Stress could be making you sick, or at least weakening your immune system.
Stress is a term tossed around more freely than volleyballs at picnics. But it is on firm ground with doctors looking for reasons behind such ailments as headaches, back pain, indigestion, insomnia, ringing in the ears and a racing heart. There is no shortage of current research linking stress and illness.
“There are probably some 2,000 to 3,000 papers on the subject,” said Dr. Herbert Benson, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at New England Deaconess Hospital in Boston.
Benson is the author of “The Relaxation Response” (Avon), a book about stress-reduction management that has sold more than 3 million copies since 1975.
“Stress results from any situation that requires adjustment,” he explained. “Any change is stressful; it can be good or bad. Stress has always been with us. What’s new is the sheer amount of information with which we have to deal in our daily lives. That creates much more stress.”
“For example, we can watch TV and learn things that influence us from halfway around the world,” said Benson. “We are watching wars and murder trials; we weren’t programmed for this.”
True, said Dr. Presley Reed, a New York occupational psychiatrist who consults with employers: “In the old days, stress was considered a physical reaction to an actual stressful event. Now we can experience the same thing by simply imagining a stressful situation. Perception is reality.”
Psychologists call this physical reaction the “fight or flight syndrome.” It is a throwback to the days when people were regularly in life-or-death situations, such as deciding to stand up to an angry saber-toothed tiger or running like a maniac.
The body reacts to such a threat by releasing two hormones-adrenaline and noradrenaline-to provide extra energy and alertness. This causes the heart to beat faster (pumping about 300 times more blood to the brain and muscles), increases respiration rate and elevates blood pressure.
Of course, we still experience some life-threatening situations, but most stress in the 1990s is self-induced. An argument, traffic jam or long to-do list-known as stressors-can unnecessarily trigger the same fight-or-flight response. How you react to the stressors is what determines personal stress.
Benson has focused on how to counteract the fight-or-flight syndrome, and his Relaxation Response has helped inspire a discipline called mind-body medicine. Mercy Hospital on Chicago’s South Side is an affiliate of his Boston institute, offering several programs in stress management for patients and community members.
Extensive research shows appropriate relaxation techniques will lower your blood pressure and rate of breathing. Benson said there is also a boost in alpha waves to the brain, which creates a calming effect.
“The Relaxation Response is a two-step process,” he said. “First is repetition of a word, sound, prayer, phrase or repetitive muscle activity. Second, you want to passively disregard other thoughts as they come up and return to the repetition.”
Benson said prayer (“a rosary is helpful”), meditation, yoga and jogging (“the feet cadence provides the repetition”) are all good examples of how to counteract stress.
But don’t rely on watching TV, a most popular relaxation technique. The University of California reports watching TV programs with violent themes does little to reduce anxiety, and that heavy TV watchers tend to distrust others and view themselves as living in a hostile world.
