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Some Simple Stress Relief Ideas

Natural remedies for adrenal stress, or supporting adrenal function, that may lead to sugar cravings include Chromium, Vitamin C, Licorice, and Pantothenic Acid (B5). More Labeling events as either good or bad, and then trying to resolve the negative situation in to a positive situation, may lead to more stress. Perhaps reframing the way in which you view experiences can be lead to less stress. Read: Some of your daily stress can be relieved by simple pressure points that you can do to yourself, such as putting pressure on the small muscle between your thumb and forfinger, massaging your earlobes, raising your shoulders towards your ears for five seconds and the dropping them down, and foot massage. Me, I think I could use a full body massage once a day!

More Reflexology is an interested, and ancient, massage art that many claim leads to not only a reduction of stress but also contributes to healing of severe discomforts. I am open to anything that can help reduce stress, but I also believe that you need to have a qualified reflexologist in order to get results and manage severe illnesses and stress. That being said, a gentle foot massage can works wonders.

Let's Help Our Kids De-Stress

It is constantly amazing to me the incredible relationship the body and the mind have on overall well-being. I look at my children and reflect on my childhood and recognize the incredible role that parents have, with regard to influencing, the future mental health of their children. A recent study has now concluded that early abuse may be more damaging to developing emotion and stress systems

because it happens as the brain is rapidly developing and when children are more dependent on caregivers protection. Basically, what this means is that the manner in which cortisol, the stress hormone, is released as a young child can affect stress levels in latter life.

Additionally, exposure to high levels of stress early in life can cause health problems in adulthood. Studies have noted a correlation between cardiac disease and early childhood stress and future studies are looking to understand the long term affect of early exposure to stress. Children whom have survived pediatric cancers also seem to be at greater risk for high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure, all of which predispose them to heart disease in adulthood. Many of these examples of stress in children may be beyond our control, but it leads me to think that we need to introduce stress management techniques and cognitive behavioral therapies to our young people sooner rather than later.

Don't Have Kids if You Can't Handle It!

I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the need for additionally funding to prevent a type of brain injury that often goes unnoticed due to the fact that there are often not

I would like to take this opportunity to discuss the need for additionally funding to prevent a type of brain injury that often goes unnoticed due to the fact that there are often not any physical signs of injury as experienced in adults such as rotational acceleration, coup injury, or contre-coup injury (Walden University, 2008). This brain injury is referred to as Shaken Baby Syndrome. The signs and symptoms of this form of brain injury vary from the child demonstrating irritability, lethargy,

vomiting, and tremors to falling into a coma or death and this brain injury is 100% preventable

(Monfore, 2005). Barlow and Minns (2000) found that head injuries in children younger than one year old (in a Scotland based study) was 24.6 per 100,000 children and that acute encephalopathy, subdural hemorrhages, skull fractures, retinal hemorrhages, and cerebral edema were present in most of the cases. Sadly, the median age of injury was 2.2 months and 78% of those who did not die due to brain injury suffered long term neurological and developmental abnormalities. Shaken baby syndrome in the United States is equally prevalent and sadly most cases are not reported so data is not well established (Hymel, Ritzen, Reinert, & Hay, 1999). However, medical professionals or parents that suspect shaken baby syndrome can look for bruises on the head or face of children, be alert for soft spots on the head, or look for previous signs of bleeding which may be found, after the fact, in spinal fluid (Hymel, Ritzen, Reinert, & Hay, 1999). The outcome for children who survive this, and other non-accidental head injury, was explained by Barlow, Thompson, Johnson, and Minns (2004) in which 64% of the children had speech and language disorders or autism, 25% had visual deficits, and 20% had cranial nerve abnormalities and over 50% were considered to be severely mentally retarded. Most of these injuries result from parental frustration with infants who do not stop crying and the new parents have not been educated with how to handle the child without shaking them (Barr, 2007). Simply putting down a child in a safe play pen and walking away could stop the abuse. With this basic understanding of the tragedy associated with child brain injury from shaken baby syndrome I would hope the committee will approve funding for preventative measures so that these statistics can be reduced if not eliminated in the near future. Classroom: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com.

