Coping with Stress - Coping with Stress

Coping with Stress

Successfully coping with stress involves using therapies that are designed to counteract the effects of the “fight or flight” response by inducing its opposite reaction–the “relaxation response.” The term was coined by Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School, who found that people undergoing stress could control their reaction to it by relaxing. In his book, The Relaxation Response , Benson suggests that a variety of techniques can induce the relaxation response, including yoga, meditation, progressive relaxation, autogenic training, self-hypnosis, and biofeedback.

Progressive Relaxation.     Progressive relaxation, according to Benson, is an effective therapy for inducing the relaxation response. People are first taught to contract and relax their face and neck muscles. These muscles are tensed for one to two seconds and then relaxed. This simple procedure helps patients experience the difference in blood flow to a muscle when it is stressed–and away from the muscle when it is relaxed. The procedure is repeated progressively from the face and neck to the upper chest and arms, the abdomen, hips, buttocks, thighs, knees, calves, and feet. The whole process is repeated two or three times, and produces a deep state of relaxation.

Spiral Relaxation.     Spiral relaxation is a variation of progressive relaxation. The procedure begins by the person lying comfortably on a bed with the palms of the hands facing up. With the eyes closed, the person imagines a point of light or heat which begins a series of three clockwise spirals around the top of the head and moves down around the face, neck, upper chest, each arm, the abdomen, waist, hips, thighs, knees, calves, and feet. Each part of the body relaxes as the series of three spirals encircles it.

Another variation of the relaxation technique involves a person imagining her body being filled from the top of her head to the tip of her toes with healing energy. The energy enters through an opening at the top of the head and moves through the frontal lobes to the lower brain stem. The person relaxes the cranium, skull, ears, eyes, mouth, cheeks, throat, nose, and ears. This energy moves down the body and relaxes the arms, chest, abdomen, hips, buttocks, thighs, knees, calves, and feet.

Nutritional Therapies.     According to Dr. Serafina Corsello, executive medical director of The Corsello Centers for Nutritional Medicine in New York, the link between stress and diet is indisputable. She states in the March 1994 issue of Delicious : “Stress depletes the body's energy reserves while food supplies the body with fuel it needs to produce energy. How much energy you have also depends on the quality of the food you ingest and the distribution of food in the digestive system that works properly. If you're under stress, you can't properly digest food. Therefore, you are not getting all the nutritional benefits of the food you eat.”

Corsello recommends a diet high in complex carbohydrates (which provide a steady supply of slow-burning fuel as well as protective antioxidants) and low in animal fat. “The best diet includes raw or steamed fresh vegetables, whole-grain foods such as brown rice, oatmeal and whole wheat pasta, and a small amount of oily fish such as salmon, which contains essential fatty acids,” she counsels. Corsello also suggests avoiding coffee and other caffeine-containing substances which “in the long run contribute to adrenal fatigue.”

Vitamin and Mineral Therapies.     As noted, the adrenal glands play a critical role in how most people respond to stress. Michael Murray and Joseph Pizzorno in the Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine suggest that vitamin C, vitamin B ₆ , zinc, magnesium, potassium, and pantothenic acid are necessary nutrients for the normal functioning of the adrenal glands. Supplementation of all these nutrients may be appropriate during high periods of stress for people who need adrenal support. However, one should consult a physician or a nutritionist before taking vitamin and mineral supplements.

Botanical Therapies.     Many people experiencing milder stress symptoms treat themselves with sedatives and sleeping pills. This can result in chemical addictions, however, and holistic physicians emphasize that natural medicinal herbs can be used effectively to reduce stress, with fewer or no side effects.

Murray and Pizzorno claim that a number of botanical medicines have proven effective in calming nerves, reducing tension, and relieving stress-related symptoms. These herbs are typically used in conjunction with recommended changes in nutrition and lifestyle. Although herbs can be effective in treating stress and anxiety, people are best advised to have a complete physical examination and only take botanical or herbal stress relievers recommended by a licensed physician. Anyone with chronic symptoms of anxiety, for example, or who has a history of heart disorder, should also consult a physician.

Ginseng.     Ginseng (especially Korean or Chinese ginseng) has been shown to enhance adrenal gland function and improve reactions against a variety of stresses. Ginseng is regarded as an “adaptogen,” or an herb that protects against both mental and physical fatigue and helps the body maintain its natural equilibrium. Murray and Pizzorno cite 10 studies that document how ginseng improves adrenal functions and helps the body withstand extremely stressful conditions.

