Stress management hand book

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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WHAT IS THIS BOOK ABOUT ?

Why is everyone talking about stress? But still are not concerned enough?

Stress is caused by life but life itself progresses when we manage stress.

Recessions are caused by stress. But recessions in turn cause greater stress.

In pursuit of the perfect body, we get stressed.

We don’t worry enough about health only to lose our health and get stressed.

We also get stressed about getting stressed!

Stress is all about contradictions

Welcome to this book. All you ever required to know about stress from the technical to the practical is all here.

There are some unique tools and tips here to get you to deal with stress effectively.

Whether you are young or old, all you need to do is spare some time to read it and implement it.

We make no tall claims but you will gain something very positive. We hope this book makes a difference in some part of your life.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK PAGE NO.

CONTENTS

PAGE NO.

1

The 3A model to manage stress

31

What is stress?

2

Acceptance & the Tree

31

The Nervous system

3

Awareness & ARA Activity

35

The Endocrine system

7

Action

38

The Stress Theories

8

Instant alternatives

39

Stress shapes Personality

14

Top 10 stress busters

40

What happens during stress

17

Shut down period

42

Hormones & stress impact

18

Structural changes

44

Complete the pattern

21

Diet & stress

47

Implications & diseases

22

Mood foods

49

Creeping stress

24

Diet tips

51

Identify stress

25

Recap

53

Causes of stress

27

About

54

CONTENTS

ABOUTWhy ? talk about stress?

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

1

WHY TALK ABOUT STRESS ?

IT IS THE WORLD’S NO. 1 SILENT GLOBAL KILLER. ALMOST ALL CONDITIONS OR DISEASES ARE CAUSED OR TRIGGERED DUE TO STRESS OR MADE WORST BY STRESS. IT INCLUDES DIGESTIVE AND RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS, PYSCHOSOMATIC ILLNESSES, PSYCHOLOGICAL ILLNESSES, DEPRESSION, MIGRAINES, HEART DISEASE, DIABETES, HYPERTENSION, ULCERS, SOME FORMS OF CANCER AND LOTS MORE. RESEARCH IS GRADUALLY SHOWING UP THAT ALL OTHER DISEASES NOT IN THE ABOVE LIST ARE ALSO TRIGGERED BY PROLONGED STRESS.

SOME EYE OPENING MONETARY STATISTICS!!

THE ESTIMATED PRODUCTIVITY COST OF STRESS RELATED PROBLEMS AT THE WORK PLACE ARE CLOSE TO 200BN to 250 BN DOLLARS P.A. IN THE US, 30 to 40 BN DOLLARS IN THE UK AND 15 to 30 BN DOLLARS IN AUSTRALIA. IF WE ADD UP ALL THE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD ON SIMILAR LINES THEN IMAGINGE THE AMOUNT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. ESTIMATES PUT THE TOTAL COST OF STRESS BETWEEN 300 TO 1500 DOLLARS PER PERSON EVERY SINGLE YEAR!!

WE ALSO KNOW THAT STRESS IMPACTS EVERYONE IN ALL AGE GROUPS. EVEN IF WE TALK ABOUT 6.5 BN PEOPLE ON THE PLANET AND ESTIMATE STRESS RELATED COSTS AT JUST AN AVERAGE OF 150 DOLLARS PER PERSON PER ANNUM, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT CLOSE TO A TRILLION DOLLARS OF LOSSES EVER YEAR

VARIOUS STUDIES AND RESEARCHES SHOW MOST TEENAGERS AND YOUNG ADULTS FACE STRESS 80% TO 90% OF ALL ADULTS HAVE STRESS. THE INCIDENCE OF STRESS IS COMMON ACROSS AGE GROUPS, SOCIAL GROUPS, ALL ECONOMIC STRATA AND ALL COUNTRIES AND RACES THE INCIDENCE OF STRESS IS GOING UP ALL THE TIME IT IS PROBABLY THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE TO THE HUMAN RACE – AS MUCH AS ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS, TERRORISM AND SOCIAL ISSUES.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

2

WHAT IS STRESS ?

Stress is the body’s response to some external condition, situation, catalyst or pressure which it views as a threat to it.

The threat could be big or small. Could be fatal or not. It is enough that the body views it as negative. This results in upsetting the body’s internal functions causing various problems. These problems impact us negatively at the mental and physical levels.

WHY DOES THE BODY REACT THIS WAY? The human body has evolved over thousands of years based on external environmental factors and situations. The prime factor determining all bodily mechanisms, functions and responses is survival.

For e.g. imagine a caveman a few thousand years ago. Now imagine that he has seen or heard a tiger around him.

How would he react? All his body systems would go on the alert and gear him up to defend or run or attack.

The reaction of the early humans would be similar when faced with extreme weather conditions (can die due to extreme cold, heat or floods), lack of food (death due to starvation) or group conflicts (killing other groups for food and water sources), etc.

There has been a dramatic change in the world and the external environment in the last few hundred years and each passing decade makes life more comfortable for humans.

By and large there is no life threatening situation on a daily basis. However the human body cannot evolve in such a short span of time. So the bodily responses remain the same as those required for very tough previous ages when there were frequent life threatening situations.

Even though adverse situations today are not really life threatening, the body does not understand that and treats anything adverse as life threatening and reacts accordingly.

Example – Someone inadvertently pushes you on a subway. Your first instant reaction is anger or irritation and more often than not you like to react and ‘tick off’ the person who has banged into you. This is a complete ‘nonevent’ but the body will still react as if it is threatening and put into gear various survival mechanisms. We will see what those are and how they impact you.

IN ESSENCE WHAT IS HAPPENING IS THAT THE MIND AND BODY GO FOR OVERKILL AS THEY CANNOT FIGURE OUT THE SEVERITY OF A SITUATION. HOWEVER, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT THE MIND CAN BE TRAINED TO DO THIS AND WE SHALL SEE HOW, LATER.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

3

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

We must understand the machine and how it works before we can control the process or the final output. The machine we refer to over here is our BODY; specifically the nervous and endocrine systems.

We need to keep the working of these systems in our heads so that the next time you are angry, agitated, irritated, anxious, scared or stressed, you should know what is happening inside you.

Thus a brief but simple biology lesson is in order. Don’t worry; we will not stress you out.

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM What is the nervous system?

The nervous system is that part of the body which receives messages internally (within the body) and externally (outside the body). It consists of the brain, spinal cord and all the nerves in the body. It spans the entire body from tip to toe. It is the most important system in the body.

What does it do?

It processes information and gives out directions and information to various internal and external systems and organs.

How does it do so?

It does this with its two ‘departments’, the CNS (Central nervous system) and the PNS (Peripheral

nervous system).

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

4

CNS – CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The CNS receives messages from the PNS (Peripheral Nervous System).

This is the ‘Big Boss’ of the body. Every single activity of yours is directed by it. It indirectly also controls the peripheral nervous system.

It filters and analyzes messages.

It then sends out signals or instructions through messengers (motor nerves) to all the required various muscles, organs and glands to act in a certain way.

It is the leader which tells the team that there is a crisis and they should quickly take action. Here the crisis is a stress situation.

PNS – PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM The PNS is made up of two main systems – Somatic nervous system and Autonomic nervous system.

SNS – SOMATIC NERVOUS SYSTEM The SNS relays messages from the body to the CNS (The Big Boss). It does this through three different types of messengers or receptors: Physical movement detectors called Proprioceptors – these are nerve endings located in the nerve endings of the joints, muscles and tendons and detect physical movement, tension or force.

Sensors called Exteroceptors – they are located near the surface of the skin and are like ‘sensors’ receiving external information e.g., sight, smell, touch, heat, pressure, etc.

Internal weakness identifiers called Interoceptors – they are located in the blood vessels and internal organs and report internal sensations like hunger, thirst, fatigue, pain, etc.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

5

ANS – AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM The autonomic nervous system again is made up of two other systems; the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system.

PaNS – PARASYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM The PaNS oversees REST and DIGESTION for the body.

Since saving and generating long term energy is the core part of its work, it is also responsible for decreasing blood pressure, lowering heart beats, starting or increasing digestion, breathing slowly and deeply and keeping the sexual organs active.

SyNS – SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM – THE ANTI - REST SYSTEM The SyNS is just the opposite of the PaNS. It is the quick response ‘ANTI - REST’ system which gets activated during stress.

It overrides and withdraws the PaNS within seconds (yes, within seconds!) to COMPLETELY change all internal systems functioning.

It quickly increases heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate and slows down or stops digestion and all other unnecessary activities like sexual organs.

As a result of these quick and intense activities, it uses up great amounts of energy.

This is why we feel very exhausted when stressed, even though we may have not done any physical activity. As we said, it is the ‘ANTI - REST’ system.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

6

THE LIMBIC SYSTEM The limbic system in the brain is the part which controls emotion and memory processing. It is the on-board memory processing super microchip.

