Stop Relationship Stress and Create Your Own Health RemediesWritten by Pat Swan, MS, Life and Relationship Coach
Human beings need relationships. Your relationships, past, present, personal or professional, represent a major source of stress in your life. Chronic stress causes breakdown of your immune system. This leads to many emotional and physical disorders including heart disease, fibromyalgia, cancer, ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, and depression.You can manage your stress many ways. Stress management strategies include deep breathing, relaxation exercises, physical exercise, meditation, and yoga. But did you know that if you reduce your interpersonal stress you can improve health? Most of my clients who suffer from depression, anxiety or other mental illnesses complain about one thing – relationship problems at work or at home. Like most people, I am sure you have heard a million times that you must quit smoking to reduce risks of cancer and enhance health. Have you heard results of divorce studies about men and divorce? These indicate that men going through divorce experience stress related damage equal to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Is opposite true? If you reduce conflict in your relationships and avoid divorce, do you create a health remedy? I’m sure you know that we must exercise, eat healthy and watch our cholesterol if we want to avoid a heart attack. But have you heard that an element closely linked to heart disease has been defined as “hostility “ factor, or “cynical mistrust of others?” then it must follow that if you improve your conflict resolution skills and manage your anger you create cardiovascular health remedies.
| | STRESS MANAGEMENT FOR 2004: The Rest of the StoryWritten by Pat Swan, MS, Life and Relationship Coach
Perhaps you are like many of people I talk to who have moved on from stress of holidays and are now feeling stress of everyday life. Would you really like to reduce or even eliminate some of stress rather than just “manage” it? Would you like a healthier, happier life?Stress is epidemic in our country. Norman Cousins, author of Anatomy of an Illness said that “stress is most serious medical problem of our time.” Chronic stress releases dangerous stress hormones and shuts down our immune system. Stress plays a major role in most illnesses including cancer, heart disease, fibromyalgia, migraines, gastrointestinal problems, arthritis and many more. Stress related symptoms are reason for 90% of doctor office visits. Stress kills. If you are like me, you have probably taken at least one of those “stress tests.” You know, kind where you check off all of possible life stressors you have experienced and then realize you have checked most of them. Then what? Do we just wait to get sick? What are we supposed to do about it? Most of people I talk to say that stress management strategies suggested to them include exercise, nutrition, yoga, meditation, relaxation, deep breathing, and perhaps a hot bath. What if I told you that NONE of these will help you reduce or eliminate your stress? They all may be helpful in boosting immune function, clearing mind, or developing physical fitness. But they will provide, at most, momentary relief from ongoing problem of chronic stress. WHY? Because stress is EMOTION that results from LIFE EVENTS. An event happens, we interpret it, we generate emotion. Stressful emotions include fear, worry, anxiety, anger, rage, grief, hurt, shame. Emotions eat at us. They make us sick. Stressful LIFE EVENTS include relationship problems, life/work balance problems, career issues, parenting problems, life issues around purpose and priorities, financial problems, and many more.
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