Everything You've Always Wanted To Know About Stress, But Were Too Stressed To Pay Attention To It

Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. - Natalie Goldberg

Stressful facts about “Stress”:

More than 50% of adult Americans suffer adverse health effects due to stress.
Medical researchers estimate that up to 90% of illness and disease is stress-related.
Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide.
Tranquilizers, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety medications account for one fourth of all prescriptions written in the U.S. each year
Americans spend $11.3 billion per year to cope with stress

What can be added to the discussion on stress, especially now, and knowing all that we know, is that it is up to each and every one of us to find out about it as much as possible in order to save ourselves from its debilitating effects, both short term, as well as long term. Excluding the trauma of living in a war zone, surviving a natural disaster, being a crime victim, or suffering from a horrible accident, most of our stress comes from the makings of our own mind, our perceptions of our experiences that arise out of daily living. What a bizarre thing we humans do to ourselves in the course of going about our daily lives! Whether it’s career/work stress, relationship stress, money stress, aging stress, wedding stress, or vacation stress (!), we are all faced with the task of organizing our response to the stuff of our lives. And that’s what stress really is – not the actual event or situation, but our response to it.

I'm an old man and I've had many troubles, most of which never happened. - Mark Twain

Aging and stress

Stress doesn't just make a person feel older. In a very real sense, it can speed up aging. A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that stress can add years to the age of individual immune system cells. The study focused on telomeres, caps on the end of chromosomes. Whenever a cell divides, the telomeres in that cell get a little shorter and a little more time runs off the clock. When the telomere becomes too short, time runs out: The cell can no longer divide or replenish itself. This is a key process of aging, and it's one of the reasons humans can't live forever. Researchers checked both the telomeres and the stress levels of 58 healthy premenopausal women. The stunning result: On average, the immune system cells of highly stressed women had aged by an extra 10 years. The study didn't explain how stress adds years to cells making up the immune system. As the study authors write, "the exact mechanisms that connect the mind to the cell are unknown." Researchers do have a not very surprising theory, though: Stress hormones could be somehow shortening telomers and cutting the life span of cells.


New Science Regarding Stress:

One of the most original minds working today in the area of physiology and stress, is Dr. Robert Sapolsky. He is a MacArthur fellow, and a professor of biological sciences and neuroscience at Stanford University, and he has an outstanding reputation as a dynamic teacher and lecturer. In addition, he is also an accomplished writer and communicator of science to non-scientists. Every summer since the late '70s, he has traveled to Kenya to study the stressful lives of baboons, whose competitive, stratified society resembles our own. By linking baboons' behavior with their health, he has learned that some individuals handle stress better than others. More importantly, he has also seen the profound effect of peace on these animal societies.

But an extraordinary thing has been observed in one of the troops, called the Forest Troop: In his book A Primate's Memoir, Sapolsky studied the activities and lifestyle of the Forest Troop to explore the relationship between stress and disease. In typical baboon fashion, the males behaved badly, angling either to assume or maintain dominance with higher ranking males or engaging in bloody battles with lower ranking males, which often tried to overthrow the top baboon by striking tentative alliances with fellow underlings. Females were often harassed and attacked. Internecine feuds were routine.

Through a heartbreaking twist of fate, the most aggressive males in the Forest Troop were wiped out. The top ranked males invaded the territory of another troop, which had taken to foraging in an open garbage pit adjacent to a tourist lodge. The Forest Troop aggro males who had so viciously fought for the rights to the garbage dump, contracted bovine tuberculosis from tainted meat that ended up in the dump. Most died between 1983 and 1986, leaving the weak, oldest, and youngest males behind with all the females. The deaths drastically changed the gender composition of the troop, more than doubling the ratio of females to males, and by 1986 troop behavior had changed considerably as well; males were significantly less aggressive. Over time, the males in the Forest Troop also displayed more grooming behavior, an activity that's decidedly less stressful than fighting.

Analyzing blood samples from the different troops, Dr. Sapolsky found that the Forest Troop males lacked the distinctive physiological markers of stress, such as elevated levels of stress-induced hormones, seen in other troups. For Sapolsky, the challenge is to figure out why these differences exist and to see if there are lessons for humanity: “I can tell you this: physiologically, it doesn't come cheap being a bastard 24 hours a day.”

What this is supporting, is the very clear link between peaceful, calm behavior both in individuals, as well as society at large, and longer, happier lives. Of course many many philosophers, spiritual leaders, writers, activists, as well as plain old folks, have known about this for millennia. Now it seems, science has irrefutable proof of it.