Faced with a stressor or a threat, this system quickly analyzes the threat within a fraction of a second based on past memory experiences. It then decides whether the current situation is a threat or not; if it is a threat, then was it successfully adapted to in the past. Or is it a new and immediate danger. Based on any of the above, it does one of the following: If it decides there is no danger or threat, it will not send out any message.

If it thinks it is a threat but was overcome successfully, it will send out those types of instructions to the body. In this case, the impact of stress is minimal as it is very confident that the situation can be dealt with easily.

If it views the situation as a threat, it sends out an emergency message to the Locus Coeruleus and Hypothalamus for further action.

LOCUS COERULEUS Once the Limbic System sends out its analysis of a threat, the Locus Coeruleus (LC) uses its own judgment to gauge the degree of threat based on sensory inputs it gets from the receptors (remember the three receptors?).

Let us see an example of how the Limbic system and the LC operate in tandem to analyze a threat in case of a caveman hearing the roar of a tiger. The Limbic system has decided that tiger is a great and immediate threat as it cannot be overcome and sent this information to the LC. Now the LC will judge whether it is immediate or not by getting the input from the ears. If the roar of the tiger is very far off or echoes from far away, it will ‘decide’ it is a minor threat. If it is from close by it will decide it is a major threat.

The LC takes action by secreting varying levels of a chemical, norepinephrine. The levels of secretion are based on whether the threat is minor or major.

In parallel, it also activates the brain’s neurons. Both these activities ‘instruct’ the endocrine systems to respond to a certain degree.

In emergencies or extreme stress situations it is authorized to bypass the rest of the brain and other communication channels and directly instruct the SyNS (remember the Anti – rest system?) to respond immediately.

It can also directly ‘order’ a temporary and complete shutdown of the gastrointestinal and sexual systems till the crisis is over.

It is the ‘firefighter’ of the brain with exceptional emergency powers.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

7

THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM The endocrine system is a collection of organs which work as an internal feedback loop. They have an in-built automated process manual which gets implemented in any exceptional situation.

The only exceptional situation for this system is stress. This system has a very important role to play during a stressful situation: This entire system manages all important processes like sleep, digestion, immune system, sexual functions, body temperature, blood pressure and blood sugar levels, heart rate, sexual functions, energy storage, moods and emotions, etc.

This is the system which regulates response to stress by adjusting its own internal functioning in a synchronized manner.

Imagine this as an important team of workers each handling an important set of machines and operators. Once the supervisor has given an emergency warning (which in this case is Stress) the team has to implement emergency procedures within seconds. They do this by shutting some machines, by increasing production in some and by slowing down some. This is done by ‘talking’ to each other, which is the internal feedback loop.

They do not have to refer back to the brain for approval for their actions. The only goal is fighting stress.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

8

THE STRESS THEORIES WALTER CANON – ‘FIGHT or FLIGHT” The founding work on stress got initiated by two physiologists in the initial part of the 20th century who did some research and tried to explain and analyze stress. Walter Canon was a Harvard physiologist and he stated that in order to survive, mammals have the ability to react to stress physically.

This was called the ‘Fight or Flight’ response we commonly hear about today. In order to survive a threat, the body can either fight the situation or run away from it. In the caveman example, he can either fight the tiger or try to run away from it.

He also coined the term, ‘Homeostasis’. It means the body tries to reach equilibrium (stable body functioning) in the face of threat or stressor by automatically trying to adjust internal systems.

HANS SELYE – SYSTEMIC THEORY OF STRESS Hans Selye was an endocrinologist and through his experiments with rats he showed that the mind and emotions play the most crucial role in the ‘flight or fight’ responses. Selye was the one who first came up with the term ‘Stress’ and borrowed it from the engineering discipline.

INTERESTING EXPERIMENT He was researching on rats which required injecting ovarian extracts in the rats. The rats would try to escape and run around and finally get caught and injected. Later it was found that these rats had developed peptic ulcers, enlarged adrenal glands and reduced immune tissues. Initially he thought this was caused by the ovarian extracts.

He then started experimenting with different groups of rats in different conditions like a very cold environment, a very hot environment, forced exercising, injecting benign saline solutions and even surgical procedures.

The results were astounding! All the groups of rats showed the same results, i.e. peptic ulcers, enlarged adrenal glands and reduced immune tissues. There were two conclusions to this experiment.

The body responds in a similar fashion to very broad and different types of situations or ‘stressors’.

These stress factors actually make you sick.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

9 He explained this further in his popular theory called the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) and explains how the body tries to deal with stress in three stages: 1) Alarm stage In this stage the body quickly responds to the threat by activating various hormones and systems. This is similar to the response in a fire station when an alarm rings. Without worrying about the scale, type or extent of fire, the firemen rush out fully prepared with all possible equipment keeping in mind the worstcase scenario.

There is no planning or thought process which is done at this stage. It is just reflex fire-fighting activity based on hours or years of ingrained training and experiences.

The whole idea is to ensure that help reaches in the quickest possible time and way to avoid a lot of damage.

In this alarm or arousal stage, the immediate response is stopping all ongoing regular activity and changing the body’s priorities. We will see later how this happens internally.

2) Resistance Stage In this stage, the stressor continues, but the body now tries to return to its original state or state of homeostasis (equilibrium).

However, an existing threat perception does not allow it to do so completely. So the stress related hormones and organs stay activated but at a lesser intensity.

The body then tries to reduce the activities of the SyNS (Anti -rest system) and activates the PaNS (regular system) in order to get back to normal.

This process itself also causes a lot of strain within the body.

3) Exhaustion Stage The body is so exhausted due to repeated stress that its energy and resources starts reducing.

This may go to an extent where even normal functions cannot be eventually carried out well.

When this happens, the body again identifies this condition as stress and the SNS (anti - rest system) kicks in again to take it back to the alarm stage or resistance stage.

This extended exhaustion stage leads to weakening of organs, immune systems, body functions and leads to various diseases.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

10

BRUCE McEwen – ALLOSTASIS THEORY This is another popular theory which tries to explain the physical response to stress. Allostasis is the body’s ability to adapt to continuously changing situations which are non- threatening. Remember the Limbic system which analyzes situations? When it reaches a conclusion that there is no threat, the body still needs to make some changes.

Imagine going on the treadmill and increasing your speed. This is not a threat at all. But the body needs to adapt and make some changes to accommodate the new situation; in this case, increase of speed.

Your heart needs to pump faster, more blood needs to be supplied and your heart rate needs to go up. Since the body starts heating up, sweat needs to be generated to keep the body temperature regulated.

This is an example of allostasis. If this did not happen then you could get severe injuries or even die of a stroke.

However, the problem here is if the body has to continuously keep adapting. This will put an extra burden on the system.

Take the same example above. If you keep running on a treadmill off and on thrice a day, one of the following two could happen:  The body will get so used to it that it may stop reacting. You feel numb and would not be able to register something going wrong, like excess load on the heart or on the joints leading to injuries or weakness due to excess workout.

This will eventually lead to long term stress once the body realizes what you have been up to.  The body will start viewing it as stress and quickly put in place its stress response systems. It will activate the antirest system (remember the SyNS?). Imagine actual physical strain of a workout and add to it the energy requirements of battling stress; together! You are going to be one really tired and weak person!

That’s why when genuinely stressed about something, do not exercise. It’s a double whammy!

Instead just take a walk.

Both of the above situations are known as ‘Allostasis Overload’ OR ‘Stress Sensitization’.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

11 There are other different types of overload: Frequency of non-threatening stress – e.g. you are late for work and try to rush. As a result you drop your breakfast plate. You hurriedly clean up. There is no stress as yet. Then you rush to the car only to find you have forgotten the keys back in the house. You may now get a little irritated. Once you drive, you find there is a roadblock for repairs and will need to take a long diversion.

In this example, by the time the stress response starts to reduce, a new stress factor has got introduced. By the time you have barely recovered from the second one, a third factor hits you. This overloads the system and will eventually cause stress.

Frequency of same type of stressor - Imagine working a bank as a branch manager and you find some cash is missing after the daily tally. What if this was to happen 7-8 times a month. Starting from the first instance, the body keeps decreasing the response. When it becomes frequent, the body may not react at all. One fine day you may then discover, it was a gradual fraud taking place and you are questioned. Imagine the sudden stress! This is another example of overload.

Length of the recovery process - If you are angry with someone and have a fight, you will obviously be stressed.

However, the recovery from stress does not happen within a reasonable time (say maximum an hour or even less).

Sometimes it takes hours or even days. Such prolonged stress overloads the system.

Why is this important?

Hold your breath!

Allostasis overload changes the way your brain functions! Sometimes even permanently! The effects may appear much later in life but the changes occur every time there is an overload. This happens mainly because the body responses required for life threatening situations are deployed for trivial things like being late for work.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

12

PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES The previous theories were physiological or physical theories. The next two theories and some concepts look at stress as a psychological issue and try to figure out how stress occurs.

