Rejuvenations Massage

Archive for the ‘stress’ Category

I came across a great article on About.com about how to minimize stress during pregnancy. The article was written by Henry Lerner, M.D., OB/GYN, for About.com. The article is 12 Tips for Coping With Stress During Pregnancy: How to Gain Control of Your Life. Tip #10 follows.

10. Talk to yourself—and write it down. The process of specifically identifying thoughts and feelings and putting them into written form is an excellent way both to come to grips with what you are experiencing and to help resolve any of these feelings that are troublesome. Doing so will give you better insight into yourself and will often relieve the pain of previously disturbing thoughts or feelings.

April 15 isn’t just tax day, it’s also officially one of the most stressful days of the year. Hmmm, I wonder if there is a connection.

I came across a great article with tips on relaxation practices to reduce stress at Helpguide.org. Try these things at home…they’ll help!

I came across a great article on About.com about how to minimize stress during pregnancy. The article was written by Henry Lerner, M.D., OB/GYN, for About.com. The article is 12 Tips for Coping With Stress During Pregnancy: How to Gain Control of Your Life. Tip #9 follows.

9. Teach yourself—or get taught—relaxation techniques. It has been shown by many researchers, notably Herbert Benson, M.D. and Alice Domar, PhD., that by learning to elicit a state of deep physical rest on command, both your body and your mind return to a calm, relaxed state. Heart rate, blood pressure, stress hormone levels, and muscle tension will drop. The mind experiences a marked diminution in tension and the perception of stress. This is called the Relaxation Response. Techniques for eliciting the response can be learned from health care providers or by reading the excellent description of it in Dr. Alice Domar, Self Nurture.

I came across a great article on About.com about how to minimize stress during pregnancy. The article was written by Henry Lerner, M.D., OB/GYN, for About.com. The article is 12 Tips for Coping With Stress During Pregnancy: How to Gain Control of Your Life. Tip #8 follows.

8. Give yourself permission to relax. This means making time specifically for relaxation and not doing so only when the odd spare moment occurs. Take time to do whatever makes you feel good. Read a book, see a movie, have a massage, sleep in late when you can. Each of us has his or her own means of personal “profit-taking”. Make sure you do some, do your best to enjoy it, and by no means allow yourself to feel guilty about it.

I came across a great article on About.com about how to minimize stress during pregnancy. The article was written by Henry Lerner, M.D., OB/GYN, for About.com. The article is 12 Tips for Coping With Stress During Pregnancy: How to Gain Control of Your Life. Tip #7 follows.

7. Do your homework. Learn as much about pregnancy as you can. Read, talk to friends, attend classes, and talk to your doctor or midwife to learn as much as possible not only about the biology of pregnancy but about its emotional implications as well. In this way if you do begin to experience new and disturbing emotions you’ll at least not be surprised by them.

I came across a great article on About.com about how to minimize stress during pregnancy. The article was written by Henry Lerner, M.D., OB/GYN, for About.com. The article is 12 Tips for Coping With Stress During Pregnancy: How to Gain Control of Your Life. Tip #6 follows.

6. Don’t be a hero. This is especially important if your work environment is in a traditionally “macho” field. Such professions as law, medicine, and corporate life often make demands that are simply impossible for a pregnant woman to fulfill if they are to remain in good health and reasonably sane. Discuss with your spouse and your boss what you can and cannot reasonably do and make adjustments accordingly. Your employer certainly wants you to work as long as you can into your pregnancy. By adjusting your work environment in minor ways you often will be able to contribute much more to your organization than by following your former rigid schedule.

I came across a great article on About.com about how to minimize stress during pregnancy. The article was written by Henry Lerner, M.D., OB/GYN, for About.com. The article is 12 Tips for Coping With Stress During Pregnancy: How to Gain Control of Your Life. Tip #5 follows.

5. Keep lines of communication open with those you love, especially your spouse. Your spouse, parents, and friends—unless they are currently pregnant themselves—will not know exactly what you are experiencing and cannot anticipate what your wants and needs will be. Let them know. Tell them how you are feeling and how they can help. At the same time you must also be sensitive to the concerns and anxieties your spouse might have, especially if this is your first pregnancy.

Need to distress quickly? Relax with a Mini Head Massage. With your thumbs at your temples and fingers in a half fist, run your index and middle fingers along the eyebrows and then along the cheekbones and sinuses, feeling the muscles release. Using the tips of your fingers, start at your forehead and rub along your scalp, front to back. Repeat as many times as you like.

A few years ago, my wife was experiencing some health problems. The doctor’s diagnosis was that her job was too stressful. Six months later, she left that job to start her own company, and those health problems completely disappeared (that’s a pretty stressful job if starting a business is less stressful!).

My wife’s job/stress-related health problems are common: According to one study, 40% of American employees feel their job is stressful. In fact, stress related problems are the most common cause of employee absenteeism and the stress-related problems cost about 150 billion dollars in the US.

Unfortunately, most people can’t quit their job to get rid of stress. So what can they do? Fortunately, the list is pretty long: exercise, eat right, take time every day to meditate and relax, and find hobbies that give you pleasure to name a few. And, get regular massage.

A study published in the International Journal of Neuroscience looked at the impact of massage on job performance over a five week period. The study showed the following:

Massaged adults showed:
1) decreased frontal EEG alpha and beta power and increased delta power consistent with enhanced alertness;
2) math problems were completed in significantly less time with significantly fewer errors after the massage; and
3) anxiety, cortisol (stress hormone) and job stress levels were lower at the end of the 5 week period.

Field, T., Ironson, G., Scafidi, F., Nawrocki, T., Goncalves, A., Burman, I., Pickens, J., Fox, N., Schanberg, S., & Kuhn, C. (1996). Massage therapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG pattern of alertness and math computations. International Journal of Neuroscience, 86, 197-205.

In case you’re wondering what the most common causes of work place stress are, they’re:

And the top four most stressful professions are:

(Data from Stress Focus)