Stress Education Center - Dstress.com Newsletter

October, 2000 Volume I

"Dedicated to serving by providing information, products, and services to

create awareness and then offer control of stress and the process of change."

In this issue:

1. Introduction and Welcome

2. Contests and give-aways

3. Article: The Physiology of Stress

4. Reference/Link: Change Management

5. FAQ - Question of the Month

6. Product of the Month: On-line Stress Management Course

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1. Introduction of the Stress Education Center's - Dstress.com Newsletter

Welcome to the first issue of this monthly e-zine. The purpose in providing this newsletter is to offer information about stress and possible solutions to managing stress and change. Your input is encouraged. This will be a forum for answering questions/concerns, offering suggestions, motivating you and your clients to develop and practice a strategy of self-care that includes regular stress management.

The goal is to enhance your quality of life, increase your productivity, and offer tested fun strategies that will give you more time and energy.

Please read the newsletter and provide feedback. This feedback will help to shape the form and content for future editions. Thank you in advance for your assistance in the development process.

L. John Mason, Ph.D.

2. Contests and Give-aways:

The first contest is very simple to enter. The prize to the winner will be a stress management This contest is very simple to enter. The prize to the winner will be a stress management audio program.

This contest involves reporting the most effective way (or ways) you can motivate someone to use stress management techniques. You may enter more than one suggestion at a time. The top 5 suggestions will be posted in an upcoming newsletter and a winner will be selected. This has been one of the major concerns of trainers and consultants. How can you get people to try the techniques that you suggest for a long enough trial for the benefits to be perceived and the new behaviors installed into their lifestyles. Obviously, motivation varies for each individual, but a listing of possibilities will be very beneficial. There might even be a future article regarding the suggestions from this contest.

Please enter and give this group "brainstorming" some support. Remember, there will be no bad answers but possibly great solutions to serve many people. Thank you.

3. Article: The Physiology of Stress

This article is taken from the Stress Education Center's website http://www.dstress.com/articles/physiology_stress.html.

Half the battle of overcoming the negative effects of stress is to fully understand what the stress response is, why it exists, and does this effect you on an individual basis. With this information you can learn to control your physical and emotional responses by going opposite your habituated responses to stress. The primitive response that creates our reactions to stress does not cope well with the fast-paced world that we must exist within.

Physiology of Stress

The primitive survival mechanism known as the "Fight/Flight" response is built in to every human. It responds to fear/danger from everything from life threatening situations to the alarm going off in the morning. Every human has a habitual response to stress that is either learned or genetically implanted. In a real life or death situation almost all of this response will be trigger by survival to help you to fight off or flee this danger.

Since awareness is half the battle in controlling stress, you must learn to be aware of how you respond to stress. Remember, you have a unique response. It may include:

1. Increased heart rate. This pumps blood around the body to get oxygen and sugars to the cells that you will need to use to survive. Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: Rapid or irregular heartbeats

2. Breathing usually becomes more rapid. To get more oxygen into the body. Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: hyperventilation and some forms of asthma

3. Stress hormones are released. Adrenaline, also called epinephrine, is released by the adrenal glands. This hormone helps to maintain increased heart rates and will tell the liver to release stored sugar for energy to the body. Other stress hormones do other thing. Noradrenaline is associated with anger and will raise blood pressure for most people. Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: high blood pressure, panic or anxiety

4. Blood pressure can go up. Triggered by released stress hormones. Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: high blood pressure

5. Muscles that you would use to fight or flee often become very tight until released by relaxation, massage, stretching, or exercise. This is one of the most common responses to stress and has lead to everyday expressions like: "Pain in the neck" and other places.) Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: tension headaches, tight jaw, neck/shoulder pain/tension, back pain, insomnia (including trouble getting to sleep, staying asleep, or not feeling rested after sleeping), fatigue, loss of concentration (distracted by muscle pain or tension), learning disabilities, poor communication (listening and speaking)

6. Changes in blood flow/circulation. Blood is directed toward the brain and major muscles for survival. Blood is directed away from surface of skin in hands and feet (for survival a primitive response so you do not bleed to death if you get cut running away or fighting for your life.) Blood is directed away from digestive organs and reproductive organs because for survival it becomes a low priority to digest food or keep the species alive if you are threatened. Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: high blood pressure, cold hands and feet, upset stomach, igraine headaches, pre-ulcerous/ulcerous conditions, increased colitis, sometimes constipation, and 70% of sexual dysfunction in both men and women can be linked to this stress response.