When it rains, I let it. - 113 year old man in response to a question about the secret of his longevity

Interesting and Inspiring Facts about Stress:

The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones
When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.
Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.
Stress is manageable, workable, and reversible

Stress Be Gone! What to DO about stress that is not stressful at all:

Eat Consciously

The important connection between diet and stress cannot be “stressed” enough. If the food you eat is imperative to your overall everyday health, then it may very well save your life in times of stress. Eating high fat, sugary, fried foods, and/or drinking and smoking while experiencing stress, is literally proving to be like playing Russian roulette: it will definitely catch up with you and harm you greatly.

AVOID:Caffeine: overstimulates the adrenals which are responsible for the hormonal “flight or fight” response in the body.
Alcohol: Spikes sugar levels in blood, bogs down liver function needed for immune system, disturbs sleep patterns, causes depression, reduces ability to judge situations rationally – things feel worse than they really are.
Salt: triggers hypertension; restricted salt intake allows kidneys to remove stress hormones from the bloodstream at a faster rate.
Sugar: Exacerbates mood swings - gets you high, then you crash.
Trans fats: greasy fried foods clog liver function, reduce circulation and raise blood pressure.
Animal foods: High-protein foods elevate brain levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, both of which are associated with higher levels of anxiety and stress.

Stock your pantry with these foods to help you stave off stress and enhance your beauty and well being:

Wild Salmon: Omega-3 fatty acids fight depression
Oatmeal: Carbs produce serotonin, a neurotransmitter responsible for calm, relaxed feelings. Whole grains and complex carbohydrates are better than sugary carbs.
Walnuts: contain Omega 3s, as well as L-arginine, an amino acid that converts to nitric oxide, a chemical that allows blood vessels to relax.
Dark Chocolate: Feel good chemicals in it are for real: anandamide and phenylethylamine calm the mind and lower blood pressure.
Sweet Potatoes: a great low calorie, starchy food that boosts serotonin levels; also contains beta carotenes, free radical scavenger that protects from sun damage.
Milk/Cheese/Yogurt: High calcium intake reduces PMS symptoms and may even alleviate them altogether.
Blueberries: Number one in antioxidants (supports immune system), and potassium which helps lower blood pressure.
Asparagus/Chickpeas: high in folic acid, which helps stabilize moods. The body converts folic acid into serotonin.

Aromatherapy:

Many plant essences can help to bring on a calm, relaxed state of mind. Aromatherapy is simple to do: just dip a cottonball in the essences and inhale. You can find them on line or at your local health food store. Organic is best, when available.

Essential Oils For Stress-Related Problems
Anger, Anxiety: Basil, bergamot, chamomile, clary sage, cypress, frankincense, geranium, hyssop, jasmine, juniper, lavender, marjoram, melissa, neroli, ylang-ylang
Depression: Basil, clary sage, grapefruit, jasmine, lavender, melissa, neroli, rose, sandalwood, vetiver, ylang-ylang
Insomnia: Basil, chamomile, lavender, mandarin, marjoram, melissa, neroli, petitgrain, rose, sandalwood, thyme, ylang-ylang
Nervous Exhaustion: Basil, cinnamon, citronella, coriander, ginger, grapefruit, hyssop, jasmine, lavender, lemon grass, peppermint, nutmeg, rosemary, ylang-ylang
Nervous Tension: Basil, bergamot, cedarwood, chamomile, cinnamon, frankincense, geranium, jasmine, lavender, marjoram, melissa, neroli, palmarosa, rosemary, vetiver, ylang-ylang

Herbal Teas:

Brewing up a soothing cup of tea is a calming, peace-inducing ritual in itself. If you can, find loose leaves, that are organic, but ready made tea bags in various blends of the herbs listed here are just fine.

