by calling 727-0153.