The New Year hubbub is behind us, we have said goodbye to the hearts and flowers of Valentine’s Day and we are already looking at St Patrick’s day being just around the corner. Spring Arrives this month and with it many people begin to fall prey to the stresses of life.
Here in the US the weather has hammered most of the country with wicked weather of some type or another and does not seem to be ready give anything a break. You know there is a lot of snow when even the snowplow drivers are complaining that it is too much. Along with the vagaries of the weather and all the issues it can create there are the normal pressures and stress we all deal with.
We hear it in news reports, office water cooler conversations, and from our doctors and nurses. Stress can really have a negative impact of our quality of life and if we let it catch hold of us too much, it can create serious health issues. In fact, according to webmd.com stress is a factor in our health in many ways, including the following:
- Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
- Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
- Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
- The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.
As we make the transition from winter to spring I will be posting a series of articles with hints and handy tips about how to deal with the stress in your life. The articles will cover a variety of subjects about stress including: causes, a self-graded stress test, some lifestyle hints and tips to help reduce stress in your life, a 10 minute de-stress you can customize to your own needs, ways to lessen the impact of stress on your relationships, how you can relieve stress with exercise, and more!