Mint: Herbs in the mint family, especially spearmint and peppermint, add a refreshing flavor and mild sedative action to herbal teas. They are especially soothing to an upset stomach.
Skullcap: The whole plant can be used as tea to help relieve a variety of symptoms. Skullcap is a relaxing herb that you can use for insomnia, headache, nervous exhaustion, muscle spasms, and the nervous tension and irritability associated with premenstrual syndrome.
Ginseng: The dried roots of ginseng are used in cases of insomnia, nervous exhaustion, and stress.
Chamomile: The delicate apple-like scented flowers of chamomile are useful for people suffering from hyperactivity, indigestion, insomnia, and nausea
Lavender: Its benefits include anxiety, indigestion, irritability, nervous exhaustion and tension headaches
Lemon verbena is used to help alleviate indigestion, insomnia, and nausea.
Linden: The aromatic flowers of this herb help relieve anxiety, headaches, indigestion, and nervous tension.
Passionflower vine: are utilized in teas by persons suffering from anxiety, insomnia, irritability, nervous tension, PMS & menstrual problems, and tension headaches.
Valerian: useful in relieving anxiety, insomnia, and tension. Actual clinical trials show that valerian can help users fall asleep faster and have a deeper, more refreshing night's sleep.
Catnip has a variety of medicinal uses including insomnia, excitability, palpitations, nervous indigestion, stomach upsets, and digestion-related headaches. Interestingly, although catnip causes quite a bit of excitement in cats, it is believed to have exactly the opposite effect on humans. Catnip tea has a long history of use as a calming brew, to soothe the stomach and quiet the mind.

Vitamin And Mineral Therapy

To help offset some of the damage caused by stress, try the following daily supplements:

200 to 400 milligrams of magnesium,
10 to 100 milligrams of B- complex vitamins and
500 to 3,000 milligrams of vitamin C.

The magnesium blocks the damaging effects of excess adrenaline. Studies have shown the physical damage caused by stress is minimized with B-complex and Vitamin C.

Here are some other things to help prevent stress:
Yoga (try very easy beginner’s classes to really understand why this 3000 year old system of health and wellbeing is so relevant to our modern age)
Mindfulness Meditation (Be Here Now; stress and anxiety come from either dwelling in the past or projecting into the future. The mind that is in the present moment is much more peaceful)
Deep Breathing (deep-breathing-a-day keeps the doctor away)
Guided Imagery (many, many audio cds exist to help you visualize peaceful journeys)
Progressive Muscle Relaxation (first relax your toes, then your ankles, then your shins….)
Massage Therapy (lowers blood pressure and assists in the movement of lymph through the lymph system. Our lymph system carries cellular debris and toxins out of the body.)
Exercise In Nature (long walks, biking, hiking, swimming in the ocean)

Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it. - Jane Wagner

Laugh:

Finally, here is one of my favorite remedies for stress (and you may laugh at this, but it really works): Laughter Therapy. A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn't just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can:
§ Stimulate your organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
§ Activate and relieve your stress response. A rollicking laugh fires up and then cools down your stress response and increases your heart rate and blood pressure. The result? A good, relaxed feeling.
§ Soothe tension and stomachaches. Laughter can also ease digestion and stimulate circulation, which helps reduce some of the physical symptoms of stress.
Laughter isn't just a quick pick-me-up, though. It's also good for you over the long haul. Laughter may:
§ Improve your immune system. Negative thoughts manifest into chemical reactions that can impact your body by bringing more stress into your system and decreasing your immunity. In contrast, positive thoughts actually release neuropeptides that help fight stress and potentially more-serious illnesses.
§ Relieve pain. Laughter may ease pain by causing the body to produce its own natural painkillers.
§ Increase personal satisfaction. Laughter can also make difficult situations a little bit easier.
While we are all works in progress, and the most certain thing about life it that it will be filled with uncertainties, there is only one life that we are given. Use it wisely.

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

New Year's Renewal: Hitting the Refresh Button for 2011

MIND

In discussing ways to jumpstart your New Year, the focus has been on cleansing, “refreshing”, starting over. The cornerstone of any holistic approach to good health and healthy living, is the acknowledgment of the mind/body connection. One of the very best ways, then, to begin cultivating this “new you”, is to really and truly understand what your own mind/body connection is, to begin viewing everything you do through this perspective.
The easiest place to begin is with the breath.

As mentioned in our Top 10 list above, learning how to deep breathe is a must for physical cleansing and health. But breathing exercises also form the foundation of many ancient practices that promote a deepening of consciousness—meditation, mindfulness, yoga, chi gong. In the Middle East the word for breath (ruach in Hebrew and ruhain Aramaic) also means spirit. The way in which we breathe is also the way in which we embody spirit. Deep flowing breath is a sign of health, balance, and fullness of spirit. Short shallow breath indicates stress. Breath is the simplest most direct way to focus one’s energy and to connect with the center of awareness. Breathing through a stressful time is an effective way to let go of the tension that accumulates in the body. A few long deep breaths at a difficult moment can completely change the way we handle a situation. By changing the way we breathe we can change emotional and physical states. Feelings and emotions can therefore be released and cleared out of the body by working with the breath.

