Limelight:
Public enemy No 1
By
Lubna Abdel-Aziz
We can hardly avoid it, escape it, or hide from it. It is called "Stress". Men and women, young and old, physicians and therapists, and the whole of the scientific community seem to have discovered stress overnight. Yet stress is by no means a new phenomenon. Stress has been around "since Adam and Eve were evicted from the Garden of Eden". Since then our luckless race, determined to survive, carries along with it a basic anxiety -- the anxiety of a finite being over the threat of non-being. Our anxiety is part of our existence -- it is an unavoidable consequence of life itself. Though we have reached 21 centuries of relative civility, we are nonetheless a society of down hearted, disappointed people, condemned to discharge uncongenial duties in our daily grind. Worrying becomes a constant companion -- a natural and spontaneous human response. We hide it under a carefully constructed and artificially maintained façade. Stress soon becomes fear, fear turns into anxiety, and long-term anxiety breeds depression and a host of serious diseases that have the potential of eventually killing us.
Stress has many faces and unbelievable as it may sound, some stress is good. Without stress, there would be no life. Studies show that 89 per cent of us live under daily stress, some of it beneficial. Just as severe stress can promote disease, a healthy degree of stress can promote wellness. Winning can be just as stressful as losing, but it triggers different emotional and biological responses that are advantageous to our well-being. Stress of victory in sports, politics, academics, etc. is good stress. Increased stress results in increased productivity. The right degree allows us to conquer adversity.
The level of stress in our contemporary world has alerted scientists to seek answers to its many threats. Stress knows no discrimination. It affects the very young as well as the very old. Among the youth, peer pressure, performance, exams, cause stress. Among the old, disease, death of a spouse, change of location, separation from a loved one, cause the same stress. Finding the proper level of stress, directing it in the proper channels, allows an optimum quality of life. This quality of life becomes hard to achieve with all the turmoil and unrest around the world -- unending violence in the Middle East, the threat of wars in Asia, declining economy in Europe, the spread of AIDS in Africa, life after 9/11 in the US. Is there any small corner in the world that is free from stress?
What is stress? Simply put, it is a body condition that occurs when we face an unfamiliar or threatening situation. Such situations include illness, the loss of a job, and even a promotion. The body responds to sudden acute stress by alerting all systems -- the brain, heart, lungs, digestive and immune system -- to meet the perceived danger. The hypothalamus, a part of the brain that regulates the body's responses to a given situation, is activated. It triggers the release of steroid hormones that affect the entire body including the immune system. Picture the dispatch of a line of soldiers ready to confront the enemy; these troops are sent to the body's front line where injury or infection is most likely. Once the stress has passed the stress hormones return to normal. If stress persists, all the parts of the body's stress apparatus become chronically over-activated and eventually harmful. Studies suggest that inability to deal with stress leads to anxiety and depression. In a controlled study two thirds of subjects had nearly six times the risk of developing depression within a month of a stressful event. Stress diminishes the quality of life by reducing feelings of pleasure and accomplishment.
What causes stress? Almost everything in our daily world produces enough stress to go around the world and back. "We're living in a chronic heightened state of alertness and helplessness." Scientists believe that stress is driving the majority of the population to overeat, drink, smoke and take drugs, opening us to a host of afflictions from a simple cold, acne, ulcers, sleeplessness, to diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and some believe even cancer. Stress is synonymous with change. Anything that causes change in your life, good or bad, ordinary or extraordinary, causes stress. Getting married is stressful, so is getting divorced. Moving to a bigger apartment is stressful. Receiving guests or visiting friends, getting a promotion, getting fired, even getting ready for a vacation are all stressful situations. Weather extremes are stressful "I was born with a chronic anxiety about the weather" -- severe heat or severe cold. Pregnancy and childbirth, menopause and retirement, funerals and celebrations, there is no escaping stress.
Even imagined changes, better known as "worry", are as stressful as real changes affecting us biologically as we develop headaches, stomach aches, ulcers and rashes. Winston Churchill is quoted as saying: "I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed, that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened." Uncontrolled worry grows into a fearful monster taking complete control of mind and body, rendering us slaves to a mere ghost. "Worry affects our circulation, our hearts, our glands, our nervous system leaving doctors helpless," said Dr Charles Mayo, founder of the renowned Mayo Clinic.
But help is on the way. It was only in the 1970s that experts started to consider stress and its extended family. Fear, anxiety, depression, are not beyond the reach of science. "We can now take people with severe phobias and treat them in a day or two." There are many things that we can do to help ourselves. How can we reduce stress? Rheinhold Niebuhr wrote, "Grant me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept the things I can't change and the wisdom to know the difference." Many of the symptoms of stress such as aches, pains and diarrhea are mild and can be managed personally by the use of aspirin or ibuprofen. But when symptoms progress to anxiety or depression a physician should be consulted before the psychological symptoms develop into serious physical ones.
The first essential step in combating stress is to face it. "Confront the emotion -- name it." Tell yourself I am stressed because of my job, my marriage, my parents. By acknowledging the emotion we become less vulnerable and more able to cope. An efficient way to reduce stress is to focus on one thing we can do effectively. Studies show that yoga helps. It causes you to fetter out the clutter of the mind and focus on slower breathing and an overall calm.
The tried and true, which seems to be the cure for all that ails you nowadays, is a healthy lifestyle and regular exercise. A diet rich in a variety of whole grains, vegetables and fruits is mandatory. By avoiding excessive alcohol, caffeine and tobacco, you are assured of a diet that enhances stress resistance. Yoga, Tai Chi, aerobics, swimming, even brisk walking can relieve bouts of stress, combining many of the benefits of breathing, muscle relaxation and meditation, while toning and stretching the muscles. Make a plan, execute it successfully, and develop feelings of mastery and control. Lack of control spells danger. Engage in recreation, vacation, humour, and above all laughter. Laughter not only releases the tension, but has the physical effect of reducing stress hormone levels. We have often wondered how some people can laugh intensely even during tragic events. This laughter helps them endure the physical pain. Since stress is here to stay then deal with it intelligently. You may be saving your life.
Having committed the initial folly of losing our Garden of Eden, we are left to struggle with our vulnerability and our fragility, in an effort to return to it. If only we could stop worrying.
'Life's too short for worrying,'
'Yes, that's what worries me!'
Anonymous