LAZARUS THEORY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL STRESS This is an interaction theory where the mind does an appraisal or analysis of the situation or interaction and then the body ‘copes’ with it. Sounds familiar right? Remember the Limbic system which analyzes and the SyNS and endocrine system start emergency procedures? The analysis is based on internal and external factors: Internal - Past experiences, goals, values and expectations.

External – How controllable is the situation and how predictable it is.

This explains why different people react or respond differently to situations OR the same person reacts differently to the same situation at different times.

Delving deeper, appraisal is also of two kinds. Both are explained in tabular form below. The first (primary) is based on the perception of the stress and second (secondary) is based on how you would respond or react.

PRIMARY APPRAISAL – PERCEPTION Elements

Meaning

Example

Goal Relevance

Relevance of the situation to the goals or issues about which the person cares about. If you care more about something, you will get more stressed.

Destruction of sea life due to an oil spill. - For an environmentalist this is much more relevant than the executives of an oil shipping company.

Goal Congruence

This refers to the extent to which a situation progresses in line with your own goal relevance.

In the above example, the courts penalizing the shipping company is positive for the environmentalist but stressful for the shipping company.

Ego

This denotes how much of ‘you’ is involved; whether plain ego or some moral values or both.

The situation is stressful for the environmentalist due to moral values and for the shipping company executives due to (corporate) ego.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

13 SECONDARY APPRAISAL – RESPONSE

Elements

Meaning

Example

Harm

This is some damage that has already occurred.

This could also be psychological harm.

In the above example, for the environmentalist, harm has already happened because lot of sea life has already died.

Threat

This is the ‘feeling’ that some harm may occur immediately.

The threat to the environment is that if the oil spill is not cleared fast, it will spread.

Threat to the shipping executives is that they will have to spend a lot of money to clean the spill.

Challenge

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

When an individual feels confident of overcoming a situation. This aspect is more driven by ego.

Both, the environmentalist and shipping executives take this as a challenge to get their respective goals fulfilled; one by getting stiff penalties and oil spill cleaned up. The other by avoiding penalties and costs.

14

HOBFOLL – COR (CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES) This theory is simple but very relevant and says that that stress occurs when: There is a loss of resources There is a threat to the resources Someone invests resources and gets no or very little benefit.

Resources here mean efforts, ego involvement, emotional investment, objects or money.

Remember the next time you start thinking you have put in so much in a job or a relationship and have not got enough in return like an increment, promotion (on the job front) or reciprocal feelings (on the personal front); you are greatly stressing yourself.

STRESS SHAPES PERSONALITY COPING ‘Coping’ with stress or an external situation is what we all have to do on a daily basis. We have already seen what is ‘coping’. The mind analyzes a situation and the body follows by responding / reacting. There are various coping theories put forward over the years; some with a lot of technical terms and jargon and yet others which are simpler to understand.

Most of them address the ‘how’ and ‘what’ theoretically, but very few really address the practical aspects of how to cope. We will seek to address this very important element of stress later in this book.

CONFIDENCE From a stress mechanism point of view, the actual action or performance is not important. What matters is the perception of being able to cope that reduces stress.

It has been seen that even in a threatening situation, if the mind ‘feels’ it can manage easily, there is negligible stress even though no action is taken. This is confidence. More of this is overconfidence or bravado and both may lead to stress or grave negative consequences.

Based on the degree of confidence you develop, people will start viewing you as confident and composed, arrogant, snooty or over smart.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

15 HELPLESSNESS It happens when the mind sees no connection between your response and the result or outcome. This happens in instances of situations beyond your control like natural calamities, accidents, death, etc. In this case the mind and body eventually accept the situation.

Once acceptance sets in, stress keeps reducing. This reduces even more once you start receiving support from society like friends, relatives, co-workers, NGOs, etc.

However, once this situation passes and you are unable to accept or come out of a situation, this behavior rapidly percolates all aspects of your life. You will then be viewed as ‘weak’, someone to pity, under confident, etc.

HOPELESSNESS Remember the wastage of resources aspect? This means that the individual is convinced that whatever he / she does, there will be no improvement in the prevailing undesired situation OR the desired result is not good enough.

This is a feeling of hopelessness and leads to stress. These people, even though intelligent have certain traits – unable to focus for long, negative, loss of goal focus, erratic, even ‘snappy’.

A prolonged state of hopelessness may lead to depression.

YOUR STRATEGY TO DEAL WITH STRESS BECOMES YOU! Depending on the way an individual successfully copes, the mind will store and use this as a generalized coping strategy.

This style becomes relatively stable and starts being viewed as a ‘personality trait’ for that person.

If someone has got his way a few times in the past by aggression or ‘bulldozing’, this person will become aggressive.

In case you have got away in the past by avoiding decisions, staying out of the way and it has worked; you will gradually become defensive and display avoidance behavior.

Similarly you can become assertive, defensive, authoritative, meek, uncaring, compassionate, etc.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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A QUICK BODY RECAP Let us once again go through the various body systems in brief The Nervous System consists of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS).

The CNS consists of the brain and the spinal cord. The CNS receives messages from the PNS, filters and analyzes it and sends out messages.

The PNS consists of two main systems – Somatic Nervous System and Autonomic Nervous System.

The Somatic Nervous System is under voluntary control and relays messages from the body to the CNS with the help of different kinds of receptors or ‘messengers’.

The Autonomic Nervous System comprises two other systems; the parasympathetic nervous system (PaNS) and the sympathetic nervous system (SyNS).

The PaNS (Rest and normal functioning), directs rest and digestion functions. It works to save energy and responsible for decreasing blood pressure, lowering heart beats, starting or increasing digestive processes.

The SyNS (anti rest system) is the rapid response system which gets activated during ‘fight or flight’ situations. It uses up energy and withdraws the PaNS quickly (within seconds) to change cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal and endocrine functioning. It is also responsible for increasing heart rate and blood pressure and slowing down digestion.

The Limbic System controls emotions and memory processing. It analyzes situations, reaches a conclusion and sends out messages to the Locus Coeruleus and hypothalamus for further action.

The Locus Coeruleus controls responses to ‘stressors’ or panic situations depending on the threat perception. It is the alarm bell of the brain. It can also bypass the brain and all other systems to implement emergency procedures.

The Endocrine System consists of glands such as the hypothalamus, pituitary glands, adrenal glands, pineal gland, thyroid and parathyroid, pancreatic cells, ovaries and testes. This system manages all important body processes like sleep, digestion, immune system, sexual functions, body temperature, blood pressure and blood sugar levels, heart rate, sexual functions, energy storage, moods and emotions.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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WHAT HAPPENS DURING STRESS? The receptors (through the neurons) take the messages of the threatening situation to the limbic system.

The limbic system analyzes the level of threat and sends its analyses via the neurons to the Locus Coeruleus and the Hypothalamus.

The Locus Coeruleus sounds the alarm by releasing large quantities of two hormones, norepinephrine and epinephrine.

The key role of these hormones is to send a message to quickly activate the SyNS (anti - rest system) and shut down or slow the PaNS. At the same time, the Hypothalamus releases hormones as an emergency signal or instructions to the various endocrine glands to release other hormones to increase or decrease various functions.

There are various hormones which start doing their work simultaneously. Most of the impact of these hormones is negative.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

18

HORMONES & STRESS IMPACT EPINEPHRINE & NOREPINEPHRINE The alarm hormones released by the Locus Coreuleus to automatically activate the SyNS. What does it do? Activates SyNS leading to exhausting energy and slowing down the PaNS. Leads to fatigue and exhaustion even with less physical activity.

ATP ATP is a chemical released by blood platelets (and as ‘instructed by Epinephrine) in large quantities.

What does it do? The purpose of ATP is to fight stressor ‘head on’ by limiting blood flow to certain parts of the body like the heart and preserving it for an oncoming ‘battle’. Large amounts of ATP can cause instant heart attacks as it rapidly narrows blood vessels to a level where the blood flow is cut off.

CORTICOTROPHIN RELEASING FACTOR (CRF) This is released by the hypothalamus.

What does it do? It activates the pituitary gland. It is more like waking up one of the messenger sentries in the body.

ADRENOCORTICOTROPIC HORMONE (ACTH) It is released by the pituitary gland in the blood.

What does it do? It stimulates the adrenal gland. The adrenal is one of the defense sentries in the body. It is made alert by the pituitary by using ACTH as a message.

CORTISOL This is one of the key stress hormone released by the adrenal gland.

What does it do? It is a key fighting hormone. It increases the availability of carbohydrates, fats and glucose from the fat tissues, increases arterial blood pressure, reduces inflammation and allergic reactions and also reduces lymphocytes. Elevated and prolonged levels of Cortisol can lead to muscle break down, decreased inflammatory response, suppression of the immune system and even depression and psychosis.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

19 ALDOSTERONE It is also released by the adrenal.

What does it do? It increases blood supply (volume) quickly and as a result also increases blood pressure.

Prolonged presence of Aldosterone due to stress leads to essential hypertension (high blood pressure).

THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE (TSH) This is released by the pituitary.

What does it do? It stimulates the Thyroid to either increase storage or reduce storage in the body. This explains a lot of people who are fat but claim to hardly ‘eat’. They are probably much stressed.

THYROXIN This is released by the thyroid.

What does it do? It increases metabolic rate, increase respiration rates, heart rates, blood sugar and blood pressure. Prolonged presence leads to hypertension, diarrhea, diabetes, palpitations, and respiratory problems.

OXYTOXIN It is released by the pituitary What does it do? It contracts blood vessels and muscles of the uterus. Blood pressure and stroke are possible outcomes. Prolonged release may impact child bearing abilities in women.

VASOPRESSIN It is released by the pituitary What does it do? It is an anti diuretic and leads to contraction of the intestine. It results in digestive disorders and constipation.

ADRENALINE & NORADRENALINE These are released together by the SyNS. What does it do? These maintain the increased heart rates and help release stored sugar in the body for energy.

These hormones also help maintain elevated blood pressure levels. Excess of Noradrenaline is directly linked to anger and panic or anxiety. Prolonged and excessive amounts of these hormones contribute to hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, and anger control issues.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

20 GLUCAGON Released by the pancreas to raise blood glucose levels.

What does it do? Raises blood sugar levels leading to diabetes PROLACTIN Released by the pituitary.

What does it do? Suppresses the reproductive systems and may lead to reduced sex drive, risk of impotence ENDORPHINS & ENKEPHALINS Released by the pituitary What does it do? These are hormones to suppress pain perception and work in the same way like Morphine.

Reduced pain perception leads to more risk taking causing damage without realizing it.

PEPTIDES Chains of amino acids called peptides are released which circulate and ‘communicate’ within all parts of the body.

What does it do? These are the biochemical counterparts of emotions and go around ‘telling’ various body parts that there is a problem and they should gear up for it.

Becoming over emotional.

NGF (NERVE GROWTH FACTOR) It is a neuro hormone which is released as part of the stress response mechanism.

What does it do? Its main job is to temporarily suppress or shut down disease fighting cells (the immune system).

This is done to conserve energy. You become prone to illnesses, allergies and even more dangerous diseases including cancer.

REPRODUCTIVE HORMONES The production of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone is completely stopped to save energy.

Needless to say, prolonged reduction of stoppage of such hormones leads to impotence, inability to bear children and hormonal changes in men and women.

INSULIN Insulin production is also ‘banned’ during stress as insulin tells the body to conserve energy, while in stress; more energy is required to be released. The result is diabetes.

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COMPLETE THE PATTERN It is amazing how the human body functions like an efficient organization in the face of a ‘threat’. Everything is geared up towards conserving and releasing energy. Just see how the organs and hormones coordinate to bring about the following changes. Anything which consumes energy and is not immediately important is slowed or shut down – immune fighting cells, reproductive systems, digestive systems, insulin production.

SO WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO US? THE STORY COMPLETED! We now know why we tend to eat a lot when stressed, especially high sugar and high fat foods. The body is sending out the signal for increasing sugar levels very fast. At the same time, the digestive system slows down.

Further, the body is also instructing the food to be converted to fat and glucose and keep it in the system.

Little wonder then, that persons with prolonged stress or bouts of stress get ulcers and digestive disorders; not to mention weight management problems.

Also remember how we fall ill or feel ‘down under the weather’ after a few days of a bad lifestyle or deadlines or overwork. That’s because your body has been instructed to shut down the immune system to conserve energy. If it remains slow or shut for a few days, you are bound to fall ill.

Further there are hormones which also help keep sugar at a certain high level.

Simultaneously, Insulin production is stopped. Insulin breaks down excess sugar and removes it and also helps internal organs and muscles to conserve energy. So you can now see the combined effect.

Excess sugar release in the blood + prolonged high sugar levels + No Insulin = Diabetes.

Shutting down reproductive hormones and slowing down the reproductive systems. This is a no brainer. Now you need not wonder why you don’t feel like having sex or have sexual dysfunction disorders if you are prone to getting stressed.

Internal and external muscles need to be tightened and constricted to create tension required to expel great amounts of effort at very short notice – remember the fight or flight? Now what will happen if the blood vessels remain constricted for a long time? Hypertension or stroke!

To ensure sudden strength and energy, blood flow needs to be increased a lot. So sudden increased blood volume with constricted arteries leads again to……A stroke or heart disease; and definitely hypertension (high blood pressure) To take care of energy needs, there is also an increased output of blood cholesterol through two means – release from the body’s fat stores and by instructing more of the absorbed food to be converted to cholesterol. We all know what cholesterol means – hardening and blockage of the arteries.

These are just the direct effects. The indirect effects are faster ageing, wrinkling, depletion of cells, more prone to old age related diseases, etc.

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IMPLICATIONS AND DISEASES THE IMPLICATIONS What is essentially happening during stress response is that all the protective systems that get activated actually become responsible for destroying the organism...slowly but steadily. All this is true and there are various researches the World over which shows the biological impact of stress: Increased heart rate and rapid or irregular heartbeats High rate of stroke even decades after a situation of prolonged and severe stress. (Lawrence Brass from Yale medical school did a research on WW2 veterans and found that the rate of strokes in POWs was 8 times higher than other soldiers who were not imprisoned).

Reduction in the size of the Hippocampus. The Hippocampus is responsible for forming, organizing and storing memories, emotional responses, orientation and navigation. Children having faced trauma in childhood or child abuse face actual reduction in the size of the Hippocampus. This also holds true for adults facing prolonged stress.

Rapid breathing, hyperventilation and even asthma Increased blood pressure and perspiring or sweating also leading to dehydration Increased output of blood cholesterol Increased blood sugar and glucose Disruption of other functions. Upset stomach, colitis or constipation, ulcers, migraines and impaired sexual functions.

Muscular fatigue and insomnia – Muscles used for stress become very tight and remain tight until consciously relaxed. This results in tight jaw, tension linked headaches, neck, shoulder and back pain, fatigue, loss of concentration and insomnia.

The primitive parts of the brain becoming dominant. So we react without thinking. What it results in is increased anger, fear, sadness or nervousness, anxiety and depression, poor impulses, irritability and ineffective communication.

Weak immunity system. This results in frequent colds and flus, infections, allergic reactions, auto-immune diseases and even cancer.

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THE DISEASES It is very obvious from the above discussion on physiology as to what are the diseases or afflictions directly attributable to prolonged, repetitive or chronic stress: Heart and cardiovascular diseases even though you do not have it in your genes.

Diabetes is a direct outcome of stress irrespective of whether you are genetically inclined or not.

High Blood Pressure.

Digestive problems like ulcers, gastrointestinal problems, changed eating habits (under or over eating or frequent binge eating and drinking).

Weight problems.

Impairing memory function.

Respiratory diseases, asthma, bronchitis.

Allergies and constantly falling ill.

Diseases like TB and other non-communicable diseases.

Higher propensity to get cancer.

Ageing of Internal organs and external signs like hair loss, white hair, wrinkles, looking old, etc. Due to heightened and intense activity levels demanded by stress situations, there is greater wear and tear of internal organs and processes.

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CREEPING STRESS The symptoms of prolonged and slowly creeping stress are less visible. In fact, you may not even realize that you are undergoing prolonged periods of stress.

Sometimes you get so used to it (remember stress or allostasis overload?) that it even becomes a ‘comfort zone’.

This can go on for years and suddenly you may wonder why you were afflicted with some disease even though you have an apparently normal or healthy lifestyle or are still young.

The symptoms are easy to spot if one is always aware of even the minor changes in one’s body, emotions or behavior and does not go into denial or ignoring mode.

Do refer to all the symptom charts in the following section. You will get to know if you have creepy stress.

WHOM DOES CREEPING STRESS AFFECT? Practically everything we do today or are exposed to, causes stress. Stress commences from a very early age as pressures are large on every individual.

Various studies have shown that the incidence of onset of hypertension, diabetes, skin problems, gastro problems and cardiac related problems are occurring in ever decreasing age groups.

These diseases of ‘old age’ are now occurring in ‘middle age’ and moving very quickly to individuals in their 30s or even earlier.

The alarming fact is there is no difference or variation in these trends irrespective of age (even kids and teenagers have stress), gender, race, nationality or economic status.

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IDENTIFY STRESS The symptoms of an immediate stressful situation are instantly noticeable. You just have to start becoming aware.

However the symptoms of creeping stress are less obvious. The following charts give you examples of aspects of yourself that can tell you when you are facing stress; whether immediate or creepy stress.

FEELINGS RELATED ASPECT OF YOURSELF

EXAMPLES

Immediate Feelings

Anger, anxiety, helpless, irritation, fear, hopeless

Internal Feelings

I must do well, Life should not be like this, I must have what I want, This is terrible, I cannot take this any longer, Everyone should like me, I have been betrayed, I have to get back, etc.

