It is how people deal with the stresses and the intensity of feelings that is important. This depends on an innate ability (nature) as well as the psychological responses learned during the growing up process (nurture).

Psychological problems and their causes

• There are many signs of psychological problems. There may be a marked personality change or simply an inability to cope. Some people may have strange, grandiose or obsessive ideas.
• A prolonged period of depression and apathy, as well as marked changes in eating or sleeping patterns may also be indications of psychological problems.
• Thinking or talking about suicide, extreme emotional highs and lows and the abuse of alcohol or drugs are signs of psychological difficulties, as are excessive outbursts of anger, hostility or violent behavior.
• Psychological problems have various origins, which can be placed in a number of categories. An individual’s life history is an important factor in the development of psychological problems. It is when people are young that they develop their basic assumptions of others and themselves, as well as their strategies for coping with life.

These strategies need continual updating – a strategy that may have been appropriate at the age of five is no longer useful at the age of 40. Sometimes people cling to outmoded and detrimental strategies that then lead to difficulties in current relationships and eventually to psychological and emotional distress.

In general, a healthy mind implies being content with yourself. For healthy people, on the whole, life has meaning and fulfillment. They have friends and family to whom they can express thoughts and emotions. They do not fear change and are always ready to learn. Amid the stresses and strains of everyday life they are able to enjoy themselves. A healthy mind is one that can deal with both positive and negative events, from getting married to a death in the family. It is normal to feel frustration as well as happiness, or anger as well as joy.

• Some people have a genetic propensity to psychological problems. This could be due to the way in which their brain is formed or because they easily produce excess stress hormones, making them more likely to be susceptible to stressful life events. Physical ill-health can affect a person’s psychological well-being, too. Seriously ill people may become depressed or anxious. This in turn can affect their physical health, slowing their recovery and possibly making them more depressed – and so the cycle continues.
• Situational factors can negatively influence psychological well-being – for example, living in a socially deprived area with frequent vandalism and drug abuse. Trauma, such as a car accident or physical attack, or even the witnessing of a traumatic event, can produce adverse reactions that can lead to post-traumatic stress. Loss and bereavement, while a natural part of life, can also affect people’s psychological health and while all societies have rituals in place to facilitate the grieving process some people find it very difficult to come to terms with their loss.
• Cultural factors can affect the person’s sense of identity and belonging and can have a direct effect on individual’s sense of psychological well-being. For example, people from immigrant populations encounter more psychosocial problems than those in the dominant culture.
• Each category can produce psychological problems on its own, but it is usually when there are two or more factors that psychological “disease” takes hold. For instance, if someone has had a very difficult early life, he or she may respond more negatively to a traumatic event than someone who has had stable, loving childhood. However, people’s reactions are unpredictable. Someone with a difficult early life, for example, may have learned at an early age to cope with trauma and so manage better than the person with a stable background who has not encountered any traumatic events.

Moreover, psychological stressors may linger and allow the alarm response to persist far beyond its useful time. Powerful hormones released during this stress response have a specific physical impact on the body and can contribute to disease.

Other negative emotions and personality traits have also been found to be associated with the risk of chronic disease. It was once thought that the “Type A” personality, which is marked by highly stressed, time-pressurized and aggressive behavior, was a reliable predictor of mortality from coronary artery disease. Actually, “hostility” is the Type A factor that seems to be predictive of heart attacks. In 1995, Dr Murray Mittleman and other researchers at Harvard Medical School in the US reported their analysis of interviews with patients after they had had a heart attack. They reported that the likelihood of having a heart attack was 2.3 times greater within two hours of having an angry outburst than at other times.

Depression is also common in patients with coronary artery disease and is associated with a higher incidence of heart disease as well as an increased mortality rate following heart attacks. In 1996, a team of researchers led by Dr Barefoot at Duke University in the US studied mortality statistics for people who had a documented history of heart disease. They discovered that the mortality rate was 78 per cent higher in those individuals with moderate to severe depression compared to those who were not depressed. Of course, this depression could have been the result rather than the cause of the physical illness, but clearly the entanglement of mind and body influenced the outcome of the illness.

Among their other benefits, most mind–body therapies create a relaxed state which is the opposite of the arousal characteristic of the stress response. Practicing meditation, relaxation techniques, imagery work, hypnosis and movement therapies, such as yoga and Qi gong, can all produce a beneficial relaxed state.

Techniques from cognitive behavioral therapies are also employed in teaching stress management. Individuals learn to recognize stress triggers and respond to them in a different, healthier way by learning a technique called reframing, which allows them to think more positively about the stress-inducing situations they encounter.