Meditation is another way to achieve the same results. It clears the mind, puts everything in perspective, helps move your emotional center to a more non-reactive place, and trains the mind to “be in the present moment”. Stress comes from either dwelling in the past or projecting into the future. Problem solving, clear thinking and reasoning, and ability to be more flexible with life’s daily challenges can be directly related to present moment thinking. There are many ways to begin meditating, either on your own, or with a group. There is meditation with yoga, Zazen (seated formal Zen Buddhist meditation), walking meditation, Transcendental Meditation that trains one to meditate anytime, anywhere. As they like to joke in ye olde Buddhist monastery: “Don’t just do something, sit there!”

The practice of consciously unplugging, of finding how to take a step back from your daily life, through alone time, through stillness and quiet, is critical for living a healthier life. It’s been medically proven that mindful disengagement, when practiced on a regular basis, provides the link to mind/body health. This is truly what “hitting the refresh button” is all about.

SPIRIT

The through line of this discussion is about finding a New Year’s ritual that not only serves the purpose of helping you to welcome the turning of the ‘08 to the ‘09 with good cheer and enthusiasm, but to give you encouragement to continue on for the whole rest of the year, and beyond. And nothing helps to set intention more than ritual. Mindful living really is nothing more than a series of rituals, big and small, that we create for ourselves on a daily basis, that help give structure and meaning to our story, the story of our life.

One of the components of mindful living is a connection with nature. Re-affirm your own personal connection to the natural world every day, in every way that you can. To me, this is spiritual health. Once one has an abiding relationship with nature, then all the dots become connected: it is pointless to care about what you eat and what you put on your body as being eco pure, if you have not directly related that to the state of the planet.


Getting zen and calm and yoga-ed out everyday merely becomes an act of trendy self absorption if those lessons aren’t put into action to help make the world a better place. Every choice every day hopefully enables you to understand the interconnectedness of all that you do, think, consume, recycle, create.

Here is a simple ceremony to help you re-affirm your spiritual connection to Nature, to engage in a ritual that helps you to bridge the year just completed, with the one still to come.
It’s based on the Native American ritual, The Blessing Tree Ceremony.

Go out into Nature and find a beautiful tree that speaks to you. Choose it for it’s solitary location (away from lots of people) Bring an offering of cornmeal and loose leaf tobacco (traditional Native offerings) and sprinkle around the base of the tree in a circle going clockwise after your ritual.

Sit on the East side of the tree, and ask yourself: What ideas have brought me Liberation?
On the South Side: What beliefs have I outgrown?
On the West Side: What things do I regret and now let go of?
On the North Side: What are my life’s achievements as well as unfulfilled desires?

You should take a small notebook and pen to at least have the questions so you don’t forget them, but to also provide yourself a journaling exercise to record your lists. I like to take mine out and look at them throughout the year, and to also compare my lists from year to year.

Mindful living is simple, honest and direct - just like the refresh button on your computer. Both contain what any new year always promises: potential. Here’s another thought that’s been around for a while, but ever so appropriate now, more than ever, and to help you in your preparations for 2009:

Watch your words: they become your thoughts.Watch your thoughts: they become your actions.Watch your actions: they become your habits.Watch your habits: they become your destiny.

New Year's Renewal: Hitting the Refresh Button for 2009

One of the most enjoyable aspects, to me, of our ever evolving world of computing and technology, has always been the unexpected poetry of the language used to describe various functions, situations, and concepts. (defragmentation, cookies, open the drapes, pixel dust, thumbnail). My favorite lately, perhaps because in practical terms, it sometimes solves so many problems with a mere click of a button, is “refresh”. Who doesn’t enjoy the feeling of an instant “fix” when in a jam?

In metaphorical terms, it’s a complete winner: a simple enough concept, albeit one with huge ramifications: it’s the all encompassing “do over” for which all of us are longing.

And when considering its use in thinking about the looming New Year, it has a more gentle, less harsh ring to it. Instead of saddling ourselves with sure to backfire, hardcore “resolutions” about how much better we’re going to be in ’09 with (fill in the blank) our diets, our exercise program, our finances, our relationships, etc. etc. etc. , we can right away avoid the straight out of box “doomed for failure” modality which that whole system involves.