Valerian Root.     Valerian root has been used throughout recorded history as a sedative, and in several studies it was found to be as effective as benzodiazepines or barbiturates in the treatment of insomnia. Valerian can have unpredictable effects, however, and should only be used under the supervision of a physician. Also, it should not be taken daily in high doses for more than a few weeks because overuse can cause the same symptoms that the herb was intended to relieve in the first place.

Hops.     Hops is an effective substitute for people who cannot take valerian. Bitter in taste (responsible for the bitter flavor of beer), it acts as a digestive stimulant, and is especially effective in treating stress-related digestive disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The active ingredients in hops break down rapidly after being harvested, and the herb must therefore be ingested fresh to be most effective. Hops is more stable in tincture form than in a dried form.

Passion Flower, Skullcap, and Chamomile.     The use of passion flower dates back to the Aztecs. One of its constituents, harmine, was originally called telepathine because of its ability to induce a contemplative state. Passion flower is a sedative, anti-spasmodic, and a natural painkiller. Because of its gentleness, passion flower is especially well suited for the treatment of nervousness in children and insomnia in the elderly resulting from stress.

Skullcap is employed as a sedative in China and Europe because it is mild and does not induce drowsiness, unless a person is already sleepy. Skullcap can be taken for long periods of time (up to six weeks) without becoming toxic or addictive.

Chamomile, one of the most popular herbs in the U.S., is a potent sedative when taken for short-term use in doses of as much as a gram in powder form. It also aids in digestion, but can cause allergic reactions, and should be taken under the advice of a physician.

Lemon Balm.     Lemon balm has long been used to relax the nervous system. Some nutritionists believe it also improves digestion, reduces heart palpitations, eliminates headaches, calms anxiety, and alleviates depression.

Aromatherapy.     According to Alternative Medicine: The Definitive Guide , therapeutic use of oils, known as aromatherapy, has also proven effective in relieving anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia, and stress. Because the nose is the closest sense organ to the brain, inhaling aromas effectively stimulates the limbic system. Aromas are first detected by the olfactory receptor cells, which in turn send information to the olfactory bulb, which then sends it directly to the limbic system of the brain. Research has shown that pleasant aromas subconsciously trigger relaxation and positive emotions. Several companies market aromas, which when inhaled, helps to reduce stress. One company, for example, markets an inhaler and a gentle blend of pure lavender oil, laurel, and thyme to relax facial skin.

Biofeedback.     Michael Murphy states in his book The Future of the Body that biofeedback has been extremely successful in reducing stress levels. Using biofeedback machines, patients can voluntarily relax specific muscles, reduce their blood pressure and heart rate, and improve digestion. Biofeedback is often used in conjunction with other relaxation therapies such as meditation, yoga, visualization, or guided imagery.

Exercise.     A growing body of evidence suggests that regular exercise boosts the body's ability to withstand stress. Exercise is one of the best techniques for reducing stress because physical activity allows the body to “throw off” tension. Anyone who runs, walks, or swims regularly knows how the body feels after exercising–tired, even drained, but relaxed. Exercise can also help protect the cardiovascular and immune systems from the consequences of stressful events. Psychologist Jonathan Brown of the University of Washington, for example, studied the stress and fitness levels of approximately 500 college students as part of three studies over a five-year period. According to Brown, quoted in the July 7, 1993 edition of the San Jose Mercury News : “There is a general tendency for stress to have a detrimental effect on well-being. My research suggests you can escape or minimize those effects if you stay physically fit.”

As noted, exercise relieves muscle tension and helps dissipate the hormones that can build up in response to stress. The primary psychological benefit of exercise may be that it helps people regain control of their health. One aspect of stress is the sense of feeling out of control, or of not being able to respond to a stressor. When people are afraid and lose their sense of control, their heart races and their blood pressure increases. But exercise, along with relaxation, helps to reverse this process.

Qi Gong.     Qi gong, a Chinese meditative exercise, also effectively relieves stress. There are several variations of the exercise. In one form, practitioners sit in a relaxed pose and use their mental concentration to channel chi energy to specific parts of the body. In the movement form of qi gong, practitioners combine graceful, rhythmic movements while meditating on the movement of chi throughout their bodies. According to an article by R. Jahnke in the January-February 1991 issue of the Townsend Letter for Doctors , qi gong initiates the “relaxation response,” which reduces stress, decreases heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and increases tissue regeneration.

Tai Chi.     Tai chi, moving meditation, is also effective in post-stress recovery. According to Dr. Herbert Benson ( The Relaxation Response ), both tai chi and qi gong produce “exactly the same physiological responses as passive relaxation techniques like meditation. Practiced properly, they are thoroughly relaxing.” Tai chi and qi gong share characteristics such as gentle, fluid movements performed in synchrony with slow, carefully controlled breathing.