Through practicing a wide variety of CBT techniques, people learn to master symptoms that had previously been overwhelming. This allows them to build up self-confidence which then spills over into other aspects of their professional and personal life and enables them to make positive lifestyle changes which go well beyond the alleviation of specific symptoms.

Take Your Vitamins

Vitamin D is actually a hormone that the body creates naturally from food and sunshine. Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) is found in plant-based foods such as cruciferous vegetables and leafy greens, whereas vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is supplied to the body through supplementation and exposure to sunlight, and supports immunity and improves mood.

Eat Wisely

Omega 3 fatty acids found in oily fish such as salmon and mackerel may also help relieve occasional seasonal depression. Omega 3 fatty acids help form cell membranes and keep them soft and flexible, which allows for better passage of serotonin through cells. Studies have also revealed lower rates of depression in countries where people eat more fish. Additionally, foods such as brown rice, whole grains, lentils, fish, and turkey are rich in the amino acid tryptophan, which is a precursor to serotonin production. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter associated with greater feelings of wellbeing and happiness.

Exercise

Regular exercise is not only beneficial for your physique but also for your mind. Brief activity releases endorphins, which are neurotransmitters that cause you to feel happy and satisfied. Exercise can also help to generate new neurons in the brain, thereby potentially improving memory and brain function. Moving your body provides a powerful outlet for stress, so even if you may not immediately feel happier, you may feel as though you are releasing unexpressed stress and tension.

Avoid the winter blues by following these simple tips and find out more by visiting www.dreliaz.org.

Remember that you are not your illness: Many people tend to identify with their illness, and either subconsciously or consciously believe that their illness defines them as a person. This identification with the illness often causes more suffering and pain than the actual illness itself.

Eat for your health: Of all the recommended strategies for fighting disease and promoting overall health and well being, few are as critical and profound as healthy eating. Eating a variety of nourishing, whole foods provides the ability to rejuvenate and rebuild, while keeping you healthy and energized. Certain diet plans can also be tailored to a specific health condition – for example, foods such as cruciferous vegetables support heavy metal detoxification and decrease inflammation.

Meditate: The health benefits of meditation have been successfully tested in the scientific community with excellent results. More and more peer-reviewed research on meditation confirms that it is a viable method of improving health and emotional well being, helping with issues ranging from cardiovascular disease, inflammation and immune activity to pain, anxiety and depression. Meditation is a beneficial relaxation technique, as it is well known in the medical world that reduction of stress improves the condition of many disease states and helps to greatly reduce health risks related to physical, mental and emotional overload.

Clear the clutter: When battling any type of illness, people often seek a more serene environment that is clean and calming to improve their mood and decrease stress. Clearing clutter from your everyday environment – whether it is your office, home environment, or your car – can help you create a more peaceful and comfortable space in which to invite healing energy.

Reach out: While you may feel inclined to isolate yourself when you are ill, sometimes company is the best therapy! Taking time to connect with friends and family through e-mails, visits or phone calls will help you feel supported and loved, improve your mood and immunity, and help to process your diagnosis in a safe environment. In addition, many programs provide support groups that bring people in similar circumstances together in order to help one another work through personal experiences in a positive way.

A key to recovery from illness or serious health conditions involves increasing your emotional well being and improving your surroundings. Creating a safe, happy and healthy environment in which to heal will allow you to maintain your psychological health while improving your physical vitality.

1) Healing: When practiced regularly, meditation can allow you to reach a state of consciousness where your mind and body begin to heal. When you can access and hold this meditative state through regular practice, the health benefits that follow can include decreased pain and stress, increased energy, better mental and emotional clarity and stability, better sleep patterns, and improved breathing due to increased lung and heart efficiency.

2) Prevention: Risk factors for a multitude of diseases including life threatening heart disease and stroke have been improved with the regular use of meditation as a balancing and strengthening self-care modality.

3) Clarity and Energy: One of the outcomes of practicing meditation is reaching a state of mind that is characterized by mental stability and clarity where you are free from sluggishness, drowsiness, and haziness.

4) Stress Relief: Positive psychological changes that occur during meditation are associated with higher telomerase, an enzyme vital for the health and longevity of cells at the DNA level. This positive effect on cellular health is believed to be due to an increase in your ability to cope with stress and maintain overall well psychological well being.

