Ms. Lesley MacDonald

Introduction‘Stress’ is a term used since the 1930’s, associated with big weight-bearing structures which constantly have to be monitored to check if they are sound.

People have three stages in their stress response:

• Stage One - ‘Alarm’
• Stage Two - ‘Resistence’
• Stage Three - ‘Burn Out’ leading to exhaustion or illness.

The stress response is designed to help us, however we don’t listen to our bodies effectively. For example, if our bodies need fuel, we feel hungry; if we need water, we feel thirsty.

There are many manifestations of stress including loss of appetite, exhaustion, headaches, insomnia, irritability, crying, forgetfulness, and disorganization (just to name a few).

What do you do when you feel these symptoms?

• Take good care of your body.
  • Exercise such as walking, cycling, swimming.
    • This combats anxiety and exercise can be as successful as anti-depressants in mild depression.
    • Exercise can also alter your mood and reduce cholesterol.
    • It will also improve digestion and reduces the chance of osteoperosis.
  • Good food
    • Limit alcohol consumption, smoking and caffeine.
    • Caffeine stimulates the nervous system, instead try herbal tea or green tea.
    • Drink plenty of non-caffeinated fluid
  • Be aware of your body. Do you have a tense body (for example, if you have heard a loud noise, you tense yourself – do you have that feeling)? Assess the tenseness in your shoulders and jaw
  • Breathe
    • Try this exercise: Breathe in deeply and say in your head ‘I am’ and breathe out and say in your head ‘relaxed’.
    • Yoga, t’ai chi and meditation all help with relaxation breathing.
  • Tension can often be held in your hands and feet. To release tension, massage both, perhaps with a little baby oil.
  • Do something for yourself. Health and happiness go together, so try to do things that make you happy.
  • Support Groups
    • Breast cancer patients who had support groups doubled their life expectancy.·
  • Journal Writing.
    • Writing things down can provide a buffer for stress. Keep a journal, even if it only has the bad stuff in it.

Meditation

Meditation is a method of training the mind. All of the stress, junk, nonsense and drama goes around and around in your head. Meditation is a way to stop this.The autonomic nervous system has two sides: the sympathetic (stress) and the parasympathetic (relaxation). Relaxation brings healing as it decreases pulse rate and blood pressure, and blood vessels dilate leading to better circulation. Your digestive system is stimulated and alpha waves (associated with healing and the feeling of well-being) in the brain are increased. Meditation stimulates the parasympathetic response. To reduce stress, it is recommended that you try to meditate or attempt relaxation techniques twenty minutes a day. These twenty minutes does not have to be all at once.

How to meditate:

• Find a quiet place.
• Sit, with hands in lap.
• Relax shoulders.
• Focus attention downwards.
• Keep your eyes open.

Once you have done that:

• Turn your attention inward.
• Breathe gently and rhythmically.
• Locate the tension in your body and relieve it.
• Pay attention to your breath going in and out
• Find silence in your mind, silence in yourself, silence in your life (we often lose ourselves in all that is going on, to the noise in our mind - bring your mind and body together. Find the peace within.)
  • Don't let your mind wander
  • If you find your mind wandering, bring it back to focusing inwardly.
• Think of a happy and content newborn…when you are relaxed you are happy.

The Pituitary Foundation has copies of Ms. MacDonald's Stress Management Handout. For information or copies, please email helpline@pituitary.org.uk with the subject heading 'Stress Management'.