“Hit the refresh button for your life”. See how much softer, kinder, and attainable that sounds? Mind you, like anything and everything in life, attention must be paid in order to achieve any kind of satisfaction. Paying attention here means thoughtful consideration, a modicum of stick-to-it-ive-ness, and a little perseverance. But, as with computing, there is no limit to the amount of times you can hit the refresh button. Keep doing it, and before long, you will have developed the incredibly good habits of enlightened self-care that will change your life. And that is not spam, that’s truth.

What is “enlightened self care”? Anything that furthers the goal of authentic living, which gives you good physical, mental, and spiritual health, wellbeing, and balance. Following are three sections devoted to a holistic approach to finding this balance – all three are necessary for accessing the sweet spot, and getting the richness you deserve with your life.

BODY

My approach to the idea of physical “refreshing”: if you do it on a semi-regular basis all the time anyway, then there’s not so much need for drastic detoxing. This list offers several ways to work simple habits into your daily life for more long-term results.

1. Drink at least 2 quarts of filtered, purified water a day. No matter what. There is nothing that you can do for yourself physically that is more simple and more important.

2. Eat plenty of fiber, including brown rice and organically-grown fresh fruits and vegetables. Beets, radishes, artichokes, cabbage, broccoli, spirulina, chlorella, and seaweed are excellent detoxifying foods.

3. Cleanse and protect the liver by taking herbs such as dandelion root, burdock and milk thistle, and drinking green tea. The herbs can be taken in capsule form like you would your daily dose of vitamins.

4. Take vitamin C, which helps the body produce glutathione, a liver compound that drives away toxins.

5. Practice Deep Breathing. Breathing deeply allows oxygen to circulate more completely through your system. Breath is the source of life. During inhalation, fresh energy is brought into the body, energy centers, and pores to nourish the cells, tissues, and organs. With exhalation, accumulated stress, stagnant energy, and toxins are released.

6. Transform stress by emphasizing positive emotions. Chronic stress in increasing degrees can make us more susceptible to physical and emotional illness (like anxiety disorder and depression), burn out, premature aging, and impacts negatively on judgment, performance and decision making. Positive emotions have a harmonizing and thereby health promoting effect on our body.

7. Practice hydrotherapy. Take a very hot shower for five minutes, allowing the water to run on your back. Follow with cold water for 30 seconds. Then wrap up in warm clothes lie down in bed, and pile a bunch of blankets on top of yourself. Stay prone for 30 minutes. Hydrotherapy exploits the body's reaction to hot and cold stimuli. The nerves carry impulses felt at the skin, deeper into the body, where they are instrumental in stimulating the immune system, influencing the production of stress hormones, invigorating circulation and digestion, encouraging blood flow, and lessening pain sensitivity.

8. Sweat in a sauna so your body can eliminate wastes through perspiration. Almost every city and town has some kind of facility with day pass access to dry or wet saunas - YMCA’s, health clubs, and such. Try going to ethnic enclaves in your city for some of the best of these kinds of inexpensive experiences: Russian, Turkish, and Korean traditions have a beautiful history of working with sauna heat for everyday detoxing.

9. Dry-brush your skin to remove toxins through your pores. Special brushes with natural bristles are available at natural products stores (please don’t use artificial fibers for this effort). This is a very low-tech yet time tested technique used by people all over the world. Dry skin brushing increases circulation to skin, encouraging your body’s discharge of metabolic wastes, which greatly aids the lymphatic drainage of the entire body. When the body rids itself of toxins, it is able to run more efficiently in all areas. Dry skin brushing also rejuvenates the nervous system by stimulating nerve endings in the skin. Dry skin brushing helps your skin to absorb nutrients by eliminating clogged pores. Healthy, breathing skin contributes to overall body health.

Begin brushing your skin in long sweeping strokes starting from the bottom of your feet upwards, and from the hands towards the shoulders, and on the torso in an upward direction. Always brush towards the heart. Try and brush several times in each area, over-lapping as you go. Try following your dry brushing session with the hot and cold hydrotherapy suggested above for an incredible DIY detox session.

10. Finally, what is the most important way to detoxify the body, day in and day out? Exercise, and for at least 30 minutes every day; enough to elevate your heart rate and break a sweat. Choose anything that also gives you enough pleasure to keep doing on a regular basis, because if it’s a chore, then you won’t stick with it. Variety is also key: mix hiking or swimming into a daily yoga practice; salsa dancing twice a week alternating with medicine ball workouts at the gym. Be fearless, try something new.

Next Blog: MIND