Living Now. Stress is Ubiquitous: Thinking about the effects of long term stress on our performance at work requires us to change our perception and lifestyle choices, to use knowledge of health and lifestyle processes to enable positive change. This starts at the perception level, choosing to unclutter our lives (and mind), choosing to live a more balanced and happier life which will lead to better and increased performance in our work.
Prolonged stress suppresses the digestive processes and leads to digestive problems, heart disease, memory and concentration problems, anxiety and depression. The body, mind and emotions are jangled by exaggerated physiological and psychological responses to crises at every level of our existence which leads to physical and mental fatigue. The nervous system is perpetually under high tension and our muscular system becomes habitually tense.
The words tension and stress are similar terms used to describe the high expenditure of mental and physical nerve energy that modern conditions or situations of life demand from us. The outcome of prolonged stress affects the hypothalamus and triggers stress hormones, adrenaline increases heart rate and blood pressure to increase the energy supply, cortisol increases sugar in the bloodstream and the brain’s ability to use it but affects the immune system and suppresses reproductive and digestive processes.
To minimise stress effects on the body, prevention is much better than cure. Over millennia stress responses were built into the body to withstand environmental challenges and strain but prolonged stress became unhelpful, something had to change. The ability to withstand stress differs from one individual to another. Every person has a different threshold of stress levels. Type of personality, individual temperament and emotional stability determine the stress threshold for each person.
Caught in a spiral of stress related behaviours we seek release from over stress by resorting to quick remedies such as pills, alcohol, smoking, absenteeism and emotional withdrawal. While these are not answers to problems and may provide short term relief, they tend to lead to greater levels of stress and related health problems in the long run.
We need to be aware that more often than not it is our own self-created attitude and behaviours to our experiences that lead to a major part of the problem. Relaxation, exercises, mindfulness practice are part of stress management programs but rarely are they the whole answer as they do not address the root cause. We need to look where the problems lie, is it our attitude, behaviour or both. We can then identify suitable tools and skills to analyse underlying causes of stress and develop strategies to help overcome these root causes leading to lower levels of stress and healthier outcomes. It requires skilled practice, commitment and motivation to accomplish change, to unclutter our lives, to improve our health and happiness and to improve our performance at work.
Rejuvency Health Resources & Consulting provides tailored Individual, Executive and Workplace Wellness Education and Training Programs. Training for health and prevention is the cheaper option in the short term and sustainable for the long run. We promote health and providing health and stress management prevention strategies.
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