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Stress and Concentration

by: Trevor Dumbleton

Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton

Those who are under stress, yet refuse to get help for it, need to understand the relationship between stress & concentration in order to understand why they need to relax. This is because, at first, it seems though stress is an aid to concentration. However, this is not the case in the long term.

Long-term stress & concentration do not go hand-in-hand. In fact, the more that one is stressed, the less able they are to concentrate. However, people often keep themselves under stress in order to help their concentration, despite the fact that it is doing them absolutely no good. Usually, this is because they believe that stress is helping their concentration.

In fact, stress does help concentration for a short period of time. This is because the body is dumping chemicals into the brain to help it focus and throwing adrenaline into the bloodstream in order to heighten the senses. This helps the body hone in on its tasks and helps it to focus. This is, in the beginning, a good thing. Short-term stress really does help your concentration at first, which is very useful when you need to hammer out last-minute paper for school, a report for your boss, or you need to quickly fix some computer problems that are keeping others from getting their work done. Unfortunately, the short-term effects do not last.

As you spend more and more time under stress, your ability to concentrate lessens. The brain will have fired off so many neurons that it cannot replenish its supply of chemicals that helps the neurons fire. As well, that boost of adrenaline that helps people focus will start to heighten the senses to the point where the brain notices every little thing around, causing you to be easily distracted. Thus, the relationship between stress & concentration becomes an inverse relationship.

The problem, of course, is that the more stress you are undergoing, the more you need to concentrate in order to relieve the causes of the stress. This means that your brain is fighting against itself when you need to get work done. This is what we like to refer to as a bad thing and it can seriously injure your ability to get work done. Needless to say, the biggest cause of stress around is the fact that work needs to get done, so stress becomes a self-defeating cycle.

What can you do to escape this damaging relationship between stress & concentration? Well, there are a few things you can do. The best is, of course, to walk away.

That�s right, just stop what you�re doing. Give yourself a break. Put work on hiatus and do something else. Take a walk, get some exercise, make a sandwich, watch an hour of television. Just as long as you are doing something other than work. This will distract your mind from whatever was causing it stress, which is exactly what you need to do. After all, your mind tends to get used to being stressed after a while, making it less able to let go of its concerns. This means that you need to make a conscious effort to clear your mind, and the best way to do that is to clear all the problems out of your head before you drown in them.

If you are not able to walk away for some reason -- let�s say that you are at work and the boss doesn�t like to see people leave their desks -- you can still relieve stress and help your concentration by performing a quick relaxation exercise. Simply close your eyes (this helps, but it can be done with your eyes open) and take deep breaths. Concentrate on each breath as it fills your lungs, then concentrate on the breath leaving as you exhale. Focus your attention on your breathing until you are paying attention to nothing else. Then, once you are done, you should feel much more relaxed and able to concentrate. If you do not feel better, repeat the exercise until your mind is clear and uncluttered.

The big problem with stress & concentration is the simple fact that stress helps concentration in the short run, but hurts it in the long-run. Unfortunately, most people do not notice this transition from helping to hindering and they simply stay under stress and unable to focus. So when you notice that your mind is racing too fast to allow your brain to focus on anything, walk away or take a few deep breaths in order to calm your mind. Then, you will be able to escape the negative relationship between stress & concentration.

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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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