Dance Therapy Stress is often exacerbated by poor diet, lack of exercise, and social isolation. Exercise increases respiration and circulation, and deep breathing increases the flow of oxygen to the organs and stimulates the endorphins, which help produce positive mental states. Dancing not only stimulates the endorphins, it also puts one in contact with others. Dance therapy, according to the People's Folk-Dance Directory , may even help people express and resolve their personal problems.

Yoga.     Daniel Goleman, in his book The Meditative Mind , states that more than 1,000 studies have proven that yoga along with meditation effectively reduces stress and anxiety, lowers blood pressure, relieves addictions, and improves metabolic and respiratory functioning. He notes that because meditation has proven highly effective in reducing stress and tension, the National Institutes of Health recommends that it replace prescription drugs as the first treatment for mild hypertension. Yoga schools can be found in many parts of the United States, and each school offers its own variation. All forms of yoga involve gentle movements and regular breathing exercises. Some yoga practices also include visualization, progressive relaxation exercises, and meditation.

Meditation.     There are several different forms of meditation, but all share the common goal of quieting the mind. In some traditions, such as Buddhism, meditators sit comfortably in silence and think no thoughts. In transcendental meditation, practitioners silence their minds by internally reciting a mantra, or holy sound. In qi gong, tai chi, and other Chinese disciplines, practitioners perform gentle, dance-like movements while meditating on the flow of chi energy through their bodies. In The Relaxation Response Dr. Herbert Benson details a number of studies which show that meditation helps slow the breathing rate and increases oxygen consumption and blood flow to the brain, which produce a more relaxed brain wave rhythm.

Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts, has used meditation to help people suffering from chronic diseases as well as stress-related disorders, including abdominal pain, ulcers, and chronic diarrhea. In his book, Full Catastrophic Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness , he details how a majority of his patients reduced the pains associated with stress and improved their health by meditating.

Mindful Exercise (Exercise Plus Meditation).     A University of Massachusetts Medical School study recently showed that mindful exercise (exercise combined with meditation) elicits immediate, positive emotions such as enthusiasm, alertness, and increased self-esteem. The research, reported by Suzanne Hildreth in the January/February 1994 issue of Natural Health , was done in collaboration with the Center for Balance and Fitness and Dr. Herbert Benson's Mind/Body Medical Institute at the New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston. Researchers examined four groups of exercisers, as well as a control group that read quietly. During the course of the study, one group followed a low-intensity walking program; one group walked while listening to a relaxation tape developed by Dr. Benson. The third group practiced a combination of visualization and tai chi movements, while the fourth walked at a higher intensity than the others. Those who walked while listening to the tape, participated in the t'ai chi and visualization class, or exercised more briskly reported less irritability, guilt, fear, and hostility, along with increased feelings of excitement and strength, than the low-intensity walking group.

Acupuncture.     Acupuncture is also effective in relieving stress. Acupuncture, as noted in Chapter 1, is based on the theory that the body contains a vital energy force called chi that circulates freely in a healthy body. Chi is altered when a body is undergoing stress, and an unbalanced chi force can cause disease. Acupuncture treatments rebalance the chi force, and the physical symptoms associated with stress are alleviated.

Shiatsu.     Practitioners of acupressure (also known as shiatsu) use their thumbs, fingers, and elbows to stimulate the body's 361 tsubos, or acupuncture points. The technique involves repetitively pressing the tsubos for three to five seconds, and then releasing pressure. Acupressure is most useful for rebalancing energy blockages associated with stress, rather than curing specific diseases.

Massage.     Massage is another useful stress-relieving therapy. Tui na, a Chinese form of massage, uses a combination of gentle hand pats and stretches to redistribute the chi flow throughout the body. Tui na is based on the same model of the body as acupuncture and acupressure, although it is more forceful and focuses on broader areas rather than specific points.

Visualization.     Another way of inducing the relaxation response is to use a visualization exercise or guided imagery. In these therapies, summarized by Gerald Epstein in Healing Visualizations , people imagine themselves in an environment they associate with relaxation–a peaceful beach, seashore, lake, or favorite mountain. After closing their eyes and taking a few deep, easy breaths, they remember the details of the setting–the sights, smells, and sounds–and focus on feeling peaceful and relaxed.