7. All of your senses are heightened are survival vigilance. You are more sensitive to noise (ringing telephones or door bells), to light, to smells, even to increased sensitivity to touch. Your neo-cortex (the thinking part of your new brain) shuts down and the survival mechanisms in the middle and lower more primitive parts of the brain take over, so you react to things and do not think things through as well. Basic emotions: fear, anger, sadness, and joy (nervous laughter) take over from complicated, sophisticated higher function emotions. Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: emotional irritability, substance abuse to escape stress through self-medication, anxiety, depression, poor impulse control, poor
problem solving and reduced communication abilities

8. You perspire/sweat to cool the body's increased metabolism down. Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: hyperhidrosis (which can lead to dehydration due to over sweating)

9. Imbalances in normal hormone levels. Longer term, unresolved stress can affect the immune system which is normally there to fight off infections and promote healing. Symptoms that can be associated with this stress response might include: frequent colds or flu's, infections, cancer or tumor development, increased allergic responses,
auto-immune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma).

Everyone holds their tension in one or more of these systems. You need to identify which systems respond when you get stressed and then learn to release this physical tension. It takes time and motivated practice to learn to let go but the results in enhanced quality of life and increased productivity are worth the effort.

Stress management that is effective, offers techniques that when practiced can help you to prevent or at least minimize any symptoms of stress that you may habitually experience. Breathing techniques, progressive relaxations, Autogenic training, visualization techniques, and meditations can all be part of an effective stress management program. Combined with exercise and good diet, these provide a strong program that can create or enhance wellness and offer benefits by keeping you healthy, giving you better focus and productivity, and actually giving you greater internal resources of energy.

4. Reference/Link: Change Management

Please e-mail your suggestions for references and links available on the www.

In this newsletter, the link that is offered is to an article available at the Stress Education Center's website on Managing Change. Use the following link:

http://www.dstress.com/articles/leading_change.html

I hope that this article will be of service to you or your clients.

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5. FAQ - Question of the Month

Cheryl Rutledge of CCL Labels, Inc. asks about the Ten Timely Tips page of the website (http://www.dstress.com/articles/self_care.html).

"Do these techniques work, especially on the job, and how can I make copies for our employees?"

The 40 deep breaths per day exercise is very effective at work. When you link a repeated activity such as: clock watching, save function of computer program, or a telephone ringing, with taking one slow deep breath, remembering to relax your jaw and neck/shoulders, you will find that you have fewer muscle tensions later in the work day or to take home with you.

Remembering to breathe sounds easy, and yet it is a very powerful tool for you to use. It requires almost no time or energy. After several weeks of focused practice, it becomes a habit that does not require any attention but has great rewards.

The other 9 tips have been used to minimize or eliminate many symptoms of stress. The preventive use of positive communication can enhance both professional and personal relationships. Though only a simple introduction these tools can open the flood gates for success when you are coached to full implementation.

To make copies of the information of the articles at the Stress Education Center's website, highlight the information, copy, and then paste it into a word processing document. You may have to adjust your formatting, but it will print out fine. (Please credit the Stress Education Center's website for this information.)

6. Product of the Month: On-line Stress Management Course

The Stress Education Center is very please to announce the release of the new stress management on-line course. This course is five sessions and includes the materials to build a very effective stress control program for participants. It includes five audio tapes, a biofeedback temperature monitor (to demonstrate your success), stress assessments/questionnaires, and information to develop action plans to help implement this material easily into your lifestyle.

We believe that this unique on-line program will help many people who have limited time and support but who can benefit from this essential information.

Please visit http://www.dstress.com/online_course.html for details.