Put the Burn Ban On Burn-Out, With Healthy Stress Management
by Grace Bryce, MH, CNHP
Dealing with stress can be a challenge for most people. Not dealing with it in a healthy manner can lead to serious health conditions. Putting all of your energy into a project and becoming consumed by it, can lead to being stressed-out and eventually can lead to burn-out. Having a more balanced lifestyle can assist with reducing stress. Improving skills for handling the stress is another angle to “reduce” stress. Burn-out can happen in a demanding job, but can also happen in a volunteer setting. We can be so demanding on ourselves that we lose sight of our balance in life.
Health Dangers
A healthy immune system recognizes abnormal cells and kills them before they produce cancer. Stress can weaken the immune system. Stress may also be linked to cancer, because when people are under pressure they tend to start smoking, stop exercising, or start eating unhealthy foods, which can lead to cancer. How people handle stress is a more important consideration than the stress itself. (1) ‘Burning the midnight oil’ on a regular basis can affect the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are two small glands which sit on top of the kidneys. They communicate with all of the hormones to tell them what to do. They produce the stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol, which are released to help the body cope with stress. If we are living a balanced life, adrenaline is released when we need that surge of energy, for the fight or flight reaction. Afterward, we return to a calmer state. When we become “adrenaline junkies” we crave that high energy state at all times. This can be addictive and dangerous to our health. (2) Staying up late enough to get a second wind, means the adrenal glands have released extra cortisol to give the body a boost of energy. Once this happens, it may be difficult to get to sleep, even after finishing the task at hand and even though we are tired. The next day begins with exhaustion, and caffeine or other stimulants may be used to stimulate and give the body more “energy”. This begins a vicious cycle, along with other stressors that can lead to adrenal exhaustion. Adrenal exhaustion is characterized by constant fatigue that is not relieved by sleep or resting. True adrenal exhaustion will take years of recovery time to eliminate toxins, rebuild nutritional deficiencies, and make a shift in lifestyle changes. (3)
Prevention & Stress Management Tools
Prevention of burn-out, in general, is the best medicine. Recognizing early signs of the toll taken on the body and the mind and making some changes preemptively can make a huge difference. Balance your life across the seven vital areas of health, family, financial, intellectual, social, professional and spiritual. Do it by becoming organized. It takes more time to be disorganized than it does to be organized. Being organized allows for completing more work in less time and with less effort. (4) In Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, he explains the difference between proactive people and reactive people. Highly proactive people recognize the responsibility to choose their responses. These people do not blame circumstances, conditioning or conditions for their behavior. Their behavior stems from their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than from their conditions, which are based on feeling. We really do have more control over our lives and it starts with the way we see things and recognizing that we have choices. Stop using reactive language such as, “I can’t...”, “I have to...” and “If only...”. The seven habits, plus the new eighth habit, outline a plan to organize and set priorities, put first things first, learn to say “no”, learn to delegate and put time to balanced good use. (5) Making a plan is the first step to making healthier changes. Gather information and create a personal stress management tool box.
Take care of emotional health. Negative emotions can be signals that something needs to change. They may be triggered from an event or from thoughts surrounding an event. How we interpret what happened can alter how we experience the event and whether or not it causes stress. If the problem can be seen, then there is an opportunity to make a change. (6)
Change what can be changed for the better.
Make changes that reduce frustration and find an outlet such as exercise or meditation.
Get a hobby, like gardening, remember?
Find something to laugh about each day.
Learn to change your perspective.
Choose to flow with it and be calm.
Avoid toxic relationships.
Learn forgiveness, it is for the benefit of the forgiver, not the benefit of the forgiven. Forgiveness is good for your health in many ways.
Smile and be nice to people anyway.
Remember what you enjoy doing and make time for doing it.
Schedule time wisely and balance it with spontaneity.