Common Colds and Stress

There is a breadth of empirical evidence that suggests that stress can result in acute infection which can most commonly be demonstrated in infections such as the common cold, respiratory infections, or viral infections (Miller & Cohen, 2005, p. 225). This correlation would be best represented by statistical empirical evidence rather than personal experience or self-reporting techniques as often illness causes stress and stress causes illness. Psychological stressors, such as significant life changes or an inability to manage or cope with stress, can result in a feeling of perceived helplessness or hopelessness as first defined by Dr. Engel. He was a medical physician that noted the lack of incorporation of the mental and social models of behavior with the biological model of behavior. Infections and clinical illnesses as well as health practice measures are also associated with the

relationships between stressful experiences and

acute

infections. For example, infections often are a result in the decreased ability for the bodys immune system to fend off further attacks on the immune system. Individuals that are not experiencing stress or clinical illnesses may have a reduced inflammatory response. When there is exposure to a potentially acute infection acute inflammation occurs which is a positive defense (Miller & Cohen, 2005, p. 13-14). Additionally, health practice measures such as preventative health care, proper dietary support, and proper intervention from physicians assist in the reduction of acute infection as a physician can reduce the stress levels on the HPA axis (Sperner-Unterweger2005).

Age and Stress: We Need to Understand More

Walter Canon recognized that the mind and psychological stressors can have a direct effect on a persons health and behavior (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). Walter Canon felt that emotions were a part of the brain and that there was not a mind body separation; rather the mind and the body worked together (Lovallo, 2004). Further, Cohen, Kessler, and Gordon (1997) felt that studies that assessed vulnerabilities people have with regard to how they cope with and manage stress may be a better indicator of the effect stress has on a persons health and are affected by social support systems. Research in these areas has been forwarded by the work and research often represented in the American Psychological Association by those interested in psychology and aging. Current topics of research include neuropsychological mediators of the links among age, chronic illness, and everyday problem solving skills as well as the understanding of how age and health are affected by psychosocial stressors (Thornton, Deria, Gelb, Shapiro, & Hill, 2007). Age related changes, such as moving to a new location, can affect an elders mood and quality of life (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). Depression has been related to a suppression of the proliferation of lymphocytes and elders with intrusive thoughts also show higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Very often these behaviors are associated with the level of social support a person receives in terms of how they manage

immune responses to a variety of situations. Now, there is further understanding of the relationship between psychological stressors and the immune system. Specifically, older adults experience stress differently than younger adults in areas such as mood and quality of life, bereavement, cognitions, coping, or personality (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005).

Endocrine functions and HPA...this has to do with stress?

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis controls are one of the two major functioning systems that manage endocrine functions (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). The endocrine system manages the release of hormones into a persons circulatory system based upon activities that are signaled both during stressful situations as well as during times of relaxation on a cyclical basis. The hypothalamus is located at the base of the brain and is connected to the pituitary gland (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). Further, the hypothalamus acts in a way that it could almost be seen as the message coordinator, regarding hormone releasing functions, for the rest of the brain. When stimulated a variety of hormones are released into the blood stream such as CRH, TRH, GHRH, GnRH, ACTH,

LH, TSH, and GH. The pituitary gland is divided into two sections which are the anterior pituitary and the posterior pituitary sections. The anterior pituitary manages the neurons released from the hypothalamus, carried them down the pituitary stalk, and either increases or decreases the release of the anterior pituitary hormones (Pinel 2006). The posterior pituitary receives synthesized oxytocin and vasopressin from the hypothalamus and then releases it into the circulatory system. The pituitary gland receives hormones produces by nuclei in the hypothalamus and the pituitary stalk then transfers the hormones into the anterior pituitary lobe (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). These hormones, once introduced into the blood stream, change the behavior of their target cells by binding to their surface and acting upon receptors that are located in the cells. The HPA axis is stimulated by the release of adrenal glucocorticoids into the blood stream in an effort to prepare the person for the stressful event (be it real or perceived). Cortisol is one of the more impactful hormones released and managed by the HPA axis (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). This secretion works on both an as needed distribution as well as a cyclical distribution during the mornings and the afternoons for most individuals. Hypercortisol which can result in anxiety and depression may be an effect of over exposure to specific stressors, and as discussed in the General Adoption Theory by Selye, may lead to illness, depression, or death so therefore it is best to not allow for stressful situations to go unmanaged (Edwards, 2000 & Lovallo, 2004). Further, there are interesting side effects to a variety of hormonal supplements with regard to the over activity of the HPA axis. For example, it has been cited that women who received supplements of oestragen during menopausal time experience suppression in HPA axis when they are exposed to both intentional and unintentional stressors (Dayas, 2000).

