Are You a Stress Junkie?
What could be worse for your health than cigarettes, excessive alcohol and junk food? Believe it or not, the answer is stress.
The captain had just switched off the seatbelt sign, then Jennifer’s heart started to race. She tried to take a deep breath, but her chest simply wouldn’t expand. It felt like a tight bandage was wrapped around her upper body. She took short, sharp breaths, but these only frightened her more. Jennifer was having her first anxiety attack. But it wasn’t because she was scared of flying. It was because of stress.
For the previous decade Jennifer had been working in the finance and banking world. A successful career woman, she spent more than 70 hours a week telling powerful and wealthy clients how to improve their bottom line. “I was setting unrealistic expectations in my work, but I thrived on the challenge of meeting them,” she reveals. “The stress of the job was thrilling. I loved it.”
But as Jennifer made her way from Sydney to Melbourne that day – to inform employees they were being made redundant – her body finally caught the attention of her mind. “It was silly because I didn’t even think I was stressed,” she says. Telling herself she was fine, Jennifer recovered from the airborne panic attack. But the episodes that follwed made it harder to ignore. Years later, believing she may be having a heart attack, Jennifer finally saw a doctor. He told her she was suffering from stress induced breathing problems. Jennifer had an addiction to stress, and it was slowly killing her.
Like love, stress means different things to different people. But the single constant in today’s fast paced world is the status that stress endows on its owner. Those who wear pressure and strain as a badge of honour are driven, whether consciously or subconsciously, to seek out stressful situtations. “People addicted to stress pursue it because they believe it to be good for them, but they ignore the increasing cost,” points out psychistrist Dr Jeffrey Streimer. Like many bad habits, initially it feels good. “There is no doubt that some people do enjoy the rush associated with stressful situations”, says Dr Sarah Edelman, Australian Psychologist Socity spokesperson and author of Change your Thinking,, ”And stress can be good for us.” The healthy type of tension is a motivator. It makes us more alert and pushes us to achieve. After all, people who have too little of it in their lives can become bored and unproductive.
The problem occurs when people, like Jennifer, come to see it as a way of life. And when stress gets out of control it’s harmful. “Sooner or later people reach a tipping point and instead of becoming stretched in their lives, they become strained. Instead of being a motivator, stress does the opposite and a person can become unproductive,” says Meiron Lees, author of D-Stress – Building Resilience in Challenging Times,. In short, chronic stress is not only damaging to our minds, it’s also detrimental to our health.
Basically the stress of deadlines and traffic jams evokes the same physiological reaction that occurred thousands of years ago when anxiety came in the form of sabre-toothed cats. The body responds to these “challenging” situations by releasing adrenaline into the blood, making the heart beat faster and supplying blood to the muscles. Then cortisol wears away at the body’s fat and energy stores, releasing extra glucose to fuel the brain and body. Finally, the body slows down the immune and digestive systems so it can preserve energy.
When it comes to mega sized carnovires, the system is second to none. But whilst out stressors today are more regular and don’t tend to force us to bolt to safety, our bodies haven’t caught up. “Our body treats psychological stress the same way it treats physical stress and releases the same response,” says biological scientist Dr Sinan Ali. So while your mind might panic over a deadline, your body is preparing for battle. When that fight doesn’t happen, all those hormones hang around in the body with nothing to fight. And that̵s when stress becomes responsible for conditions such as obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, insomnia, and skin and digestive problems.
What’s your stress type?
Procrastinator
There’s nothing like a looming deadling to get the heart racing. It’s a stressor most of us will experience, but some people put themselves under this pressure daily by procrastinating. Dr Edelman expalsin that if someone is constantly doing this, rather than simply delaying an unpleasant task, they might be avoiding their job and need to rethink their career, or be insecure about their abilities. By procrastinating they can blame the results of the task on their lack of effort not their capabilities.
The Status Chaser
If putting our bodies through chronic stress is a bad thing, why do we do it? “There is the idea that to be successful you have to work long hours and always be incredibly busy,“ says Lees. Many workers associate being stressed with being effective, a misconception reinforced by bosses who commend them for their efforts. These days, stress is a bragging point on par with comparing pay cheques and fitness levels.
The Venter
You might think you’re complaining about work, but you may be using stress to air personal emotions that are trickier to address. Some people deliberately look for stressful situations that will allow them to release pent up emotions caused by other aspects of their lives. “People can seek out aggression to help them feel in control,” say Dr Streimer. “They create stress to discharge any frustrations they have.” And being ’too stressed’ to deal with anything else is the perfect way to avoid what’s really bothering you.
Stress Relief
- Admitting there’s a problem. Ask yourself why you’re stressing out and whether it’s helping the situation. Doing this can give you some much needed perspective.
- Minimise unnecessary stress. If you’re a worrywart, don’t panic over your work, your weight and the wellbeing of your extended family. Instead choose the most important thing to contemplate. If you procrastinate, try the Pomodoro Technique. When tackling a task, work for 25 minutes, then break for 5. Repeat this four times, then take a longer break. Thinking you only need to concentrate for a short time will help you stay motivated.
- Work on reversing the negative effects stress has on the body. The easiest, cheapest way to do that is to get out and pound the pavement. One study found that just 18 minutes of walking 3 times a week lowers cortisol levels by 15 percent. “Not only does physical activity soak up the hormones caused by stress, minimising their negative impacts, but it also disrupts your mind, which can distract you from stress”, says Dr Ali.
- Look at your diet. The body reacts to dieting the same way it does when you worry about making your mortgage repayments. It’s a stressor that can raise your cortisol levels by 18 per cent.
- Finally don’t think you need to strike a yoga pose every time the going gets tough. Instead try inhaling some rose oil or dabbing it on your skin. According to the 2009 Complementary and Alternative Medicine Report, it calms the mind and can lower blood pressure and heart rate.
- The final step in the rehabilitation process is about finding balance instead of suffering what Dr Streimer calls “Angelina Jolie Syndrome” – the need to have it all. Give some thought to your priorities and make sure all your energy is going into what you value most.
Dealing with Stress at Any Age
20’s
Top Tension – Trying to establish your career and climb the corporate ladder
Stress Solution – Stress management expert, Meiron Lees says that during your 20’s you need to build the confidence to handle life’s ups and downs. “Everyday, write down something that went well, no matter how small. It will remind you of your achievements.”
30’s
Top Tension – Managing a career with the challenges of being a parent and or partner.
Stress Solution – Say “no”. “Realise that although society says you can do everything, your body says you can’t. Decide what’s important in your life and make sure your time is being devoted to that”, says Lees. For anything else, learn to delegate or just don’t go there.
40’s
Top Tension – Trying to create wealth and establishing a quality of life.
Stress Solution – Whether you want an investment property or a strong, healthy body, work out steps to get there. Try outsourcing typical sources of anxiety by seeing a financial planner to sort out your money woes, or a personal trainer to help with your fitness.
The Tipping Point
There are two types of stress. The good type, eustress, motivates you to achieve your goals and leaves you feeling challenged but in control. Then there is distress, which leaves you anxious, unsettled and unmotivated. So, how do you know if your good stress is turning bad? “Look for the warning signs”, says psychologist Dr Sarah Edelman. If you start to feel shaky, tense, tight in the chest, irritable or are having problems sleeping, the stress is getting too much for you to handle. “When you feel out of control, stres usually becomes a problem,” says stress management expert, Meiron Lees from InnerCents.