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CUT STRESS THROUGH EFFICIENCIES

by: Richard Gary

On a daily basis, many are inundated with tasks. The list of things to do never seems to be completed. Over time, this continual stress can lead to feeling burnt out. One fairly simple way to make things a little less stressful is finding efficiencies in your daily tasks. Initially, this entails more planning, but in the long run, it will definitely pay off.

There may be ways for you to examine your schedule and tasks to find ways of doing things smarter. As the old clich� goes, �it�s better to work smarter than harder�.

Here are some basic tips that will help you become more efficient and thereby reducing your workload and stress levels.

Plan, Plan, Plan! Each week, spend time planning out your week. First create a list of all that needs to get done during the week. Once you have the list, look for groups of things that can be done at the same time or location. For example if you have identified that this week you have to: drop of clothes at the dry cleaners, go to the post office, pick up groceries for the week, go to the dentist on Monday afternoon and pick up a birthday present for a friend.

Normally, the above would be done on 4 or 5 separate trips. Now the dentist is right next to a large grocery store which has a post office in it. So Monday, you plan to go to the dentist, grocery store and post office. The dry cleaners is just up the road from a department store, so you can drop your clothes off and then go to the store to pick up a present. From 5 trips, you are now down to 2 trips saving significant travel time.

Bulk is better. Sometimes a task can be done on a larger scale once instead of repeated several times on different occasions. For example, you are the family chef responsible for making family meals. Every Tuesday night, the family has chili. By time you come home from work and spend an hour in traffic, making chili may not seem like the most desirable task. What if the chili were made once a month in a large pot and frozen. Now all you have to do is throw it in the microwave.

Set a time limit. In general when you have to accomplish a task, if there is no time limit set, the time it takes for the task to be completed tends to drag on. If a time limit is set, you are more likely to complete the task within the allotted time. Try it! You may also find that the time it takes for you to complete a task will vary to the limit you set for it. That is, the longer you set the time limit, the longer it will take you to complete the task. Set reasonable time limits as the whole reason for this exercise is to try to limit stress. The purpose of setting a time limit is to keep you focused on the task at hand in order to get it completed in a timely efficient manner.

These tips are quite simple, but when used can help you to become more efficient and less stressed.

About the author:
Richard Gary is a stress management specialist. You can find his and other free stress management articles at Stopstress123.com

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Mom's Job Stress May Spread to Kids
by: Rita Jenkins

Low job satisfaction in working mothers increases the stress levels of their children, but allowing them to spend more time in childcare can help overcome these effects, according to new research published in Developmental Psychobiology.

Children whose mothers found their jobs emotionally exhausting or otherwise less rewarding had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than children whose mothers reported more enjoyment from their jobs, researchers found in a study involving more than 50 nursery school children.

Levels of cortisol in the evening were more than double in the children whose mothers experienced less job satisfaction. Placing those children in childcare would help to significantly reduce their stress, the research suggests.

The researchers also found that children from families that were either highly expressive or very reserved exhibited higher than average cortisol levels.

Greater support is needed for working mothers to help improve their job satisfaction and increase the availability of affordable childcare options, says the report.

More Time in Childcare

Dr. Julie Turner-Cobb, a health psychologist and senior lecturer at the University of Bath, Dr. Christina Chryssanthopoulou from the University of Kent and Dr. David Jessop, a neuroimmunologist at the University of Bristol collaborated on the study.

To measure cortisol levels, they took saliva samples in the morning and evening from 56 children aged three to four years old. They also surveyed mothers about their workplace conditions and home life over a six month period.

"Spending more time in childcare makes a big difference to the stress levels in children whose mothers have low job satisfaction," says Dr. Turner-Cobb.

"It can help protect children from the effects of their mother's low job quality and emotional exhaustion. Ensuring that mothers of young children have good support in the workplace is essential for supporting both mothers and their children," she adds.

"Improving the job satisfaction of working mothers means that they are less stressed themselves," says Dr. Jessop, "and extending the availability of affordable and adequate childcare may not only improve the quality of life for the mothers but, in doing so, may improve the long term health of their children."

Healthy Adaptation to Stress

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function and immune function. It also controls the body's use of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Cortisol secretion increases in response to stress, whether physical -- such as illness, trauma, surgery or temperature extremes -- or psychological. It is a normal and essential response without which we would not be able to function in everyday life.

When these levels remain high or become disrupted in some way over a prolonged period of time, however, they may have consequences for health. It is important to promote healthy adaptation to stress in children, and good quality childcare is one way of doing this, say the authors.

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