Innate and Adaptive Immunity

The human body has the capability to protect itself from internal and external infectious diseases by the utilization of two immunity systems which are innate immunity and adaptive immunity (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). One way to compare the systems would be to imagine the innate immunity system as a roving military patrol unit that is constantly observing and circling the bodys system for any imbalances while the adaptive immunity system is more like a sniper that has specific targets, plans an attack, and has learned from prior experience with the targets how to assassinate them. Specifically, the innate immunity system searches for antigens on an ongoing basis by identifying infectious organisms that have entered the body and works rapidly to destroy the organisms with the same methodology each time the innate immune system encounters the organism (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). There is not an increase in the period of time that it takes to eliminate the infectious organism based upon frequency of encounters. Rather, there is a systematic approach that uses skin and mucous membranes, blood-born molecular enzymes, lymphocyte cells, inflammatory properties, and phagocyte cells which scan the body and eliminate the organisms. Weber (2003) uses a further analogy to compare the innate immune system to that of a dog barking at a doorbell. Regardless of how many times the dog has seen a stranger ring the doorbell the reaction is still to bark at the ringing doorbell, which is comparable to what our innate immune system does. Regardless of how many times the skin gets infected the same response time and reaction results in a similar type of pimple reaction.

Adaptive immunity systems have a more rapid immune response as they specifically target the area which needs attention (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). An immune response is released upon finding an exposure to an antigen that is familiar and this is the foundation for why immunizations are given to children prior to exposure to life threatening diseases such as polio (Vedhara & Irwin, 2005). It seems unclear if there has been a determining factor as to why there is an ability of T-cells to gain memory in the adaptive immunity process; however there is clear evidence that the process does occur and the time frame for a response by the immune system decreases upon re-exposure as well (Maris, Joshy, Baltimore, & Mantovani, 2000).

Immune System Booster Diet

Immune System Booster Diet There are a variety of chronic illnesses that could benefit from an immune system booster diet. Here are suggestions: Best beverages

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ACAI juice (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) Pomegranate juice Blueberry juice

Now, these juices are quite strong and high in carbohydrates so I recommend diluting them in either ice water or soda water. Drink lots of green tea (http://discoverysedge.mayo.edu/green_tea/). You can find brands that are iced and artificially sweetened or just make it in your coffee pot and drink it hot with honey. Start drinking about one shot glass full of Aloe Complete (Vitamin Cottage) as it helps to heal on the cellular level and protects the cell membranes.

Take a multivitamin everyday. Additional, take a calcium and magnesium supplement as it relaxes nerve and muscle cells 500mg a day. Take Vitamin E as it is a fat-based antioxidant which protects the chain reactions of damage caused when a free-radical (CLL white cells) enters the brain. Further, you want to consume foods high in the following anti-oxidants:

Beta-carotene (Carrots, sweet potatoes, dried apricots, squash Vitamin C (Broccoli, peppers, berries, tomatoes, citrus fruit) Selenium (Oysters, seeds, tuna, mushrooms) Lipoic acid (Red meat, yams, beets, spinach)

Further, you should supplement your diet with Vitamin C 500mg, B-Complex Vitamin, Beta Carotene 10,000 IU, and get EfaGold Mega EFA Blend 3/6/9 which is a fish, flax, borage, olive oil balance. And, for a snack, you should make a mix of RAW flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds (1/3rd part each) and sprinkle them on your cereals, soups, vegetables, etc. to supplement your omega 3s.

