There are millions of dollars spent everyday on disease prevention, disease education, disease research, pharmaceutical drugs, etc. — but I bet if you would talk to your primary physician, he or she would stress the importance to you of managing the stress in your life.
While this is something that mental health professionals discuss in great deal with clients, this is something that perhaps you do not get to talk about too much in the doctor’s office because after all you are there either for your annual check-up or you are there to seek help for a problem. Either way, your doctor has limited amounts of time to discuss the stress levels in your life — but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important. They are!
Stress is making millions of us sick. Disease, diabetes, cancers, respiratory problems, etc. are all direct results of stress. Chronic levels of stress wreak havoc on the systems in our body directly. Indirectly, human beings try to medicate and manage stress with many negative things that result in sickness such as: bad foods, alcohol, cigarette smoking, recreational drug use, and more.
With the recent world events: our crumbling world economy, highly charged political elections, more media coverage of “bad news” in our communities, a deterioration of many of our moral boundaries, weather related catastrophies (hurricanes, earthquakes) — it’s no wonder that our stress levels are up and we are getting sicker and sicker. Not to mention the real kicker — many of use do not have any or adequate health coverage to even combat these problems.
That’s why it is so important for us to take a preventative approach towards our mental health and resulting physical health.
1. Make time for you. Even if it is only 15 minutes today.
2. Do things that you enjoy. Do you remember what they are?
3. Take time for mental stimulation or exercise such as leisure reading, crossword puzzles, or suduko
4. Try meditation or yoga. Give it about 4 weeks and see how you feel.
5. Call someone you haven’t talked to in months or even years.
6. Perform an act of kindness. Pay for someone’s toll on the bridge. Write a nice letter to someone in our armed forces. Help your neighbor out with something in their yard. Run some errands for a disabled or elderly person.
7. Music has the ability to change moods. Throw on some tunes that you love to sing or dance to around the house. I love singing Aretha Franklin songs!
8. Take a walk in your neighborhood or in one where you can gain some ideas on how to add curb appeal to your own home. I call it dream walking!
9. Decide not to stress about things out of your control today. You may not be able to do that everyday with kids or at the job — but you can do it just one day. See how you feel afterward.
10. Write it out. When you are facing issues that can truly impact your life and the lives of your family — sometimes it’s best to write it all down. Journal it. You may just write the solution to one of your problems.
