I just read the Wall Street Journal’s article “Stress So Bad It Hurts — Really” by Melinda Beck. It serves as a reminder that stress can cause more than just elevated anxiety levels or other non-physical ailments. If you aren’t managing your stress, look for the following symptoms of stressing taking a physical toll on your body systems:
- Increased blood pressure
- Increased heart rate
- Muscle aches
- Digestive problems
- Weakened immune system
- Allergies, asthma
- Increase sensitivity to pain
Beck interviews three experts on how stress physically affects the body. Christopher L. Edwards, director of the Behavioral Chronic Pain Management program at Duke University Medical Center, says, “Now, we recognize that what happens in the brain affects the body and what happens in the body affects the brain.” Thank goodness, I’m not going crazy. The stress from earlier in the week, made my legs ache and pollen allergies flare up.
Katherine Muller, a cognitive therapist and director of psychology training at Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y., offers advice on how to track our stress, so we can manage our stress. Muller recommends keeping a diary by “evaluating their stress level on a scale of zero to 10 several times a day and note what was happening at the time. Patterns may emerge — that headache may set in every Thursday afternoon, after the staff meeting — and there may be ways to change the situation.”
My Mario Kart Avatar
If a stress journal/diary isn’t your thing, then try any or all of Beck suggestions to reduce stress:
- Physical exercise
- Adequate sleep
- Regular, balanced meals
- Maintain social connections
- Biofeedback
- Cognitive behavior therapy
Perhaps it’s time for me to take stress management more seriously. I think I’ll actually escape the house tonight by going to dinner with family, and then playing Wii Mario Kart with friends.
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