The benefits of meditation are most noticeable when it is practiced on a regular basis. The most important thing to remember is to start out at a pace that is reasonable for you so you stick with it and do not give up. Even 10 minutes a day can offer profound benefits to your body, mind and spirit. By gaining control over a hyperactive mind state through the gentle discipline of meditation, you can experience increased awareness, inner peace and an array of health benefits. Visit www.dreliaz.org/recommends-lifestyle for more information about meditation and its health benefits.

With the holiday excitement behind us followed by the inevitable New Year’s resolutions to improve our lifestyle and eating habits, let’s take a look at the realities of what stress does to our health. This may help us find a deeper motivation for sustaining needed changes that benefit us on all levels.

“Fight or flight” mode uses up the body’s resources to escape from danger. This is a ‘“catabolic” or “wear and tear” physiological state. Healthy physiology maintains a more “anabolic” or “build and repair” state of being, while chronic catabolic metabolism breaks down the body/mind/spirit. Long term stress is like borrowing on your “equity line of credit.”

Here is a list of some of the deleterious effects of chronic stress:

• Disrupts brain-neuro-endocrine system
• Lowers adrenal function
• Causes hormone imbalance
• Causes immune suppression
• Causes Sugar/insulin imbalance
• Increases weight
• Disrupts Sleep
• Promotes catabolic process
• Triggers emotional/psychological domino effects
• Promotes negative beliefs and thought patterns, self doubt, depression, anxiety
• Isolation
• Breaks down muscle mass
• Causes loss of bone mass
• Increases risk of infection
• Increases allergic responses
• Increases risk of CVD, autoimmune disease, cancer
• Promotes inflammation
• Inhibits digestion
• Imbalances neurotransmitters
• Poor rebuilding and repair
• Causes nutrient deficiencies

Serious stuff! So, what can we do to shift ourselves into a healthier pattern and reduce stress? We can learn much from meditation, which encourages us to closely examine ourselves with a sense of honesty coupled with compassion, rather than judging and criticizing ourselves. From this process we can often find a deeper source of real motivation to make changes. Continuing to tap into this deeper sense of motivation is a key to maintaining our desire to practice healthful habits. Understanding the real damages of stress in our lives helps to maintain motivation to incorporate consistent practices to reduce stress. Meditation also teaches us that change comes about by taking small steps and making them part of our lives rather than making dramatic leaps that we are not able to sustain. For example, committing to 15 minutes of daily meditation and breathing is a simple small step that has profound benefits.

I work with many people who have life-threatening illnesses. Many of my patients have expressed that the opportunity that such a severe health challenge offered was the shift in priorities – a shift away from a narrow focus on accomplishment and goal orientation, to the feeling of connectedness and love given and received between friends and family, connecting with nature and becoming more acquainted with their inner life. Life became much simpler, yet more profound. We have the good fortune to learn from these experiences and examine our lives, reprioritize, simplify, and take steps to create some spaciousness, equanimity and connectedness in our daily lives. Our physiology will respond in kind.

A little stressed? Try a lot stressed. Always on the go. We live in a fast-paced world where everyone wants everything now. Who has time to relieve stress?

You do!

Here are three easy and effective was to relieve some stress and still have time for everything else:

Breathe

Meditation is an excellent way to relieve stress and can take as little as 60 seconds. So if you think you don’t have time to meditate, think again. In the time you are stuck in traffic, waiting in line at the bank or stopped at a red light, you can very easily relieve some stress. For just 60 seconds concentrate on your breathing. Breathe deeply feeling the air flow in and out of your nose. Imagine the stress and tension draining from all your muscles. Let go of the tightness and worry in your face, neck and shoulders. Feel it all wash away in just 60 seconds of controlled and focused breathing.

Enjoy
What do you enjoy doing? Does dancing make your heart dance? Does singing put a smile on your face? Does reading take you to new and exciting places? Does painting or drawing take you on a creative journey to worlds unknown? Find something you truly enjoy doing and do it. When you enjoy doing something you get lost in the task at hand. The rest of the world, along with its stresses, fades into the background. Find something that makes you happy even for 15 minutes and feel the stresses of the day move to the back of your mind.

Resolve
Do you have something you need to work out with a friend or loved one? Is there a problem at work or school you are struggling with? If you have an issue that is causing you much turmoil and stress, resolve it. Decide what you are going to do about it and just do it. Why continue worrying about something that can be dealt with and put in the past? Once it is done there will be one less thing to stress over and one more deep sigh of relief.

Walk away. If you can, just walk away from what is stressing you. If you have reached your boiling point, take a break from it. Come back and deal with it after you have had time to breath.