Emotions

Bouts of anxiety or depression, anger, guilt, shame, embarrassed, hurt, jealousy, feel like dying, feel like crying, moody, emptiness, aggression, and worthlessness.

BEHAVIOR RELATED ASPECT OF YOURSELF

EXAMPLES

Behavioral

Avoidance issues, sleep problems, insomnia, time management issues, irritability, restlessness, increased smoking, substance dependence, speech problems, accident prone due to lack of attention, personal grooming may suffer or may fret excessively over grooming.

Work Place Related

Suspicious, withdrawn, gossiping, aggression, bossy, unable to focus on work, missing your work plans or deadlines, staying longer hours, feel like running away from work.

Interpersonal

Become more passive OR aggressive, more introvert OR more extrovert, timid and withdrawn OR become unduly competitive, gossiping increases, may become manipulative or secretive.

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PHYSICAL ASPECTS ASPECT OF YOURSELF

EXAMPLES

Sensations

Increased heart rate, headaches, migraines, nausea, aches and pain, tremors, fainting, numbness, dry mouth, stomach cramps, sweaty, indigestion, frequent urination, palpitations.

Diet

Adverse eating patterns, overeating, under eating, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating or ‘mood eating’, loss of appetite, increase in tea and coffee, increase in alcohol intake, resorting to prescription drugs or smoking or other psychotropic substances.

Health

Increased frequency of colds, coughs, fever, flu, allergies and gastrointestinal problems, blood pressure, fatigue, heart problems, decreased sexual activity, low immunity.

Other Physical Signs

Getting fatigued faster, feeling of lethargy, getting more injury prone, greater propensity for inflammations, pulls and sprains while doing the same level of activities as before.

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CAUSES OF STRESS The very fact of being born and the activities required to function or survive cause stress. However, here we are talking about a continuous exposure to stressors, some real and some perceived as stress.

It is important to note that stressors need not be the same for everyone and even the stress response is not the same for all individuals. What is stressful for one person may not even be perceived as remotely stressful. Even in a given similar situation, one person may get very angry and the other person may only get slightly agitated or even ignore the stressor.

However it is important to list down some possible causes or triggers of stress to make us more aware. There are possibly over a 100 causes of stress.

Causes for stress can be broadly divided into 8 categories. These are external, physical & lifestyle, family related, societal, life related, financial, sensory, development related. Each of these is given with some examples in the charts below.

EXTERNAL CAUSES Stress Category

Stressor Type

Nature

Extreme weather and sudden weather changes, natural calamities and accidents

Pollution

Air pollution, noise pollution, chemicals and hormones in food products, poor water quality or ‘over treated’ water, hygiene and sanitation.

Environment

Lack of control over circumstances like regulations, freedom, mobility, food, housing, health, a feeling of being ‘tied down’.

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PHYSICAL & LIFESTYLE CAUSES Stress Category

Stressor Type

Health

Chronic diseases, disability, ailments, infections & allergies.

Lifestyle

Incorrect eating habits and diet, excessive drinking, lack of sleep, use of psychotropic substances, lack of ‘work-life’ balance.

Nutrition

Lack of adequate & balanced nutrition or excess of nutrition.

Personal Aspects

Whether under weight or obese, worried about looks, figure, body.

FAMILY RELATED CAUSES Stress Category

Stressor Type

Family linked

Running a family, taking care of parents, children, relatives or any ailing or special family member.

Marital issues

Marital disharmony due to various reasons.

Parenting

Constant anxiety for children - education, health, lifestyle, safety, sexual issues, internet, gaming, career, marriage.

For children and young adults

In addition to all of the above, a feeling of ‘not being understood’, frustration, ‘perceived or real lack of freedom’

SOCIETY RELATED CAUSES Stress Category

Stressor Type

Socio cultural

Fitting in a different cultural environment at work, for studies or in a newly married situation.

Societal

Desire for social recognition, to be accepted in a group or by peers. Social defeat or neglect.

Relationships

Conflicts with relatives or friends, gossiping, deceptions, manipulation, ‘ego issues’.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

29 LIFE RELATED CAUSES Stress Category

Stressor Type

Life related

Births, deaths, marriages, divorces, life’s highs and lows.

Study life related

Academic performance, parental pressure, exam and study pressures, peer pressure, acceptance by peer groups, bullying, career selection pressures, acquiring gadgets, money for partying and shopping.

Work related

Deadlines, business issues, work pressures, working in groups, interpersonal conflicts, peer pressure, boss related issues, balancing work and personal life, career advancement issues, acquiring assets, wealth, gadgets.

SENSES RELATED CAUSES Stress Category

Stressor Type

Senses

Loud sounds, bright lights, pain, excessive sensory inputs.

Sexual issues

Compatibility, desire or performance issues. Excessive desire.

FINANCIAL CAUSES Stress Category

Stressor Type

Actual lack of Money

Poverty, unemployment such that unable to meet basic needs.

Financial perceptions

Perceived lack of money.

Continuous desire for more money or material goods.

Losses

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Sudden & substantial material losses.

30 EARLY DEVELOPMENT RELATED CAUSES Stress Category

Stressor Type

Pre - birth

Prenatal maternal stress

Post – birth and childhood

Sexual abuse & other childhood traumas, chronic childhood illnesses.

As we can see there are various reasons which could subject us to stress…practically every aspect of the external world subjects us to some kind of stress on a daily basis.

So is it impossible to be ‘stress free’. The concept of being completely ‘stress free’ is practically non-existent.

What we can look forward to is effective stress management.

YOU ARE YOUR BEST STRESS MANAGER Stress does not occur because of external conditions but due to how we react or respond to the stress.

So the good news is that having or not having stress is completely in your control. You choose to get stressed or not stressed.

Most of the times we respond based on our past experiences and basic nature. More often than not it is involuntary and not even consciously decided to react in a certain manner. But now that we know it is in our hands, we can be more aware and try to change our internal as well as external responses.

The earlier concepts of ‘speaking your mind out’, letting off steam, expressing all your emotions, exercising, having sex, etc. actually lead to more stress.

So what can we do? Let us look at the next chapter to get you going on the path to stress management.

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THE 3A MODEL TO MANAGE STRESS What can I do to manage myself and becomes stress free? We will look at a different perspective on managing stress using our unique 3A model: 1. ACCEPTANCE 2. AWARENESS 3. ACTION Each of these are not necessarily sequential but have to be understood and practiced at all times.

ACCEPTANCE ACCEPTANCE We are not willing to accept our current situation, finances, partner or spouse, work, environment, even our own body. This is the biggest trigger for stress. Want examples?

I think I am a little too fat around the hips. Even though I am thin I could do with a better body.

I wish I had or want to have a bigger or better car.

I don’t have the latest smart phone. I will definitely get one or wish I had one.

I am the one who always has to accommodate. Why me?

I lost money this year in business and it is a pain to reduce expenses.

I am ok with my job but I deserve much better.

I need someone to relate to. My parents just don’t understand.

I have to be very careful with my teenage daughter; till the point of being intrusive.

I work so hard, I need to get much more money.

I sometimes feel I could have done with a better partner.

There are many more such statements which you would have thought of or are thinking even now. Every single time you think about what you do not have or ‘what you are not’, you are causing actual stress. You need to keep in mind that there are only 2 things on Earth on which you did not have control and did not have a say: The family you were born in. Your parents, siblings, relatives, house.

Your own body structure and nature

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Everything else in your life which has happened is due to your own decisions. We still agonize about everything or try to change what we have about us.

Our career was our choice.

Our jobs are our choice.

Our business which we do is our choice.

Our spouse or partner is our choice.

Our reactions to people are our choice.

Our friends & enemies are our choice.

Hey hang on a second. That’s a bit too harsh. Is it not? Well, Read on.

Every minute you are taking decisions How to travel, what to eat to what to do. Driving fast or slow, eating junk, scheduling your work, when and how to pay your bills, how to interact with colleagues or business associates, getting irritated with someone in the family, etc. All of these, every single minute of your life are all your decisions; and every decision will have an outcome, whether immediate or long term or both. But when the result happens we get stressed.

Decision = Result.

Result + Non Acceptance = Stress Result + Acceptance = Joy OR No Stress

If we got late for work, it is probably because we did not sleep early OR did not prepare our clothes the previous night. It was your decision. If you list down on a daily basis of what all got you in a hustle, you will be able to figure out the connection between decisions and results which you perceive as stressful. Sometimes these results occur over a period of time….but they always occur.

Life works on the laws of the universe ….and physics. An input has an output, action has reaction, whatever you give back gets thrown back at you in some form – whether thoughts, emotions, actions, reactions.

So what we are trying to highlight here is that everything you are today is a result of your own decisions, whether taken consciously or unconsciously, rationally or emotionally. Does that mean you blame yourself and go on a guilt trip? NO – You have to first learn to understand this concept of acceptance.

Acceptance is nothing but understanding the way you function in relation to the rest of the world.