Another tool to manage stress, whether it is emotional stress or not, is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) developed by Gary Craig. EFT changes the body’s stress response by balancing disrupted energy in the meridian system. The protocol uses tapping on certain meridians to balance the system. It has been used to remove negative emotions, reduce food cravings, reduce or eliminate pain, and to implement positive goals. (7)
Take care of the mind, body, and spirit, they are all connected. Yoga is a good choice and covers all three. Make time for daily meditation and relaxation. Just twenty minutes of meditation per day can improve health. A recent study showed that meditation improved both emotional and physical responses to stress. People who meditated regularly for six weeks had less activation of their immune systems and less emotional distress, when put in a stressful situation. (8) Some more tools for stress management are deep breathing, imagery, and mindfulness. Breathing from your abdomen instead of your chest will supply more oxygen to your bloodstream and can help with staying calm. Imagery is simply creating a mental image that can help relax and soothe. Imagine mom’s apple pie, walking on the beach, or sitting in your garden. Mindfulness is focusing on the present moment. Don’t let the past or future get in the way of the present. Savor the present moment. (1)
Harvey Diamond, in his book, Fit For Life, A New Beginning, outlines seven distinct stages of disease, with cancer developing in the seventh stage. Heeding the warning signs during the first six stages and removing the cause of the problem, will stop the pain and disease process and return the body to health. He details a process of using an alkaline diet to cleanse the body regularly to maintain health and to also cleanse the mind of emotional baggage. (9) Regular exercise, eating healthier food and improving nutrition to restore and maintain a healthy body will help with stress management. Avoiding alcohol, sugar, unhealthy foods and environmental toxins will reduce stress on the body. (3) Massage therapy and acupuncture can also be helpful in the release of stress build up. Go to bed earlier instead of staying up later, cut out caffeine and drink half an ounce of water per pound of body weight per day. Eating 30 - 40 grams of fiber per day will help move toxins out and may help lower your cholesterol in the process. Take Vitamin C and a good B Complex to help the body deal with stress.
There are many tools for stress management and making healthy changes in your life. So, put the burn-ban on burn-out. Put your personal stress management tool-box together and learn to chill out. Don’t worry, be happy, is still good advice.
References:
1. “Stress: A Cause of Cancer” By Lisa Hurt Kozarovich
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/stress-a-cause-of-cancer/
2. Suzanne Somers, Ageless, The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones, (2006), Crown Publishers.
3. “Adrenal Burnout Syndrome” by Lawrence Wilson, MD
http://drlwilson.com/articles/adrenal_burnout.htm
4. “How to Be More Organized, Productive and Effective”, Get Motivated Workbook (2010)
5. Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, (1989), Simon & Schuster.
6. How Should I Deal With Negative Emotions? By Elizabeth Scott, M.S., About.com Guide
(May 15, 2008)
http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/f/negative_emots.htm
http://stress.about.com/od/relationships/ss/letting_go.htm
http://stress.about.com/od/relationships/a/forgiveness.htm
7. Gary Craig, EFT Manual
http://www.thrivingnow.com/gary-craig/
8. Meditation Heals Body and Mind, by Susan Kuchinskas
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/meditation-heals-body-and-mind
9. Harvey Diamond, Fit for Life, A New Beginning, The Ultimate Diet and Health Plan, (2000), Kensington Books
© Copyright 2012 Gracie's Garden, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.
Dealing with stress can be a challenge for most people. Not dealing with it in a healthy manner can lead to serious health conditions. Putting all of your energy into a project and becoming consumed by it, can lead to being stressed-out and eventually can lead to burn-out. Having a more balanced lifestyle can assist with reducing stress. Improving skills for handling the stress is another angle to “reduce” stress. Burn-out can happen in a demanding job, but can also happen in a volunteer setting. We can be so demanding on ourselves that we lose sight of our balance in life.
Health Dangers
A healthy immune system recognizes abnormal cells and kills them before they produce cancer. Stress can weaken the immune system. Stress may also be linked to cancer, because when people are under pressure they tend to start smoking, stop exercising, or start eating unhealthy foods, which can lead to cancer. How people handle stress is a more important consideration than the stress itself. (1) ‘Burning the midnight oil’ on a regular basis can affect the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are two small glands which sit on top of the kidneys. They communicate with all of the hormones to tell them what to do. They produce the stress hormones including adrenaline and cortisol, which are released to help the body cope with stress. If we are living a balanced life, adrenaline is released when we need that surge of energy, for the fight or flight reaction. Afterward, we return to a calmer state. When we become “adrenaline junkies” we crave that high energy state at all times. This can be addictive and dangerous to our health. (2) Staying up late enough to get a second wind, means the adrenal glands have released extra cortisol to give the body a boost of energy. Once this happens, it may be difficult to get to sleep, even after finishing the task at hand and even though we are tired. The next day begins with exhaustion, and caffeine or other stimulants may be used to stimulate and give the body more “energy”. This begins a vicious cycle, along with other stressors that can lead to adrenal exhaustion. Adrenal exhaustion is characterized by constant fatigue that is not relieved by sleep or resting. True adrenal exhaustion will take years of recovery time to eliminate toxins, rebuild nutritional deficiencies, and make a shift in lifestyle changes. (3)
Prevention & Stress Management Tools
Prevention of burn-out, in general, is the best medicine. Recognizing early signs of the toll taken on the body and the mind and making some changes preemptively can make a huge difference. Balance your life across the seven vital areas of health, family, financial, intellectual, social, professional and spiritual. Do it by becoming organized. It takes more time to be disorganized than it does to be organized. Being organized allows for completing more work in less time and with less effort. (4) In Stephen Covey’s book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, he explains the difference between proactive people and reactive people. Highly proactive people recognize the responsibility to choose their responses. These people do not blame circumstances, conditioning or conditions for their behavior. Their behavior stems from their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than from their conditions, which are based on feeling. We really do have more control over our lives and it starts with the way we see things and recognizing that we have choices. Stop using reactive language such as, “I can’t...”, “I have to...” and “If only...”. The seven habits, plus the new eighth habit, outline a plan to organize and set priorities, put first things first, learn to say “no”, learn to delegate and put time to balanced good use. (5) Making a plan is the first step to making healthier changes. Gather information and create a personal stress management tool box.
