Let’s look here at some everyday things that anyone can do to de-stress themselves. Some are preventive, in that they mean that the stress will not continue to plague the individual, and others are more curative.
• Have a good cry. According to one research biochemist crying at times of stress helps remove from the body potentially harmful chemicals produced during such times. To try to get evidence for this theory the researcher compared emotionally induced tears with tears that were the result of eye irritation (such as when peeling onions). He found that most people feel better after a cry. In one survey 85 per cent of women and 73 per cent of men said that they felt better after crying if the cause for their crying was emotional. On the opposite side of the coin, those who hold back their tears are more prone to stress-related diseases such as high blood pressure, colitis, and ulcers. A study of 100 men and women with stress-related disorders found that they were more likely than others to see crying as a sign of weakness or as a loss of control.
• Talk about it – don’t bottle up ó our problems until you burst with stress. When faced with stress people either bottle it up, explode or resolve the conflict. One study found that people who refused to get angry when faced with conflict had lower blood pressures. One subject, for example, when attacked by his boss would say, ‘Let’s be cool, let’s deal with the problem.’ So explaining the problem in a detached manner is a good way of coping with stress. You acknowledge your anger but are not openly hostile or aggressive.
• Have more fun in life. Many people run their lives in ways that give them little or no fun. This means that they are always so close to their problems that everything seems overwhelming. Holidays can be of real value because the new events and the very fact of being ‘away from it all’ for a while enable or even compel you to forget your normal stresses. Hobbies can do this on a day-to-day basis but it is vital to have a hobby that does not stress you in the same way that your normal life does. Most people working in this field suggest that you take exercise or indulge in a hobby immediately after or around the time of a stressful event. Recreation can be as effective as drugs in treating stress-related illnesses.
• Take exercise. This doesn’t need to be organized, structured or even especially strenuous. One study of ten elderly people suffering from stress-induced neuromuscular tension measured electrical activity in the muscles to find out the tranquilizing effect of exercise when: their heartbeats were at 100 beats a minute; their heartbeats were at 120 beats a minute; they were on a tranquillizer; they were taking a placebo. The best of all of these methods, as regards decreasing electrical activity in the muscles, was the mild exercise (taking their heartbeats to 100 a minute). Exercise at the higher pulse-rate level had an insignificant tranquil-Using effect, and the tranquillizer drug and the placebo had no effect on the electrical measurements at all. The researchers concluded that ‘twenty minutes of walking would do the job nicely to reduce stress! With more rigorous exercise you start to release adrenaline and this fires you up more than it relaxes you.’
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