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Threats and stressors

Baumeister, Faber, and Wallace as cited by Snyder (1999) explained that there is an idea of the self, and this self does not have unlimited emotional resources. Stress consumes the selfs volitional resources via ego-depletion and restoration. When a person is dealing with stress the concept of selfregulation, or self-awareness, there is an associated response, often by an internal personal analysis, and there are efforts by the person, who is under stress, to change who they are (or a behavior) and they experience a stressful emotional response (Snyder, 1999). The self, as defined by Baumeister, Bratslavsky, and Muraven (1998) explained that there is a natural desire to have control over choices, decisions, and plans of action and when this energy is depleted there is a reaction that is maladaptive and detrimental to performance.

The body reflexively responds to a threat-based stressor by determining whether or not they are in control of their ability to respond to it and, if they are in control of their response, the body responds more severely from a physical standpoint than how a person who has not control may respond based upon animal testing experiments (Lovallo, 2004). Snyder (1999) states that this is because of a persons need to exert control over the self is so intense and that if a person has an internal conflict about the issue the result is hopelessness. Hopelessness, according to Engel and the biopsychosocial model, results in poor health (Brannon & Feist, 2004). Further a body reflexively responds less, according to Snyder (1999), to stresses that are uncontrollable. The body recovers after the activation of self-regulation mechanisms where in the body must have rest, sleep, and avoides ego-depletion activities (Snyder, 1999).

Appraisal Model of Stress

The body is influenced by the minds ability to manage stress and the appraisal model of stress takes a biopsychological look at how a person processes a perceived psychological stressor and how they respond to the stress (Lovallo, 2004). The primary appraisal process begins with the evaluation of an environmental event that contradicts a persons primary beliefs and commitments and they are interpreted as either a threat or challenge, or as being a benign or irrelevant event in which they are ignored (Lovallo, 2004). A secondary appraisal is considered to be reflective on how a person manages the primary appraisal such as perceiving the situation to be irrelevant, benign-positive, or stressful (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). For example, a high school student could graduate with a 3.5 GPA and be perfectly pleased and consider their failure to get straight As to be a benign event.

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However, to a student that is relying on achieving a 4.0 GPA for scholarships or entrance into certain universities this event could be a horrible challenge for them and then their secondary appraisal system would kick in resulting in changes in coping behaviors, behavioral responses, psychological responses, and eventually biological responses would modified (Lovallo, 2004).

Stress and how the mind influences the bodys response has been at the forefront of cognitive psychology. The primary and secondary appraisals have been developed with the understanding that primary beliefs and commitments and how a person responds to a stress is influenced by many complex variables so no one person will ever respond the same way (Lazarus, 1985). The autonomic nervous system plays an important role in the bodys response to stress. When the body starts to deviate from homeostasis because of a stressor, a biological response of emotions and stress reactions begins to occur starting with the hypothalamus sending outputs to the brainstem which releases autonomic and endocrine responses in addition to a variety of other responses such as skeletal motor and stress responses (Lovallo, 2004). Epinephrine and norepinephrine are types of monoamine neurotransmitters that are released in response to stress that result in a response of either excitation or inhibition and they do not produce both responses at the same time (Pinel, 2006). Cortisone additionally plays a role in stress response as this hormone, produced in the adrenal cortex, increases in the quantity of secretion depending upon the amount of stress (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). Further, cortisone will prepare a person to either partake in the fight or flight response.

How does our mind manage change?

From a high level view the manner in which organisms regulate function is influenced by the hypothalamus and, based upon the system, either the brainstem controls the system and sends autonomic messages or the endocrine controls the system and sends messages to the appropriate

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organ, system, or reflex (Lovallo, 2004). This regulation theory is based upon the theory proposed by Cannon (1935) as cited by Lovallo (2004) in which the theory of homeostatis is required by the human body. The theory suggests that variation from a set point triggers a variety of complex responses that result in organs, through the brainstem systems and the endocrine systems, involuntarily try to return to the stable, or set-point of operation (Brannon & Feist, 2004).

