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Stress Management

Stress Management in human beings can be seen as the way our bodies respond appropriately to the "fight-or-flight" reaction, when it is triggered in our modern lives. Stress can be a significant contributing factor to many diseases and stress lowers the immune system - as a result, good stress management is essential to protect our health and improve our perceived quality of life.

Reducing stress in our daily lives can significantly improve our quality of life. Whilst it is easy to take the view that stress is beyond our control and stress management is not possible due to outside stressors, in fact there are things that we can do ourselves to reduce stress.

Stay organised, take time out to relax, excercise frequently, eat healthily and allow adequate time for meals, .... all of these can manage stress and allow us to enjoy life more.

 

Stress Management

Stress management encompasses techniques intended to equip a person with effective coping mechanisms for dealing with psychological stress.

Definition of stress: Stress management defines stress precisely as a person's physiological response to an internal or external stimulus that triggers the "fight-or-flight" reaction.

Contents
1 Causes of stress
2 Need for stress management
3 Techniques of stress management include
4 See also

Causes of stress

Work, life, many things can start the stress reaction, including danger, threat, news, illness, as well as significant changes in one's life such as the death of a loved one. The Holmes Rahe Scale is used by psychologists to test stress levels.

Need for stress management

It is now an accepted fact in the medical community; according to recent research, that stress is one of the major causes of all illnesses. Stress can cause Migraines, Stroke, Eczema, a weak Immune System, and many other diseases. Stress is also known to cause medical complications during Pregnancy for both the mother and the child. Hence, there is a growing need for stress management.

Techniques of stress management include
Regular Chiropractic care (removes nerve interferences/blockages)
self-understanding (e.g. self-identification as a Type A or as a Type B personality)
Cognitive therapy
self-management (e.g. becoming better-organized)
conflict resolution
positive attitude
self-talk
Autogenic training
breathing
Progressive relaxation
meditation
exercise
diet
rest
stress balls
therapeutic massage
Nervous laughter

Some techniques of time management may help a person to control stress. For example:
becoming more organized and reducing the generation of clutter
setting priorities can help reduce anxiety
using a "to do" list of tasks that a person needs to complete can give a person a sense of control and accomplishment

Effective stress management involves learning to set limits and to say "No" to some demands that others make.

Digital Thermometers

Since stress activates the body's defense mechanism, blood is frequently drawn away from the extremities and to the torso when a stress attack occurs. Digital thermometers (digital because they measure finger temperature) can be used to detect a person's level of stress. Note that the actual temperature is not the most important characteristic, but rather the change in temperature. Using this knowledge has proven useful in designing treatment for prevention and control of stress attacks. This technique was pioneered by Dr. Claudio Zapata.

See also

Anger management
Biofeedback
Cognitive Therapy
Hypertension
Massage
Psychological resilience
Relaxation technique
T'ai Chi Ch'uan
Yoga
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Dyspepsia

Dyspepsia (dispepsia) (from the Greek (Dys-), meaning hard or difficult, and (Pepsi), meaning digestion) refers to disorders of the stomach involving symptoms such as heartburn, nausea, pain, vomiting or general discomfort.

Many cases of dyspepsia are caused by stomach ulcers which may be diagnosed with a barium meal test or a gastroscopy. In some situations, for example, stomach ulcers, high levels of gastric acid may irritate the stomach lining and cause dyspeptic symptoms. Dyspepsia may also occur as a side effect from drugs treating other diseases.

Always seek professional mediacal help and advice from your doctor or pharmacist for any dyspepsia, indigestion and heartburn symptoms you are worried about. Disclaimer.