Breathe. Just stop and breathe. Take in a deep breath in through your nose and hold it for 5 seconds. Slowly exhale through your mouth. Wait 5 seconds and take another deep breath in. Repeat this 5 times. If it hasn’t helped after 5 times, do it again.

Pay attention. Take note of the things that stress you out. How many of those things can you do something about before they actually happen? Pay attention to how you deal with things. Many of our stresses are caused by how we react.

Listen to music. Put on some music that relaxes you. Not everyone relaxes to the same type of music so find something that works for you. As long as it relaxes you, don’t worry about whether or not anyone else likes it.

Go for a walk. Take a leisurely stroll around the block. Pay attention to all the sounds, smells and sights along the way. The purpose is to put your mind on something else. Breathe in the fresh air and enjoy the scenery.

Laugh out loud. Find something, anything, to laugh about. Even if you have to laugh at yourself or make up a silly joke, just laugh.

Sip some tea. Chamomile has been proven to relax the nerves. Any hot drink before bed can help you to relax so you can sleep a little better.

Scream. I am sure many reading this has been stressed to the point of just wanting to scream. Well, go ahead and scream. No one is stopping you. If it is going to make you feel better, go for it. It will instantly make you feel better and people will leave you alone for a while.

Break the routine. Do something different than you normally would. Take a different way to work. Eat something you don’t normally eat. Talk to someone you have never met. Just that simple little break in routine can make a difference in your day and maybe someone else’s.

Stop thinking so much. If we spend too much time thinking about the things that stress us out, it is only going to make things worse. Instead of thinking, find something else for your mind to do. Try turning on some music or reading a book. It will help take the focus off what is stressing you and on to something more enjoyable.

Start a journal or blog. Many find it difficult to talk to others about what is bothering them. One way to get things off your chest is to keep a journal or blog. When something is bothering you write it in your journal or post it in your blog. Even talking about every day things will give you something to look back on in the future.

Learn meditation. Meditation can take as little as 60 seconds to help you reduce your stress. Quietly concentrate on your breathing, feeling your breathe flow freely through your nose. Imagine the tension in your face, neck and shoulders evaporating into the air never to be felt again. Let the stresses of the day fade away into the past and leave them there.

Smile. It is amazing what a smile can do to brighten your day. Remind yourself to smile. Make it a point to smile at no less than 4 people every day. Not only will it brighten your day, but it will brighten theirs as well.

Laugh. Find something to laugh about every day, even if you have to laugh at yourself. Look up a joke online. Make a funny face at yourself in the mirror. Watch a funny movie. If you can’t find anything funny, laugh at nothing. You will be surprised at how catching it can be.

Exercise. Working out is not only good for our bodies but also for our minds and spirits. We can focus on the exercise and allow it to take our mind of the things that stress us. Regular exercise can also give us more energy and allows us to sleep better at night.

Take a nap. Taking a nap allows us to stop thinking about all the things that are bothering us. It gives our mind a rest and lets our bodies reset. When we wake up from a nap we are refreshed and ready to tackle the world yet again.

1. Keep a schedule. Are you always late to appointments? Having trouble getting assignments done on time? Not getting enough sleep? Try starting a schedule. Start by writing down everything you do in a day. Note the time you started, ended and how long it took you to complete. Jot down any distractions that occurred while doing something. Now go back and see if there are things you could have done differently. Were you late for work? Schedule yourself an earlier wake up time. Didn’t get an assignment done on time? Pencil the time needed to finish a task into your schedule. Didn’t get enough sleep last night? Schedule the time you go to bed at night a little earlier. Most importantly….stick to the schedule as best as you can. Remember that sometimes things happen and the schedule may need a little arranging but it’s nothing to stress about.

   

2. Put it on hold. Many times we spend all day trying to resolve a situation and end up very stressed. If it is something that does not need immediate attention, put it on hold. Set it aside and come back to it later or better yet even tomorrow. Quite often the solution will come to use quicker when we put it on hold for a while.
    
3. Learn to say NO. You agreed to watch your sister’s kids. You volunteered to bake 5 dozen cookies for your son’s bake sale. You told the boss you would work late and on the weekend. You end up feeling like everyone wants something from you. You spread yourself too thin and can’t keep up with it all. Before you say yes, stop, take a deep breathe and think to yourself, “do I really have time to do this?” or “do I really want to do this for this person?” If the answer to yourself is NO, then open your mouth and say NO to the person asking you. You will be less stressed and they will find someone else to do what they were asking you to do.
    
4. Keep things simple. Don’t make things more complicated than they are. There is no point in turning something simple into a major stressor. So just keep things simple.