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How to Cope With Stress and Anxiety

by: Trevor Dumbleton

Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton

Among the hardest parts of living in the modern world is stress and anxiety. With worries about work, the environment, the economy, natural disasters, terrorism, and the general state of the world, it seems that there is no end to the number of things to worry about. Though we cannot control many of these things, they still weigh on our minds and cause us stress and anxiety. However, despite these concerns, we should try to avoid stress and anxiety.

Stress and anxiety are, at their hearts, mental problems. They are conditions in which the mind is racing and constantly circling around certain concerns. The concerns may be seemingly mundane, but the concerns keep recurring until they push out all the other thoughts in the brain and create their own towering mass of worry. And this tower is, in itself self-propagating simply because stress and anxiety tend to create themselves because stress and anxiety cause the mind to condition itself to stress and anxiety.

There is research to suggest that the mind gets used to stress and anxiety and, once it is conditioned, it will quickly return to stress and anxiety. In fact, there is some evidence that shows that stress conditioning may actually begin when we are too young to do anything about it. Children who face a great deal of stress will find their minds altered such that they will quickly return to a state of stress at the slightest provocation. It is almost as though the mind misses the state of stress and anxiety and wants to return to it once it has found the state.

Unfortunately, this creates serious problems not only for the mind, but also the body. Stress and anxiety put a great many demands on the human body. It causes headaches, high blood pressure, ulcers, sleep problems, immune system deficiencies and can even swell the joints, which can cause severe problems with conditions such as arthritis. As well, stress and anxiety can result in depression, memory problems, and even alcohol and drug abuse for those who suffer from stress and anxiety regularly. Thus, stress and anxiety are not merely problems of the mind, but they are problems of the mind that can cause problems in the body. The mind does, in surprising ways, control the body. And a mind that is overly taxed can lead to a body that is overly taxed.

Thus, you must understand that you can also control your mind. Stress and anxiety do not need to take over your mind. In fact, you can control how your mind responds to the problems that arise in life.

Remember that you can decide not to be stressed. You do not have to be anxious. You can change your mind and let things slide away. Yes, there are many things in this world to worry about. However, worrying about them will not change many aspects of the modern world. Constantly thinking about work, the environment, the economy, or politics will not change them. Instead, resolve to change things that you can change and do not worry about what you cannot control.

The thing to keep in mind is a sense of perspective. Yes, work is stressful, but do you need to worry about being attacked by a lion when you leave the office? When you go shopping for groceries, do you need to think about whether there will be a pack of marauding barbarians in the produce section? Hopefully, the answer is, "No." Thus, you do not have the same concerns as our forebears and you should keep that in mind. Life is pretty safe these days and the so-called "Age of Stress" is entirely of our own creation. We are stressed about things that we decide to be stressed about. And the things that we are stressed about really aren't that important in the long-run scheme of things.

Stress and anxiety are, seemingly, enough to worry about on their own. So don't fall into the trap of keeping them going. Keep life in perspective, keep yourself on an even keel and remember that you can control your own mind. If you can manage to do that, stress and anxiety to not need to take over your life.

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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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