Stress Management
It's hard to pick up a newspaper or magazine these days and not find another article on the causes of stress. Or on the effects of stress.
Stress is a fact of life. It's also a fact that stress can be bad or good. But even too much good stress begins to cause problems for us humans. When we detect a potentially stressful situation on the horizon, our bodies react according to a script developed in evolving humans over millions of years.
- Heart rate and blood pressure increase to provide extra blood to the brain to improve decision making
- Blood sugar rises to furnish more fuel for energy
- Blood is directed away from digestive functions toward the large muscles of the arms and legs to provide more strength in combat, or greater speed in getting away from a scene of potential peril
- The blood clots more quickly to prevent blood loss from lacerations or internal hemorrhage
But in modern times, most of our stressors are not physical. We don't need to flee from a wooly mammoth! So why is our body still preparing us for escape? It's easy to see how repeated false alarms for a "fight or flight" can contribute to hypertension, strokes, heart attacks, diabetes, ulcers, neck or low back pain.
So if stress is everywhere, and our bodies react to it involuntarily, how can we keep this fact of life from taking over our life? That's where stress management comes in.
Whether it's traffic jams, work deadlines, or tussles with a teenager that cause us to "stress out," there are ways to recognize a stressful situation, step back from it and defuse it.
The Stress Management Program offered by Hunterdon Medical Center teaches ways to recognize and cope with stressful situations at home, at work - and in between. "Take a Step…Learn to Control Your Stress Level" will help you discover positive effective ways to decrease the stress that is part of your life. You can learn to cope effectively with stress by relaxing your mind and body. You can even learn to recognize self-defeating thoughts that make you more vulnerable to the negative effects of stress.
Stress Management is a series of four sessions:
Session I
- Define stress
- Identify your signs and symptoms of stress
- Learn an effective, positive method of coping with stress
- Increase your physical resistance to stress
Session II
Session III
- Change negative, self-defeating thoughts to positive, realistic ones
- Learn stress-decreasing communication skills
Session IV
- "Me, worry?"
- Use anger as a positive force
- "Where do I go from here?"
Check the calendar for upcoming classes or call (908) 237-6920 for more information.