Take care of emotional health. Negative emotions can be signals that something needs to change. They may be triggered from an event or from thoughts surrounding an event. How we interpret what happened can alter how we experience the event and whether or not it causes stress. If the problem can be seen, then there is an opportunity to make a change. (6)
Change what can be changed for the better.
Make changes that reduce frustration and find an outlet such as exercise or meditation.
Get a hobby, like gardening, remember?
Find something to laugh about each day.
Learn to change your perspective.
Choose to flow with it and be calm.
Avoid toxic relationships.
Learn forgiveness, it is for the benefit of the forgiver, not the benefit of the forgiven. Forgiveness is good for your health in many ways.
Smile and be nice to people anyway.
Remember what you enjoy doing and make time for doing it.
Schedule time wisely and balance it with spontaneity.
Another tool to manage stress, whether it is emotional stress or not, is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) developed by Gary Craig. EFT changes the body’s stress response by balancing disrupted energy in the meridian system. The protocol uses tapping on certain meridians to balance the system. It has been used to remove negative emotions, reduce food cravings, reduce or eliminate pain, and to implement positive goals. (7)
Take care of the mind, body, and spirit, they are all connected. Yoga is a good choice and covers all three. Make time for daily meditation and relaxation. Just twenty minutes of meditation per day can improve health. A recent study showed that meditation improved both emotional and physical responses to stress. People who meditated regularly for six weeks had less activation of their immune systems and less emotional distress, when put in a stressful situation. (8) Some more tools for stress management are deep breathing, imagery, and mindfulness. Breathing from your abdomen instead of your chest will supply more oxygen to your bloodstream and can help with staying calm. Imagery is simply creating a mental image that can help relax and soothe. Imagine mom’s apple pie, walking on the beach, or sitting in your garden. Mindfulness is focusing on the present moment. Don’t let the past or future get in the way of the present. Savor the present moment. (1)
Harvey Diamond, in his book, Fit For Life, A New Beginning, outlines seven distinct stages of disease, with cancer developing in the seventh stage. Heeding the warning signs during the first six stages and removing the cause of the problem, will stop the pain and disease process and return the body to health. He details a process of using an alkaline diet to cleanse the body regularly to maintain health and to also cleanse the mind of emotional baggage. (9) Regular exercise, eating healthier food and improving nutrition to restore and maintain a healthy body will help with stress management. Avoiding alcohol, sugar, unhealthy foods and environmental toxins will reduce stress on the body. (3) Massage therapy and acupuncture can also be helpful in the release of stress build up. Go to bed earlier instead of staying up later, cut out caffeine and drink half an ounce of water per pound of body weight per day. Eating 30 - 40 grams of fiber per day will help move toxins out and may help lower your cholesterol in the process. Take Vitamin C and a good B Complex to help the body deal with stress.
There are many tools for stress management and making healthy changes in your life. So, put the burn-ban on burn-out. Put your personal stress management tool-box together and learn to chill out. Don’t worry, be happy, is still good advice.
References:
1. “Stress: A Cause of Cancer” By Lisa Hurt Kozarovich
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2006/stress-a-cause-of-cancer/
2. Suzanne Somers, Ageless, The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones, (2006), Crown Publishers.
3. “Adrenal Burnout Syndrome” by Lawrence Wilson, MD
http://drlwilson.com/articles/adrenal_burnout.htm
4. “How to Be More Organized, Productive and Effective”, Get Motivated Workbook (2010)
5. Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, (1989), Simon & Schuster.
6. How Should I Deal With Negative Emotions? By Elizabeth Scott, M.S., About.com Guide
(May 15, 2008)
http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/f/negative_emots.htm
http://stress.about.com/od/relationships/ss/letting_go.htm
http://stress.about.com/od/relationships/a/forgiveness.htm
7. Gary Craig, EFT Manual
http://www.thrivingnow.com/gary-craig/
8. Meditation Heals Body and Mind, by Susan Kuchinskas
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/meditation-heals-body-and-mind
9. Harvey Diamond, Fit for Life, A New Beginning, The Ultimate Diet and Health Plan, (2000), Kensington Books
© Copyright 2012 Gracie's Garden, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction without permission prohibited.