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Where to go for HELP on the Internet!
Netcheck is the Internet's version of the Better Business Bureau. If you have trouble with a company and need help, file a complaint with NetCheck and get someone on YOUR SIDE!
ParentTime.com offers a wide variety of services to the parent-in-need including chat, questions for professionals, links, etc...
PREVLINE is a wonderful source for information on Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Centers and Databases. It will be Well worth your visit.
STRESS MANAGEMENT
Stress is the single most destructive and dangerous element of our world today. We ALL need help on how to cope with our stressors and lead happy and productive lives.
What is Stress?
Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing
environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings.
As a positive influence, stress can help compel us to action; it can result in a new awareness and an
exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger,
and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomach,
rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. With the death of a loved
one, the birth of a child, a job promotion, or a new relationship, we experience stress as we readjust
our lives. In so adjusting to different circumstances, stress will help or hinder us depending on how
we react to it.
How Can I Eliminate Stress from My Life?
As we have seen, positive stress adds anticipation and excitement to life, and we all thrive under a
certain amount of stress. Deadlines, competitions, confrontations, and even our frustrations and
sorrows add depth and enrichment to our lives. Our goal is not to eliminate stress but to learn how
to manage it and how to use it to help us. Insufficient stress acts as a depressant and may leave us
feeling bored or dejected; on the other hand, excessive stressmay leave us feeling "tied up in knots."
What we need to do is find the optimal level of stress which will individually motivate but not
overwhelm each of us.
How Can I Tell What is Optimal Stress for Me?
There is no single level of stress that is optimal for all people. We are all individual creatures with
unique requirements. As such, what is distressing to one may be a joy to another. And even when
we agree that a particular event is distressing, we are likely to differ in our physiological and
psychological responses to it.
The person who loves to arbitrate disputes and moves from job site to job site would be stressed in
a job which was stable and routine, whereas the person who thrives under stable conditions would
very likely be stressed on a job wher duties were highly varied. Also, our personal stress
requirements and the amount which we can tolerate before we become distressed changes with our
ages.
It has been found that most illness is related to unrelieved stress. If you are experiencing stress
symptoms, you have gone beyond your optimal stress level; you need to reduce the stress in your
life and/or improve your ability to manage it.
How Can I Manage Stress Better?
Identifying unrelieved stress and being aware of its effect on our lives is not sufficient for reducing its
harmful effects. Just as there are many sources of stress, there are many possibilities for its
management. However, all require work toward change: changing the source of stress and/or
changing your reaction to it. How do you proceed?
- 1.Become aware of your stressors and your emotional and physical reactions.
Notice your distress. Don't ignore it. Don't gloss over your problems.
Determine what events distress you. What are you telling yourself about meaning of
these events?
Determine how your body responds to the stress. Do you become nervous or
physically upset? If so, in what specific ways?
- 2.Recognize what you can change.
Can you change your stressors by avoiding or eliminating them completely?
Can you reduce their intensity (manage them over a period of time instead of on a
daily or weekly basis)?
Can you shorten your exposure to stress (take a break, leave the physical
premises)?
Can you devote the time and energy necessary to making a change (goal setting,
time management techniques, and delayed gratification strategies may be helpful here)?
- 3.Reduce the intensity of your emotional reactions to stress.
The stress reaction is triggered by your perception of danger...physical danger
and/or emotional danger. Are you viewing your stressors in exaggerated terms and/or taking
a difficult situation and making it a disaster?
Are you expecting to please everyone?
Are you overreacting and viewing things as absolutely critical and urgent? Do you
feel you must always prevail in every situation?
Work at adopting more moderate views; try to see the stress as something you can
cope with rather than something that overpowers you.
Try to temper your excess emotions. Put the situation in perspective. Do not labor
on the negative aspects and the " what if's."
- 4.Learn to moderate your physical reacitons to stress.
Slow, deep breathing will bring your heart rate and respiration back to normal.
Relaxation techniques can reduce muscle tension. Electronic biofeedback can help
you gain voluntary control over such things as muscle tension, heart reate, and blood
pressure.
Medications, when prescribed by a physician, can help in the short term in
moderating your physical reactions. However, they alone are not the answer. Learning to
moderate these reactions on your own is a preferable long-term solution.
- 5.Build your physical reserves.
Exercise for cardiovascular fitness three to four times a week (moderate, prolonger
rythmic exercise is best, such as walking, swimming, cycling, or jogging).
Eat well-balanced, nutritious meals.
Maintain your ideal weight.
Avoid nicotine, excessive caffeine, and other stimulants.
Mix leisure with work. Take breaks and get away when you can.
Get enough sleep. Be as consistent with your sleep schedule as possible.
- 6.Maintain your emotional reserves.
Develop some mutaully supportive friendships/relationships.
Pursue realistic goals which are meaningful to you, rather than goals others have for
you that you do not share.
Expect some frustrations, failures, and sorrows.
Always be kind and gentle with yourself -- be a friend to yourself.
Copyright (C) 1995 by Mark Perloe, M.D., P.C. Atlanta, GA, USA.
HERE'S SOME GOOD ADVICE FROM A 30 YEAR VETERAN OFFICER! IT IS HIS VIEWS ON STRESSES OF THE JOB AND A GOOD WAY TO DEAL WITH THEM. THE LAST FEW SENTENCES ARE THE SIGNATURE OF A GOOD COP.