The sympathetic nervous system plays a great role in managing functions associated with environmental changes, which are often stressors (Lovallo, 2004). In this system the nerves interact with the postganglionic fibers and also influence the genetailia, large intestine, digestive system and bladder (Lovallo, 2004). The sympathetic nervous system is in charge of preparing the body for emergencies and it can function autonomously regardless of a persons consciousness or their intellectually functioning (Pohjavaara, Telaranta, & Visnen, 2003). When there is an environmental change this system is able to regulate its functions because there is so much sympathy, or synchronicity, between the organs and the sympathetic nervous system. When stress occurs in the sympathetic system adjustments, such as managing flight-or-flight responses are put in place so that the body can respond to an environmental change; yet equally this system

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releases sweat and increases the activation of the vital functioning organs such as cardiac muscles in a state of environmental change to help us maintain our homeostasis (Lovallo, 2004). However, there are instances in which the system can be overloaded and anxiety disorders or panic attacks that may be the uncontrollable result that the sympathetic system, in conjunction with the parasympathetic system, because of environmental changes that cause a flight or fight response (Pohjavaara, Telaranta, & Visnen, 2003).

Can you stress yourself to death?

If a person is tasked with coming up with a definition of psychological stress they may find themselves faced with many variables that could be considered to be stressful or could be disqualified as being stressful based upon the reaction of each individuals experience with the variable. Health psychologists do not underestimate the role that stress has in disease prevention or recovery so understanding this topic is vital for individuals who suffer from, or are at risk of, chronic illnesses (Brannon & Feist, 2004). Some areas of consideration regarding understanding stress are discussed below. A physical stress is something that occurs environmentally and causes an effect in the physical human body that has a negative biological effect (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). An example of a physical stressor could be an environmental factor such as high levels of pollution in the air that cause lung complications, or a high level of mold or pollen in the air that can cause an allergic reaction and a temporary cold. A psychological stressor is more the focus of this course and the manner in which a person copes with psychological stressors are indicative of whether or not he or she experiences a physical response to the stressor (Snyder, 1999).

Walter Canon recognized that the mind and psychological stressors can have a direct effect on a persons health and behavior (Lovallo, 2004). Walter Canon felt that emotions were a part of the brain and that there was not a mind body separation; rather the mind and the body worked together (Lovallo, 2004). His concept was more focused on homeostasis and he studied the interaction of sensory nerves and their interaction with the brain structures response systems. Canon was one of the first people to use the term stress as it was a factor that caused the body to deviate away from its normal homeostatic state (Lovallo, 2004). Hans Selye looked at stress research with the hopes of understanding the relationship between the bodys response from leaving its homeostatic state when it has to regulate itself as a result of perceived stresses or threats (Lovallo, 2004).

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The Unifying Stress models have both strengths and potential shortcomings. The Unifying Stress models contain the elements of the environmental demands such as stressors or life events, how a person appraises or addresses the demands, a determination of how the stress is perceived, how or if there is a negative emotional response, what the physiological or behavioral response is, and then a determination if there is an increase or physical or psychiatric disease (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). This complex model has strengths in that it incorporates all of these biological, environmental, and personal factors; however there are potential shortcomings in that the manner in which the model flow begins with environmental factors down to physical factors and does not incorporate all possible feedback loops, or potential situations, that could occur (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). The alternate feedback loops that are not incorporated into this model, such as emotional states or non-relevant emotional responses that may be caused by drugs or exercise are examples of the shortcomings of this model (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). There are challenges to measuring stress because life events and environmental factors vary greatly depending upon what social group a person falls in such as their socioeconomic status, age or sex (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). A variety of different scales have been created to try to incorporate these factors into a stress measuring surveys (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon, 1997). Cohen, Kessler, and Gordon (1997) feel that studies that assess vulnerabilities people have with regard to how they cope with and manage stress may be a better indicator of the effect stress has on a persons life. Some people take stress and grow from it, hence the phrase I heard growing up what does not kill you makes you stronger. However, some can not handle the smaller stressors in life and they do not gain from the stress overtime. Coping skills and the Type A personality are further examples of factors that make it hard to measure how the stress of life events and environmental factors influence stress (Snyder, 1999). Here is an alternative method to relieve stress from an anonymous source but please, don't try this at home: Picture yourself near a stream. Birds are softly chirping in the crisp cool mountain air. Nothing can bother you here. No one knows this secret place. You are in total seclusion from that place called "the world." The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity. The water is clear. You can easily make out the face of the person whose head you're holding under the water. Look. It's the person who caused you all this stress in the first place. What a pleasant surprise. You let them up... just for a quick breath... then ploop!...back under they go... You allow yourself as many deep breaths as you want. There now... feeling better?