April is Stress Awareness Month

by Lee-Nichols, FNP-C

Stress is your body's natural reaction to a perceived threat of a real or imagined sense of danger. This triggers your body to release stress hormones, cortisol and adrenalin. These hormones help you overcome the threat by increasing strength, concentration abilities, and boosting energy. Long term exposure to the stress hormones can lead to serious health problems. It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility and speed up the aging process. The longstanding joke that Presidents look progressively older after holding office actually has some medical merit! Stress can also make disease states worsen, such as acne, psoriasis, chronic obstructive lung disease, gastroesophageal reflux disease and irritable bowel syndrome to name a few. Symptoms, such as headache, back and neck pain, chest pain, sleep disturbance, restlessness, depression, diarrhea, stomach upset can also be attributed to prolonged stress.

Managing stress is vital to optimal health. Activities that can help you cope with life stress include routine exercise, yoga, meditation, and focusing on healthy hobbies. Deep breathing exercises are also helpful for stress reduction. Maintain an adequate amount of sleep each night, 7-8 hours, because rest is crucial to the body's restoration and regeneration. Ultimately, however, managing stress requires you to take charge of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, environment and the way that you deal with conflicts. Try to change the stressful situation when you can or change your reaction to the situation when you can't. Start seeing the glass as half-full instead of half-empty.

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