Humor and Laughter.     Doctors have observed that patients with a well-developed sense of humor have better chances of recovering from a serious disease. In Anatomy of an Illness , Norman Cousins, former professor at the UCLA Medical School, recounts how laughter helped to cure him of an unexplained illness. Cousins relates that he stopped taking medication and began watching reruns of Marx Brothers films and Candid Camera. According to Cousins, the resulting laughter, sustained and heavy, was the key to his recovery. Cousins also cites research studies by Dr. William Fry of Stanford University that show that a good laugh–like a good workout–produces an overall sense of well-being. Laughter flexes the diaphragm, chest, and abdominal muscles, causing deep breathing to take place. It helps relax the shoulders, neck, and facial muscles, as well as aid in digestion, stimulate the heart, and increase the production of endorphins which help relieve pain.

Psychologically, humor is a form of transcendence–it removes us from our self-absorbed ego. It helps people balance their perspectives on painful experiences, and enables them to deal with difficulties in a healthy way. Being humorous is also a way of releasing negative thoughts.

Many medical experts are beginning to appreciate the benefits of humor and laughter in reducing stress, and are recommending laughter-provoking activities such as cultivating friends and acquaintances who smile and joke and putting playfulness into relationships.

Music.     In the ancient cultures of China, Greece, and India, music was understood to have healing power. The Greek philosopher Pythagorus taught his students to cleanse themselves of worry, sorrow, fear, and anger through daily singing and music making. In the ancient temples of India, China, and Tibet, healing through sound was a highly developed science, based on the belief that vibration emanating from a spiritual source could have physiological effects. Buddhist and Hindu monks used prolonged chants, ecstatic rhythms, and ancient melodies to awaken their chakras, believed to be powerful centers of energy in the body.

According to M. Citchley's Music and the Brain , three neurophysiological processes are triggered by music. First, because music is nonverbal, it directly stimulates the center of the limbic system that governs emotional responses as well as basic metabolic processes such as body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. Second, music triggers the flow of stored memory across the left and right hemispheres of the brain via the corpus callosum. Finally, music stimulates the endorphins, the natural opiates secreted by the hypothalamus that produce a feeling of relaxation.

According to an article in the October 30, 1995 Marin Independent Journal , the National Institutes of Health is spending $30,000 on a pilot study to measure the effects of music on patients with stress disorders and brain injuries. Currently, there are more than 4,000 music therapists in the U.S.

Social Support and Stress Reduction.     Psychosocial processes often mediate the relationship between stressful events and how the body reacts to stressors. A 1993 Swedish study reported by Daniel Goleman in the December 7, 1993 issue of The New York Times suggests that stress is easier for individuals to cope with if they have the support of close friends or family. In the study, a random sample of 50-year-old men living in Goteborg were given a physical examination and psychological evaluation in 1986. Seven years later, researchers analyzed official records and found that the men who were socially isolated and identified themselves as lacking emotional support were three times as likely to die from stressful events than men who were not socially isolated.

Research on the effects of social isolation, stressful events, and death rates began in the 1970s when Dr. Lisa Berkman, an epidemiologist at the Yale University School of Medicine, and Leonard Syme, an epidemiologist at the University of California at Berkeley, first conducted a study of more than 7,000 men and women in Alameda County, California. They reported in a 1979 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology that between 1970 and 1979, people with the fewest social ties were twice as likely to die as those with the strongest ties. Scientists are still uncertain as to precisely how social support decreases a person's likelihood of dying from a stress-related experience. In commenting on the Swedish study, Dr. Berkman states in Daniel Goleman's article in The New York Times that “there's ample evidence now that having a rich social network protects health somehow.” She suggests that people with social ties may have healthier habits in general–or that such ties help strengthen a person's neuroendocrine and immune systems.

Psychotherapy.     Psychotherapy is also effective in relieving stress. Talking with a therapist helps many patients understand how stress impairs both their physical and mental health. Psychotherapy, for example, is an important component in treating stress-related disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Psychologist William Whitehead at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine uses biofeedback, along with cognitive-behavioral therapy and regular exercise, to help his IBS patients curb anxiety. He suggests that other therapists have successfully employed a three-part therapy to relieve stress disorders. First, patients clench and relax a series of muscles throughout their body (progressive relaxation), so that they become aware of how they feel when they're tense. Second, the therapist then uses guided imagery to teach patients to relax. Third, patients learn to recast their negative, stress-producing thoughts into positive, healing images.

Some stress is unavoidable in normal living, and can provide an opportunity for growth and development. Excessive, prolonged stress is harmful, however, and increases the risk of medical disorders such as atherosclerosis, headaches, hypertension, and ulcers. More important than the stress level itself is how efficiently a person converts the stress into useful energy, and is able to successfully manage it. Recognizing the early signs of stress and doing something positive through exercise, relaxation, and other techniques can make an important difference in a person's quality of life and sense of well-being.