Transcript STRESS REDUCTION - American Massage Therapy Association

STRESS AND HEALTH:
BALANCING OPTIONS
At your desk and anywhere
K. Hathaway, Ph.D., L.P.
Health Psychology
Center for Spirituality and Healing
University of Minnesota
TO NOTE:
STRESS IS NOT ALL BAD!
• POSITIVES OF STRESS:
– Alertness
– Challenge-based – increases self-confidence
– Learning occurs and coping improves
– Interpersonal problem-solving
COMPONENTS OF
STRESS RESPONSES
• PHYSICAL
– Heart rate, breathing, muscle
– Move or freeze, yell or cower
• COGNITIVE
– Intense concentration on target (stressor)
• EMOTIONAL
– Less access to emotional reactions (except fear and
sometimes anger)
• SOCIAL
– More inward-focused, withdrawal from social
interactions
ENVIRONMENT STRESSORS
PARTICULAR TO WOMEN
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Multiple role and related demands
Other’ views of roles and demands
Differences in emotional needs
Less training/modeling in assertiveness
Different physical needs (ergonomics, breaks, etc)
Flexibility needs
Conflict mediation skills
Satisfaction with work community
Physical safety, discrimination, glass ceilings
PHYSICAL STRESS
RESPONDING IN WOMEN
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Emotional responsivity differences?
Cortisol production
Hormone fluctuations
Oxytocin and estrogen (different brain
responses to stress during ovulation)
• Tend-Befriend (vs Fight-Flight)
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE
WORKPLACE BURNOUT
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Role overload
Role ambiguity
Role boredom
Lack of control (perceived or real)
Lack of challenge, diversity or sense of
purpose
IT’S UP TO…
• Stress management, then, is an individual
challenge
• No one solution works for everyone
• The environment may supply the stressor;
the individual supplies the coping
COMPONENTS OF STRESS
REDUCTION
• PHYSICAL
– Relaxation, BREATHING
– Build health status: Increase resistance
• COGNITIVE
– Re-framing, re-interpreting
– Staying “in the moment”
• EMOTIONAL
– Access to feelings
– Peace-giving
• SOCIAL
– Family and friendship support
BUILDING RESISTANCE (VS
MANAGING CRISES)
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Increase physical strength
Increase physical adaptability
Increase energy
Decrease toxins
Build antitoxins
Decrease heart rate, GI distress
PHYSICAL: At Your Desk
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STRETCH!
POSTURE CORRECTION
FACIAL MUSCLE RELAXATION
BREATHING
LIGHTING
SOUND
AROMATHERAPY
NUTRITION, WATER
PHYSICAL, Anywhere: Take care of
self (treat illness, balance eating, balance sleep, get
exercise, avoid mood-altering drugs)
• EXERCISE
– Walk at breaks? Lunch?
– Less sedentary activity (decrease TV/computer?)
• SLEEP
– 8 hours? naps?
• GET OUTSIDE!!
– Fresh air, new visual stimuli
• NUTRITION
– 4-6 times per day, nutritionally sound
– Vitamins?
COGNITIVE: At Your Desk
• INCREASE “I CAN” SENSE OF CONTROL; DECREASE “I
CAN’T” STATEMENTS
• DECREASE “WOULD’VE,” “COULD’VE,” “SHOULD’VE”
• PLAN, RE-ORGANIZE, PRIORITIZE
• DECREASE JUDGMENT, INCREASE ACCEPTANCE
• INCREASE PERMISSION FOR OPTIONS
• INCREASE PLASTICITY IN THINKING
• DECREASE ALL OR NOTHING
• ELIMINATE THE WORD “BUT”
• MAKE VALUE-BASED DECISIONS
• “For a mind burdened with fear, with
conformity, with the thinker, there can be
no understanding of that which may be
called the original…”
• J. Krishnamurti, On Fear
COGNITIVE: Anywhere
• Work on ACCEPTANCE (this is not the
same as judging it to be good)
– There has never been a time without war,
without hunger, without suffering
– Our colleagues are not perfect either
– Life is busy, confusing and distracting
• ADMIT OWN INFLUENCE
• Unglue opinions from facts
• Make VALUE-BASED decisions
COGNITIVE: Anywhere
• ATTENTION AND INTENTION
=MINDFULNESS
– Observe self, observe thoughts
– Be aware of sensation (body posture,
washing dishes)
EMOTIONAL: At Your Desk
• PRACTICE OPTIMISM
• FIND SMALL WAYS TO INCREASE JOY (PICTURES,
TEAS, ETC.)
• ACCESS MEMORIES – ESPECIALLY OF TIME IN
NATURE
• PRACTICE GRATITUDE
• PRACTICE KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY
• BE MINDFUL: PRACTICE STAYING IN THE MOMENT
• IDENTIFY FEELINGS WITHOUT JUDGMENT
• PRACTICE JOY
“We consider bibles and religions divine…; I say
they have all grown out of you, and may grow
out of you still;
It is not they who give the life – it is you who give
the life.
Will you seek afar off? You surely come back at
last, in things best known to you, finding the
best, or as good as the best –
Happiness, knowledge, not another place, but
this place – not for another hour, but for this
hour”
Walt Whitman
EMOTIONAL: Anywhere
• IMAGINE PEACE
– Remember that the body and the spirit do not know the
difference between what is imagined and what is real….
• FOCUS MORE ON CREATIVITY, LESS ON
PRODUCTIVITY
• INCREASE SOCIAL SUPPORT
• PRACTICE KINDNESS AND GENEROSITY
• ATTEND TO “PURPOSE”
• HAVE MORE FUN!!!!! LAUGHTER IS A GREAT
STRESS REDUCER
PULLING IT TOGETHER:
LIFE DE-STRESS SKILLS
• Build mastery and competence with new
work and social skills
• Focus on what works
• Play by the rules
• Attend to relationships
• Approach things you are afraid of
• Learn distress tolerance
DISTRESS TOLERANCE
SKILLS
• Activities: Hobbies, play games, walk,
sports
• Contribute: Volunteer, make something for
some one else
• Comparison: Compare self to less
fortunate – or don’t compare at all…
• Distraction: Count to 10
• Self-soothe: Use five senses
SUM: STRESS MANAGEMENT
OPTIONS
• THINK ABOUT BALANCE
• STRESS MANAGEMENT MUST HAVE A
PHYSICAL, COGNITIVE AND
EMOTIONAL COMPONENT
– Additional benefits from breathing!!!
• NO TIME PARAMETERS
• VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE
• BE MINDFUL, BE PRESENT
OPTIONS FOR STRESS
REDUCTION
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Relaxation exercise
Yoga
Meditation
Self-hypnosis
Daily rituals: Prayer,
candle-lighting, water
rituals
• Music, sound
• Laughter
• Volunteering
• Light treatments
• Time in nature – nature
images
• Story-telling or storylistening
• Mindfulness
• Social support
• Animals, children
• Attention to the present
moment…
Center for Spirituality and Healing
• ONLINE: Taking Charge of Health
• Coursework: SEE www.csh.umn.edu
– MBSR training, options for learning alternative
ways of healing and health-building
– Art of Healing
– Plants and Health
– Music, Art and Health
– Healing Environments
– Peacemaking and Health
Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life…
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your
existence:
The bliss of growth
The glory of action
The splendor of achievement;
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision;
But today, well lived, makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope!
Look well, therefore, to this day!
“Kalidasa,” ancient Sanskrit poem