Tag: stress

What are we doing to ourselves?

A recent newspaper headline said: “Workaholic Canadians battle time stress. We’re working harder, enjoying ourselves less.”

Statistics Canada surveyed 11,000 Canadians and found people were more stressed for time last year than they were six years earlier.

Men and women aged 25 to 44 struggle most to balance paid work, unpaid work and personal life. But only 25 percent in this age group plan to slow down in the coming year. Are you one of them?

One way to beat stress is to take part in leisure activities on a regular basis. But how many of us have time for that. Not too many. For example, only 30 percent of small-business owners surveyed took time off for leisure activities, according to data compiled by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and American Express. Are you one of them?

Do you feel trapped in the rat race? You are not alone. Five million Canadians in the age group 25 to 44 and 40 percent of Canadians aged 15 to 24 feel trapped in the daily routine. It is a rat race. Lily Tomlin once said, “Even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat!” Is that how you feel?

Statscan’s survey shows that relief from stress comes with age. Time-related stress virtually disappears among the oldest age groups. Only 14 percent of women aged 55 to 64 reported high stress levels in 1998. Over the age of 65, time-related stress almost disappears. Some of my senior patients tell me that they have more time than money.

But do they have enough of good health?

Most illnesses like heart disease and cancer start to creep into our life as we cross 50. For example Canadian Heart Health Surveys (1986-1992) recently reported that 52 percent of Canadians 55 to 74 have high blood pressure, and 30 percent have a high cholesterol level.

Overall, 87 percent of men and 78 percent of women in this age group who are current smokers smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day. Only slightly more than 50 per cent exercised at least once a week for at leas 15 minutes. Only 4 percent have no major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. That’s scary!

The good news is most of the risk factors can be changed to create a positive impact on our health. But we need to find time to see our doctor, do more exercise, plan our diet, and quit smoking.

It all boils down to time. Time for ourselves, our family, our health, our work, and time for healthy recreation. But how can we win the “struggle to juggle” for time if we have to meet deadlines, beat the competition, be one step ahead of everybody, and be the best in what we do?

Stress is part our life. It is not going to go away. What matters is how we deal with it.

Are you time stressed? How do you juggle your time? Does it work for you? If you like to share your ideas with the readers of this column then send them to me via e-mail or mail to 821A – 5th Street, S.W., Medicine Hat, T1A 4H7. New ideas and the ideas that will work for the next millennium!

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!

“Doc, I feel stressed out. Is this hurting my health?”

Dave works hard. Like most of us, he performs best when he is under certain amount of stress. Dave strives for excellence in everything he does. This certainly creates stress.

Work is not the only source of stress for most people. The pressures of modern day life keep everybody under stress. It has become part of our daily life.

Stress is an individual reaction to threats –either real or perceived.

Acute stress is in the nature of “fight or flight” or stress of major life events. Chronic stress is day-to-day stress which builds up over a period of time. Both can have long term consequences, writes Dr Bruce McEwen, Ph.D., in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Individuals who are chronically stressed exhibit fatigue, lack of energy, irritability, demoralization, and hostility. It is estimated that 60 percent of patients seen by family physicians have stress related health problems.

Sometimes stress is good. It energizes you. It can supply that zest for living.

“Doc, how does my body respond to stress?”

Dr. Bruce McEwen describes our body’s normal response to stress as ALLOSTASIS – the ability to achieve stability through change. This is critical to our survival.

The body provides this stability by activating four systems – nervous, cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune systems.

Our capacity to respond to stress depends on two things: 1) how we perceive a particular situation, 2) general state of our physical health.

Whether one perceives a situation as a threat, either psychological or physical, is crucial in determining the behavioral and the physiologic response, writes Dr. McEwen. The ability to adjust to repeated stress is also determined by the way one perceives a situation.

Physical condition of our body is important to combat adverse effects of stress. Rich diet, use of tobacco, alcohol, and lack of exercise can exacerbate chronic stress.

Body responds to stress by turning on an adaptive response and then shutting off this response when the threat is gone. If the system is inefficient in shutting off the response then the body is overexposed to stress hormones. This is not good.

Stress hormones cause anxiety, increase the heart rate (palpitation), increase blood pressure (hypertension), and increase blood sugar level. Repeated exposure to stress hormones may lead to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

Repeated stress also affects brain function (memory loss), and suppresses immune system (compared to acute stress where immune system is enhanced).

Dr. McEwen says that in laboratory animals, inefficient response to stress is due to the aging process. But this has not been proven in humans. It is possible that the ALLOSTATIC system wears out or becomes exhausted over a lifetime due to repeated exposure to stress.

“Doc, what can I do to combat stress?” asks Dave.

One has to learn coping skills, recognize one’s own limitations, take time off and relax. Eat a low fat diet, quit smoking and exercise regularly.

Dr. Peter Hanson, author of “The Joy of Stress” writes: Strive to maximize success by investing your energy and time in all four quadrants of your life – financial sufficiency, personal happiness, sound health, and respect on the job. Earn the respect of your peers, the loyalty of your friends, and the love of your children and spouse. Be spontaneous. Be funny.

It’s all mind over matter; if you don’t mind, it don’t matter. So don’t worry, be happy! Dave smiles and leaves the room humming…don’t worry….be happy…….

(This series of articles explore the health problems of Dave and his family. They are composite characters of a typical family with health problems.)

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!