Stress Management

Stress is a part of modern life and yes, you know that too.

Stress is implicated as being a factor in a lot of medical conditions. Primarily heart diseases and hormonal disorders. Stress causes the releases of hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) responsible in conditions related to fight-fright-flight responses. Not all stress is bad of course. You have positive stress (eustress) and you have negative stress (distress). Positive stress is what drives you forward and it's something that motivates you in a positive manner. Negative stress is the opposite, where the outcome is generally manifested in physical and mental ailments.

Why am I writing about this? This is because as of late, I've been feeling lethargic, fatigue and irritable. Not to mention the increased amount of neck and shoulder aches I've been experiencing. Heart burns and palpitations were also quite frequent. My primary source of stress is my work. I don't and rarely relax at work. I feel as though I'm on my toes all the time. Anticipating a major case and wanting to be ready when it happens. I know I've been stressed out as of late but I haven't really addressed the issue nor did I really know how. It's not really something they teach you in medical school. Well, I don't know if the current syllabus has been modified but when I was in med school, there really wasn't a chapter on it then. I figured it was time to do some research.

A simple google search on stress management will reveal a truckload of articles on the subject and a whole lot of different suggestions on how to deal with the issue. The challenge is to simplify things and to make it practical for every day use. I'm a big fan of algorithms and flow charts as it helps me to structure my thoughts. Here's the first one.

That's pretty simple huh?

I would say a lot of stress is avoidable. But in some cases, they might not be. Those not living in the free world, under persecution will find that they don't have a choice in the matter but in a lot of cases, negative stress can be avoided. The only thing then is to weigh the options and to decide if avoiding stress is the best strategy in those circumstances.

I'll touch on stress avoidance strategy in my next post. Till then, have a good day.