STRESS It’s not all bad

by PHIL JOFFE

“Stress,“ my old American t-shirt declares, is “that confusion created when the mind must override the body’s basic desire to choke the living crap out of some idiot who desperately needs it.“ The street-smart definition has its point. Stress is the inability to release pent-up tension constructively.

The seriousness of the threat to our emotional and physical well being from stress should never be minimised. We endure dangerously high, potentially life-threatening stress levels. In South Africa, many live in apprehension, suffering anxiety. We worry about our cars being hijacked or stolen, the privacy of homes being violated, burgled and invaded, lives needlessly threatened and taken. We fume as more evidence of corruption in high places emerges. On the roads we dodge kamikaze taxi-drivers and evade security-van and bank heists in progress. Omnipresent is the threat of AIDS and a junk status economic future, redundancies, and debt. The army of stressed, tense people in the country is so large that fortune-tellers are offering to read fists! Lifestyle magazines write about interesting, neurotic people and offer readers Best-Stressed Lists! Increasing numbers of executives are eating soup everyday because one-hour lunch breaks don’t allow enough time for them to get their teeth unclenched.

Daily, we face situations in which pressure is put on us to react. Anxiety, anger, frustration are often the order of the day. These can cause psychological stress, the damaging effects of which are manifested in neurosis, depression and psychosomatic illness. The physical symptoms of stress include headaches, chest pains, palpitations, breathlessness, indigestion, diarrhoea, eczema or dermatitis. Mental symptoms include sleeplessness, irritability, poor memory, inability to concentrate, intolerance to noise, and impulsive behaviour. Stress generates heightened blood cholesterol levels and raised blood pressure. Contemporary stress thus becomes a direct contributor to ulcers, colitis, hypertension, coronary disease and strokes.

However, the picture is not all gloom. A certain level of positive stress can be beneficial when it challenges us to grow more alert and spurs us to find successful solutions to the problems we face. The hyped Olympic sportsman before action, the decisionmaking go-getter who launches his plan of action, all need that adrenalin rush for peak performance and achievement.

Whatever the particular circumstances, all stressful situations share in common certain physiological conditions. Understand them and the body can conquer the harmful effects of stress. We inherit a series of primeval reflex actions that enable the human organism to cope with environmental stress, known as the FrightFlight-Fight syndrome. In any sudden stressful situation, the brain triggers the body for action, preparing it for either flight or fight. The central nervous system immediately releases hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream. These hormones increase the rate and power of the heartbeat, to force more blood from the heart to fuel the muscles. Vital extra oxygen is obtained by the dilation of the bronchial tubes, while the spleen contracts automatically to release more red vessels to carry this needed oxygen in the blood. To obtain further energy, more glucose is released from its store in the liver, while deposits of fatty acids and cholesterol are also raided, to provide further fuel for energy. These fats will also enable the blood to clot more effectively, should the body suffer a wound in the approaching action, for which it is being armed. Blood vessels

in the skin constrict to route the blood to the

muscles, while the pupils of the eyes will dilate to improve vision. The body is thus automatically armed, ready for intense physical action and, on assessing the situation, flight or fight ensues.

Today, unfortunately, these are seldom options in the stressful circumstances in which we find ourselves. An important job interview cannot be successfully negotiated if one flees the room, nor will the position go to the candidate who belts the interviewer across the chops! Even in our most intimate, private moments, stress can play its dangerous role. For performance anxiety-suffering males, flight or fight, again, are inappropriate responses.

What we are saddled with today is the regular activation of this arousal system, with no natural, physically intense outlet for the reflex. Instead, it is suppressed and frustrated by the demands and constrictions of conventional social behaviour. This means that a multitude of stimuli in daily existence contribute to the repeated arousal of the flight or fight response, creating overarousal and stress (think of driving in city traffic). The safety valve is blocked and we have no healthy release of the tensions in the body. Knowing what havoc these stress reflexes can cause internally, we need to find means of release. Exercise, moderate, regular physical activity, is one of the most effective stress-reducers available. Regular exercise, especially cardio-vascular movements, helps dissipate the accumulated chemical and physical reactions associated with the flight-fight response. Exercise releases the energy that the preparatory reflex has stimulated. Whatever the anxieties one might be suffering, an hour’s moderate, continuous exercise daily will

release nature’s own tranquillisers, endorphins, into the system. Endorphins are natural substances that possess an analgesic and calming effect similar to that of more harmful opiates. Exercise reinvigorates the body, leaving it more capable of coping with stress. No one giving himself over to physical movement will be capable of concentrating on the anxieties brought with him to the workout. The brain automatically switches off and the body takes over, providing excellent relief from the pressures of the stressful state. Exercise will help reinforce fresh, positive attitudes to a stressful world, developing a more resilient and hardy body.

A positive state of mind is essential for relieving the stress suffered in all the situations listed. Fight the torpor, the depression or panic that stress induces. Believe that you are capable of handling events (fight), and do so by taking a series of small, affirmative steps towards overcoming circumstances. Don’t allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the entire issue.

Laughter can be the best medicine. It’s a natural, energising reflex that encourages a healthy psyche and body. Laughter exercises the lungs and gives the heart a tune up. Laughter releases healing hormones, lowers blood pressure and improves breathing. Smiling also helps calm the body. Find time to watch some decent comedy on the box, whatever shakes your bones, and learn to laugh out loud.

Combine exercise with any form of relaxation technique through which the body is trained to unclench and let go. To effectively combat stress, you have to activate the body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which is known as the relaxation response. While suffering stress, the breath becomes light and shallow. When this happens, it is important to be conscious of the breath, to help refocus the mind. Conscious breathing ignites the relaxation response, which triggers physiological changes in our bodies, such as lowering the heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension and metabolism.

Yoga or stretch classes in the gym will help, or simply try your own form of meditation. Find a quiet spot, away from others, and sit comfortably or stretch out on the floor. Close your eyes gently, and work from the toes upward, consciously contracting, and then relaxing each body area, until the head is reached. Spend five minutes, allowing the mind to wander. Don’t pursue any train of thought, merely drift and concentrate only on the rise and fall of the belly as you breathe deeply, then exhale. Teaching your mind to loosen the grip of compulsive anxiety will help unwind the tension and relax the body. By affording yourself the healing time to exercise and relax, you’ll discover that, no matter how harrowing existence sometimes may seem, stress will no longer control you. Master the mental, emotional and bodily reactions of stress with a determined focussed mind and the Fright/Fight/Flight stress syndrome can be conquered.