You Could Be More Prone to Stress If...

According to WebMD, 75-90% of all office visits are for stress-related illnesses or conditions. Although stress is the normal physical and psychological reaction to demands of life, when we perceive them to always be present, stress becomes distress.

There are some characteristic traits for those more prone to perceiving stressors. One trait is catastrophizing or expecting the worst possible situation to happen. If you conjure up all sorts of horrible scenarios when your teenager is late coming home, rather than thinking he/she forgot to call, you are catastrophizing.

Another is shoulding all over yourself. Do you have a list of rigid shoulds and should nots? Do you feel terrible when you don't stick to it? These are just a couple of the traits, but do you recognize yourself?

Don't panic... you are not destined to be stressed forever. Once we have awareness of our behavior or thoughts, we can take charge. The following are a few tips that are important to managing the demands of life:

1. Laugh- big belly laughs, whether it's funny movies, sitcoms, YouTube videos or cartoons. Laughter increases oxygen, circulation, endorphin release by your brain and decreases stress response.
2. Music- listening to relaxing music decreases heart rate, reduces blood pressure, decreases anxiety and decreases stress hormones. It doesn't matter if it is country, classical, jazz, rock or swing tunes as long as it's relaxing to you. The only music that has been found not to induce relaxation is heavy metal.
3. Sleep- you cannot manage the smallest crisis if you are sleep deprived. Changing our long-term response to stress from one of distressed reaction to calm response will not happen when lack of sleep fogs our thinking.
4. Exercise- nothing pumps out the endorphins like regular exercise, but you really have to pick something you enjoy doing in order to make it part of your lifestyle. 
5. Learn one or several of these techniques to bring your chaotic life to calm: breath work, meditation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, visualization, massage, Tai Chi, journaling and biofeedback.

This is not a comprehensive list, but is meant as a beginning point. Stress wreaks havoc on our bodies, causing multiple symptoms. Over time, it can contribute to life threatening diseases such as heart disease and stroke. Be kind to yourself and your body... you only have one.