How easily do you succumb to pressure? If there was ever a time when people should be stressed, it is right now. For the majority of people alive today, the recent months have seen an unprecedented onslaught of bad news. Threats of terrorism, reports of a collapsing economy, daily layoffs and business closures, and poor economic indicators are all too common. We all experience daily stress in both our personal and professional lives due to long commutes, the constant barrage of electronic demands, the need to do more with less (both in terms of people and other resources), workplace austerity, and holiday expectations.
Why is this so crucial? Well, for one thing, we are aware of the correlation between high rates of low-grade anxiety and depression and high levels of chronic stress, especially stress that is poorly managed. Another is that stress and numerous serious health issues have a strong link that has long been recognized by scientists. The American Institute of Stress estimates that stress is a contributing factor in up to 90% of all health issues.
Numerous studies have shown that unmanaged stress raises the risk of or worsens health issues. For instance, a 20-year study of more than 1700 men conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that people who worry about things like social conditions, health, and financial concerns have a significantly higher risk of developing coronary heart disease. Additionally, three separate ten-year studies found that emotional stress was a far better predictor of death from cancer or heart disease than smoking. In the studies, it was discovered that people who struggled to effectively manage their stress had a 40% higher risk of passing away than people who weren’t stressed.
It should come as no surprise that experts in medicine and science have already predicted that the constant, elevated stressors of today will have a severe negative impact on health. According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the leading cause of death in this country, followed by cancer and stroke. Everybody and excessive stress are strongly correlated. We also know that there are better ways to handle stress than others, despite the fact that the majority of us are unable to avoid it. Our own (often controllable) behaviors can also have a big impact on how vulnerable we are to stress’s ill effects.
Have you ever wondered if you are susceptible to stress? This factor can be significantly increased by personal behaviors like smoking, excessive alcohol or caffeine consumption, lack of daily exercise, poor nutrition and eating habits, a lack of social support, and even minor sleep deficits. Your negative reactions to stress from outside events, like those occurring in our current economic climate, will be more predictable the less successfully you manage these behaviors in your life. In fact, unhealthy habits tend to make people more susceptible to stress.
Coaching Tips:
- You have some control over a lot of these actions. Look at the areas of your life that put you at greater risk for stress, and focus on fixing one of them in the coming week. Either pick one that you think will be the easiest to change or the one that you will get the most “bang for your buck”, (which might be area of behavior that is the most negative.)
- Track your progress on a calendar or chart that you can see every day, like the inside of your medicine cabinet or the cupboard you use the most.)
- Try to make small changes. For instance, if you rarely, if ever, eat a real daily hot balanced meal, you could decide and plan for two meals per week for the first week or so, then increase it to three, etc.
Your individual stress vulnerability quotient can be reduced. Take small steps now to guard against the effects of the extraordinarily stressful world we currently inhabit on your present and future health and performance. You will be happy you did, as will those close to you.