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THE ACCEPTANCE TREE How do we understand this concept practically? Grab a paper and some colored pens or pencils or crayons. We will do a jaw dropping activity right now! We will create an Acceptance Tree.

Step 1: Draw a tree with a trunk. The trunk represents your life and the aspects you did not have a choice on – your family, your looks and body, your nature, etc.

Step 2: Add main branches to the trunk. Each branch represents one aspect of your current life. Write down the current situation the way it is irrespective of whether it is joyful for you, troubling to you or whether you are neutral.

Step 3: Then to each branch draw decision sub branches, each of which represent decisions you took. Write those decisions in green color.

Step 4: Add sub branches to the decisions (sub) branches and write down why you took the decisions that you did. Write these in red. Your tree is ready!

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Now let us analyze it with the help of a chart which you need to fill in. A sample is given below based on the above tree. Create one chart for each of your current aspect.

Main branch – Currently Manager at a Chain Store.

Decision branches (green)

Why you took those decisions (red)

What could you have done to take a better decision?

Did not pursue higher education.

Wanted to start earning money and grew up the ranks fast so did not see a need to study further at that time.

Worked for 2-3 years, saved money and studied OR enrolled for a long distance or part time management course.

Similarly, you can create branches for one aspect of your life: Business or Career Education Health Hobbies Relationships Finances You will find that most of your own decisions have led you here. Even the ones you think are not due to your decisions are probably because you have not gone deep enough. Now that you have your charts ready, you have probably realized that everything you are today is a product of your own decisions.

OK – SO DO I HAVE TO JUST BE HAPPY THE WAY I AM AND NOT PROGRESS? NOT AT ALL. ACCEPTANCE MEANS BEING GENUINELY COMFORTABLE WITH WHERE YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE. THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU DO NOT HAVE TO IMPROVE. SO HOW DO I GO ABOUT IMPROVING MYSELF? The next step towards stress management is building awareness about yourself.

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AWARENESS & ARA We now need to continuously be aware of all the decisions we take and the outcome of those decisions. It is only when we know the problem and the extent of the problem, that we would be able to fix it.

AWARENESS REFLECTION ACTIVITY (ARA) The best way to build awareness is through the ARA At the end of each day, sit down quietly for 5 minutes and note down all the instances when you were stressed, guilty, angry, anxious, fearful, felt like reacting or reacted to something or someone negatively, or were just feeling low or moody.

You also need to note down the instances when you felt fatigued or fell ill (any kind of illnesses like fevers, cold, flu, migraines, palpitations, ulcers, allergies, asthma attacks if you are an asthmatic, etc.)

Also note down all instances of positive feelings and experiences had. Joy, achievement, energetic, fresh, feeling good, no physical problems, etc.

All of the above are known as outputs.

After having this we need to find the reasons of each of these symptoms. These are known as inputs. Write down the inputs.

Then write down the cause for the input and which area of life does it relate to. The broad areas of life are given in the causes charts in one of the previous sections.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

36 Use the following sample chart to map out your daily analysis (some examples already given): Output

Input

Guilt for missing my daughter’s music performance at school Feeling feverish

Could not leave work on time

Happy

Had a late night and some alcohol Daughter won a prize for her music performance

Root Cause of Input Did not plan my day better keeping in mind I had to leave early

Broad area of life

Was up late watching football

Lifestyle related

She had a great interest and I used to drive her to the best music class inspite of my work schedule.

Family related

Work life related

Write down these charts for at least 90 days in a row. To make this activity most effective, 90 days is ideal as it will cover most of the diverse situations in your life.

HOW DO WE ANALYZE THESE CHARTS? At the end of 30 or 90 days you will automatically get a list of two types: a) You will get to know the root cause of your stress. In the example above, your cause of stress is primarily poor planning, maybe caused due to an interest in football which keeps you up late. This impacts your work, family life and health. So it is probably an obsessive interest in watching football which is causing problems. b) You will be able to identify your KIA (key improvement areas) and DMA (do more areas)

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In the above example the KIA would be how to get away from watching football till late in the night and the DMA would be would be to spend more time in your daughter’s musical training.

You will become consciously aware of a lot of things Doing something over a period of time and constantly being aware and conscious helps to start reprogramming the brain even without you knowing it. So the subtle effect you will start observing after 2-3 months is you will make efforts to improve without realizing it.

If the brain has consciously been made aware that you are given to ‘binging’ when work gets too hard, leading to ulcers; now the brain will start making you feel really guilty about doing so. Even if you give in and do it a couple of times, the third time you will definitely not do it.

However, all this is easier said than done. What can I do when I am in a situation which I am now aware will cause me stress?

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ACTION We move on to the third aspect of stress management – and that is simply; Action!

What are the specific things we can do? Stress cannot be managed by some formula or some instant solutions.

At the same time we cannot wait for a long time for certain improvements to happen.

Stress has to be simultaneously worked upon at 3 levels.

1) Find instant alternatives 2) Top 10 stress busters 3) Structural changes It is easy to say do not get stressed when you are facing an adverse situation. But it is quite difficult to calm yourself or control your emotions. There is a lot of information available as to what is to be done when you are facing stress. In the following section we put forward the top few things to be done or not done when agitated, emotional or stressed.

Once you have read the first few chapters and understand the stress mechanisms and how the body functions under stress, you will immediately the relevance and efficacy of these instant alternatives. The whole idea is to replace the negative in your mind and body with the positive.

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INSTANT ALTERNATIVES Substitute eating with music.

Substitute exercise with walks. If stressed or angry do not indulge in vigorous workouts and exercise or intense cardio. Keep it light.

Indulge in a hobby if you have any.

If you don’t have any concrete interest, read a good magazine or a book which is not related to your line of work.

If you have the urge to shop, don’t buy for yourself at that time at all. So called ‘shopping therapy’, does not work.

It only compounds the problem.

Instead buy small gifts for people in your life.

Don’t start texting, tweeting or updating facebook status as regards your situation. Focus on other activities instead of communication.

If there is an urge to eat something sweet eat dates or fruits instead of pastries or ice creams.

Replace fried, spicy or junk food with salads or healthy sandwiches.

Substitute coffee, alcohol and aerated drinks with green tea and light smoothies / shakes.

If going out with friends or even at home and feel that you are unable to control the ‘alcohol urge’, try having chilled, watered down red wine or a light beer with ice.

If you have to talk, talk about anything but your current situation; which is what we do not want.

Don’t speak to someone who knows your life or the current problem on hand. Talk to someone who has no idea.

Connect with an old friend. Speak to an aunt or uncle.

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TOP 10 STRESS BUSTERS When in stress or angry with someone or something, whether at work, home or elsewhere there are various things you can do. Check out the TOP 10 things to do when angry or in stress.

1) Stroll Stroll slowly around where you are. Be it office, home, campus, cafeteria, street, etc.

Consciously look for things which you did not notice before or something new which were not there earlier.

It could include landscape elements, new signboards, new shop, new office window, a broken cubicle, a nice picture on someone’s desk, etc.

Try to look for at least 10 things in 5 minutes and try to remember them.

2) Count your heartbeat This is essentially your pulse rate. Now don’t use any implement or phone app for this. Do it yourself.

Find and feel your pulse either on your wrist or at the side of the neck just below the bone area. If you feel around a bit, you will find the correct spot.

Now count the number of beats continuously for 5 minutes. If you miss a single beat, start all over again.

Keep noting down the counts for every minute. E.g. 100 for the first minute, 90 for the second minute etc. and total. Maintain a tracker for this.

Do this each time you are suddenly or severely in stress and after every 3 such instances, keep observing the differences and trends in the pulse rate between minutes at a given time and between various situations.

It will be quite interesting for you to see how your body responds.

The added advantage of this is you need a lot of focus and concentration, so you actually do not have time to think about anything else. If you think about something, you will miss a beat and need to start over.

3) Listen to instrumental music If you are listening to instrumentals, listen to something which has a rhythm or pace of less than 60 beats per minute.

Ensure it is something soothing.

You should hum along with the music.

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41 4) Listen to Songs The number of beats should be less than 60 per minute.

Ensure that the lyrics are motivational, non-violent, contain no abusive language or are songs about life or love with good and positive lyrics.

You should hum along or sing softly.

5) Equal breathing Practice equal breathing.

You should ideally do this sitting cross legged.

You could also do this sitting on your chair or on a bench or even in a bus or train.

Opt for our stress management program to learn these and various other techniques on www.wellzee.com 6) Focus on Breath You should ideally do this sitting cross legged.

You could also do this sitting on your chair or on a bench or even in a bus or train. Our stress management programs on www.wellzee.com contain the most optimal techniques.

7) Trataka You should do this in a stationary place only.

You should ideally do this sitting cross legged.

You could also do this sitting on your chair or on a bench.

Visit www.wellzee.com our programs.

8) Playing Cards Play solitaire or blackjack with yourself.

Keep real playing cards and don’t play the computer versions of these games.

The idea is to stay away from the computer or online media for some time.

Also try making card houses.

9) Games Explore games (but no online versions) like checkers, chess (you play both sides), scrabble or Sudoku.

Play with a lot of focus and as if you have participated in a real contest.

10) Hobby or Interest If you have some hobby or interest, get immediately engaged in it.

Sketching, designing, practicing a language, playing an instrument, writing, singing, anything which is ‘offline’.

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SHUT DOWN PERIOD Shut down yourself for 30 minutes. This is very important and the most difficult thing to do. What do you do in this shut down period?

For the first 5 minutes (assuming there was a conflict at work, home or with friends), do not talk, respond, and react.

Do not write anything or send out even work related mails or messages.

Do not write anything on social media. Just do one of the TOP 10 activities given above.

During this time, do not take any decisions or do not try to react to the situation or the person.

Go back to doing whatever you were doing. – Study, work, household chores, hobby, etc or simply take a walk if you cannot concentrate.

Avoid eating or drinking anything during this period. Whatever you eat or drink at this time is a nutritional waste for your body. Remember what the body does during stress? It needs great amounts of instant energy for which it would have slowed down the digestive system and also would have instructed it to convert everything into sugars and release in the blood.

Why are these first 30 minutes so important?

Remember our friends, the limbic system, the Locus Coeruleus and hypothalamus? We need to consciously tell them that there is no alarm and the body is not threatened. They have to be constantly reminded of what is not a threat.

So the suggested TOP 10 activities in the first 5 minutes and subsequent 25 minutes take care of these friends. By not reacting immediately, discussing or communicating, you are sending an ‘upload’ to the limbic system that this is a normal situation and it need not add it to the memory processing bank as a threat. It will process this differently.

The LC will stop sounding the frantic alarm. The hypothalamus will not go in overdrive and instruct all the systems to go in emergency mode.

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Over a period of time, the LC will stop sounding an alarm at all for physically non-threatening situations. The hypothalamus will not give out emergency instructions to the glands and the limbic system will start updating this in the memory as either totally non-threatening or very easy to handle.

Benefits of the ‘Shut Down’ period

Of course, this takes practice…..but start trying it! Once you get used to it you will find the following: 

Will be cooler under adverse situations.



Will not get hassled fast.



Focus will increase at home, school, college or work place.



Decisions will be better.



You will find you will stop doing or saying things which you regret later or feel guilty about.

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Body will not go into ‘overdrive’ all the time – so greatly reduced chances of illnesses – short term and long term.

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Continued practice, combined with our Wellzee Yoga programs will lead to greatly reduced chance of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and other psychosomatic problems.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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STRUCTURAL CHANGES We spoke about what to do when immediately faced with stressful situations; what are the alternatives and what are the quick fixes. But how do we bring about a long term structural change. There are various things you need to do on a daily basis to become ‘stress free’

Yoga Yoga is the best long term solution for stress and diseases. Since it is a well rounded discipline, you do not need to do anything else separately with Yoga. Try out one of our relevant programs on www.wellzee.com which are comprehensive, safe, and universally applicable and with detailed and relevant explanations. Further, the programs come with a schedule and the most appropriate sequence of practices, so you need not get confused.

Walking After Yoga, the best activity to beat stress is walking. A brisk walk 45 minutes a day is one of the best ways to beat stress. While walking, look around for new and nice things to see even if on the same route or walking in the same location or garden.

Exercising If you don’t like walking, or feel you are very energetic and still young, pick up an exercise to do. Whatever suits you should be done; cycling, swimming, weights, dancing, aerobics or any other form of exercise.

CAUTION Whatever form of exercise you do, please ensure it is moderate at all times.

Regular or excessive fatigue due to over-exercising may trigger stress.

Warm up well before an exercise session and remember to cool down and stretch after a session.

Also keep lifestyle and age in mind. We do not want to land up with injuries or inflammations or other negative effects of exercising; which will again lead to stress.

Do not exercise when you are angry, stressed or anxious.

Avoid playing competitive sports unless you are a competition level player. If you can handle losing matches and play for fun or exercise, it is fine. If you agonize over losses for even five minutes then please do not play any sport. You will add to your stress.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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Charts Continue with the charts we discussed about earlier. If you keep documenting, you will know what is impacting you. If you feel you have overcome the most immediate issues, move on to the next set of issues.

Positive Reflection Reflection is an activity which you do at the end of the day and reflect on what has happened throughout the day.

Sit quietly on your bed with your legs folded (cross legged) and back erect for five minutes.

Do not have any noise around, shut off music and TV. for these few minutes.

Keep your eyes shut and do‘quick replay’ of the day’s events in your mind. Just see the events; do not think about them or try to analyze them.

Keep a timer for 5 minutes. Do not open your eyes before 5 minutes.

After opening your eyes, you have to note down 10 positive points for the day. Try and find 10 positive points to note down.

It may be something as simple as reaching office on time OR having a delicious lunch OR making a new friend in school or college, etc.

Do this for at least 6 months in a row and keep reading the diary at the end of each week or each month.

You will feel the difference in your stress levels.

What you are doing is telling our friend the limbic system that there is nothing wrong and there are no or very few threatening situations.

The limbic system will record this in the memory bank and use this to analyze future situations. In effect, you are reprogramming your brain.

Occupy yourself Occupy yourself at all times. While travelling, waiting, taking a break, consciously occupy your mind. Look for interesting faces, expressions, signboards, shops, try to remember street names. What else you would explore if on the same route. Read informative articles, magazines and books which are in areas other than your work or study related areas. Do not read food and shopping catalogues and fashion magazines. You will start fretting looking at what you want and don’t have or can’t afford.

Recreation Consciously pick up a hobby or an interest and learn or practice diligently. E.g. learning a language, musical instrument, creative arts, writing, cooking, etc. Make sure you do this 2 to 3 times a week, forever if you can.

You have to make this as part of your routine, e.g.; if cooking is your interest you can decide that on every Mondays, Wednesdays and Friday you would cook a different variety of health food for supper. Or you could learn a language twice a week and practice it for an hour every alternate day.

Everyone has some interest which can be converted to a hobby…so do not give excuses and find one, if you don’t have one till now.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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Interpersonal activities Start involving friends or family in structured non-competitive activities. Working for a charity together, creating a self help group, play outdoor games, etc. are some examples.

Going out with family or friends to a mall or for a movie, snacking and watching football or baseball, watching and discussing soaps and drinking binges do not qualify as interpersonal activities or recreation.

No Electronic Media Get away from all electronic media and social media for at least a couple of hours a day. That means no T.V., no internet, no social media, no smart phones, no digital pads, no opening and working or playing on your computer.

It is not as difficult as it sounds. If you have some daily exercise activity and also some constructive hobby, you will be off these media anyway for even longer.

While travelling in a bus or train or waiting for someone, get in the habit of shutting your eyes or looking around and observing, rather than burying yourself in your hand phone (mobile phone) or digital pad.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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DIET AND STRESS WHAT YOU EAT AND DRINK IS WHAT GIVES YOU STRESS! DO YOU KNOW YOUR BODY IS SLOWLY KILLING YOU THINKING YOU ARE STARVING WHEREAS YOU COULD ALSO BE OVEREATING? How does diet contribute to physiological stress even though you may genuinely have little mental stress? Let us see what the Limbic system, Locus Coreuleus and Hypothalamus will do in the following situations: 1) Frequency of Eating 2) Quantity of food 3) Type of food

Frequency As we have seen, the Limbic system is the one which does the analysis of situations. This is done based on all past experiences as well as basis the ‘in-built’ functioning of the body. What it means is that it also has preprogrammed data (based on genetics and evolutionary process learning).

When the human body is faced with lack of food at timely intervals, the brain sends out a message that the organism is now in an environment which has lack of food.

It also presses a ‘mild’ warning button to the locus coreleus and hypothalamus.

Faced with a lack of adequate nutrition, the body’s defense mechanism is designed to store more fat in a form which can be easily released when required in the form of sugars. i.e. fat, cholesterol and glucose.

Energy released in this form is instant and can be drawn upon to survive on long periods of drought and famine or wars.

If you have persistently irregular eating habits in terms of less frequency and odd timings, the body will get the signal that you are in a long drawn out food crisis situation like a famine or war.

So remember what the very efficient combination of the limbic system, locus coreleus and hypothalamus will do?

1) Limbic system will give continuous instructions – store as much energy and food as possible.

2) Due to this, the locus coreleus will keep the body in some state of alarm very frequently.

3) The hypothalamus and the ANS will get its act together to do deliver a high stress response:

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

48 Store food in the most appropriate form for quick use when required – fat, cholesterol, sugars When faced with ‘starvation’ start releasing these energy forms. So if you have a 6 hour gap between a meal, the body is working overtime to ensure you get adequate energy i.e. glucose and cholesterol in the blood stream.

Preserve energy – so, it will slow down the digestive systems and also slow down production of insulin.

It will constrict blood vessels and try and push more blood to generate more energy.

DO YOU NOW SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DO NOT EAT FREQUENTLY? We are headed towards ulcers, hypertension, diabetes and cardiac trouble even though we may be thin or average or may be exercising and otherwise have a ‘stress free’ life.

Quantity The amount we eat at every meal also sends out similar signals to the body.

Eating till you are full or over eating is telling the body that you are likely to be in starvation zone.

It also makes it difficult for the body to handle more quantities of food than it can effectively digest. This leads to internal stress.

Imagine if someone asks you to run fast for an hour and you are not used to it. How long can you keep it up? You will be fast for the first 10 minutes at best and then keep slowing down. You will finally reach a stage when you will just give up and probably not even complete one hour.

The digestive system also faces the same problem. It will do its best till it can. Then it will tell the limbic system it is ‘tired’ or ‘stressed’.

The limbic system and hypothalamus will again go into ‘stress response’ mode because it needs to slow down the digestive system…which means it needs to quickly store more energy for future use……..and also needs to release more energy to rejuvenate.

So the net result of eating till full or eating more is the same. High blood sugar, hypertension, cardiac problems, ulcers thyroid problems, weakened immunity, etc.

Type What we eat also triggers stress response in the body.

If we are going for high sugars, Trans fats, junk foods, etc. it tells the body that either you are in a season or region where nutritional food is not available or you are eating this anticipating future food problems.

Once again, all the organs swing into action to minimize energy loss, relax the digestive systems which are overworked, conserve energy in the form of fats, sugars and cholesterol and also keep releasing them in the blood stream.

The net effect is stress.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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MOOD FOODS Foods have a decidedly physiological and mental effect. It may be slow and subtle but it definitely affects you to a very large extent without you realizing it. There are 3 primary types of food based on the effect they have on the body and the mind.

LETHARGY FOODS There have been occasions where all of us would have over eaten. Can you remember how you feel? You feel you cannot move, just want to lie down, ‘not move an inch’, or go to sleep.

At times (or regularly) you have beverages, but that makes you feel ok for only a few minutes to an hour. Once the effect is gone, you are worse off than before. Are you not thinking of Coffee right now?

Yes, it is a lethargic food and also a stress creator. It artificially inhibits food intake and temporarily stimulates the brain but the internal dynamics of the body do not change.

If you are on an empty stomach, you need food, if you are tired, you need to sleep. Coffee is like a numbing cream, just takes away the feelings at that point of time but worsens the internal situation.

Also don’t you feel heavy if you have dessert or lot of baked foods and packaged food? If you are unaware, try eating breads and bakes and tinned or packaged foods (maybe you already are) for a few days. Then switch to freshly made food, with more vegetables, fruits, pulses, grains. Eat similar quantities and note down how you feel.

You will definitely feel better.

All foods which are heavy, flour based bakes (like pizzas, packaged breads, desserts), packaged foods, meats older than a couple of hours or preserved, foods with preservatives, fried foods, processed cheeses, leftovers, stale foods, aerated drinks, alcohol, stimulants like coffee all cause and dullness and lethargy.

Your brain tends to think negatively and that reflects on the body. Even a small problem then is perceived as stress and the whole cycle starts again and keeps going on.

Now imagine eating like this regularly. Overeating also means eating heavy foods and not necessarily too much of food.

You gradually tend to get lethargic, want to postpone things, thinking may become defeatist or even negative, stress builds up in the system. So this is the first category of food.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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AGGRESSION FOODS Foods which over a period of time keep you in a heightened state cause aggression unless the energy is channelized.

If you are in a profession or work which requires a lot of regular physical labor, you can eat these kinds of foods. If you are not, then you are asking for trouble, even though you have ‘always been eating this’.

These kinds of foods lead to excess energy which most of us cannot handle in today’s world at all. Working out at a gym for an hour is not enough to assimilate these kinds of foods safely.

These foods make you anxious, worrisome, and aggressive or anger prone (aggression is not good – it leads to immediate intense stress), restless, bored all the time, unable to be calm or sit peacefully.

All this leads to triggering the stress in the body in addition to the fact that you are getting excessive nutrition in the form of meats or heavy foods that the body will misinterpret.

Some of these foods are non-vegetarian food (all meat categories), eggs and all types of chilies, onions and garlic.

The less you eat of these, the better you will feel and will also help reduce stress.

CALMING & ENERGETIC FOODS These are food categories which are light to digest, good for the system and have a calming effect on the mind.

They are also nutritious. All foods not in the above two categories will fall here.

Fruits, vegetables, cereals and pulses, freshly cooked food, non-packaged food, food without preservatives, eastern spices (except chilly), honey, jaggery, cottage cheese, cow’s milk, curds (fresh unsweetened yogurt), thin buttermilk, herbs, green tea are all foods extremely good for stress and wellness.

To know how to eat correctly you may opt for one of our diet plan. These are designed to keep you in healthy and in a good mood at all times. Further, you get a choice of veg, non-veg and Jain plans.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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DIET TIPS We firmly believe that there is no requirement to go on certain rigid diet plans at all. If you just decide to improve eating habits all the time and keep being aware of what you eat and the impact on the body, it is good enough.

In case you still need to have a plan to get you going, you may opt for one of our diet plans on www.wellzee.com

Some key things you may like to remember Eat frequently. Don’t be rigid about diets or get carried away with dieticians and news reports.

If you can eat four decent meals a day, it is good enough.

Let the last meal be the lightest and breakfast be the heaviest.

Do not eat till you are full at any time. Eat enough so that you automatically feel hungry in 2 to 3 hours.

Do not worry about calories and composition of food. If you are eating healthy, you will automatically get the required nutrition and in the right amounts.

For in-between snacks, try fruits, salads, fresh lime juice, a light sandwich, steamed food, some dates or few nuts (not more than 5-6 in a day).

Eat nutritious and calming foods. Keep increasing their intake.

Cut out on fried foods and foods made with too much butter, sugar, eggs, oil or refined flour.

Try and eat less spicy food.

Gradually start eating more of vegetarian food.

Move to eating freshly prepared food. Ensure at least one meal in a day is fresh.

Slowly reduce the intake of lethargy foods and aggression foods.

Eat slowly and chew properly. Focus on eating while having meals.

Do not eat in front of the TV or while chatting.

Eat at regular timings every day. Exceptions are fine.

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

52 Have your first meal before 8.30 a.m. and your last meal not later than 8.30 p.m.

There has to be a gap of at least 2 hours between dinner and bed time.

If you have dinner or supper early and feel hungry before going to bed, have a glass of skimmed cow’s milk or some fruit.

Reduce alcohol and coffee. Instead have green tea, herbal milk or lime juice.

Cut down or give up on smoking.

Eat with JOY!

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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RECAP The body faces stress all the time. It is a condition for life.

The mind controls stress reaction. The mind decides what is stress and gives instructions to the rest of the body.

On receiving instructions, the body releases hormones to regulate, stop or accelerate body processes as required to tackle stress.

Repeated stress instructions and alarms lead to prolonged presence of stress related hormones, undesired stress responses and bodily disruptions.

Such alarms, disruptions and hormones lead to diseases and ailments, sometimes fatal.

There are physiological and psychological theories of stress.

Based on our thinking and stress response, we shape our personalities as well.

We could get mood swings, aggressive, helpless, hopeless or depressive due to the way we respond and cope with situations.

We now know that the mind controls everything. The GOOD NEWS is that the mind can be programmed and got under control.

The best model is our AAA model – Acceptance, Awareness, Action.

The model is very practical. It just requires honesty and a bit of discipline.

Diet plays a key role in managing, controlling or triggering stress.

Become aware of the 3 categories of foods – Mood foods.

Go through the diet tips for a great body and stress reduction.

Practice Yoga for health and longevity. Visit www.wellzee.com and select a program relevant for you.

BE HEALTHY, BE HAPPY

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana

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ABOUT Imagine not having to take medicines for anything or getting any diseases. Assuming you get some disease, visualize getting rid of it and reducing or eliminating dependency on medicines.

Improve your productivity; increase your personal (literally and financially) or organizational bottom lines and see a healthy and happy family around you.

All of these have been the driving factors in initiating Wellzee.com and writing this book. The task was not easy and it involved over a couple of years of research, interviews and interactions. The idea was to make it relevant and provide practical inputs which can be seamlessly integrated into your daily lives.

Yours truly is someone with a similar set of issues. An MBA with many years of corporate work experience made me realize there is something missing. Life is not about being stressed and running after targets or owning the latest cars and gadgets. Having overcome debilitating and chronic asthma through Yoga and diet management; and bouts of hypertension without any medication, made me realize that life is in your hands.

Having obtained training and certifications in Yoga, nutrition management and counseling and teaching or training hundreds of individuals has provided a practical and contemporary perspective to health management.

Wellzee is supported by a team of experts. For more information and to improve your lives, please visit www.wellzee.com Be Healthy Be Happy, Gaurang Chandarana

Copyright October 2012. Gaurang Chandarana