Bartlett Regional | House Calls | Spring 2018

www.bartletthospital.org 13 Talk it out. Connecting with friends, family and co-workers is a great stress-buster. Try to talk, email or write to a friend or loved one every day. Discussing your problems with someone you trust can help put things in perspective. But don’t think you have to focus only on your troubles. Talk about your joys and hopes for the future too. And remember, communication isn’t the only way to make a meaningful connection. Some people find volunteer work to be a valuable way not only to help others, but also to ease their own stress. Get physical. Exercise is a stress-buster. It can help relieve mental and physical tension and reduce anxiety and depression. It can also help you relax and sleep better and improve your sense of well-being. Seek some slumber. Your body needs plenty of rest to beat stress. If you aren’t getting the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night, take a look at your bedtime habits. Do you go to bed at about the same time every night? Is your bedroom dark, quiet, cool and comfortable? Are you avoiding distractions, like late-night TV or computer work? Ditch the bad habits. Smoking, drinking beverages containing alcohol or caffeine, and eating a poor diet can all make you more vulnerable to the harmful effects of stress. If you’re having trouble changing these behaviors on your own, talk to your primary care provider. He or she can direct you toward the help you need. Laugh. Out loud, if you can. You’ll feel better. Finally, if these do-it-yourself methods for relieving stress aren’t working as well as you’d like, it might be time to get some professional help. A psychologist, social worker or other mental health professional can help you better understand and deal with your stress. If you don’t know a mental health professional, ask friends, a clergy person or your primary care provider to point you in the right direction. Here are a few ideas from the American Heart Association, the American Psychological Association and other experts: On the outside, you may look like someone who has it all under control. But if you’re like most folks, stress from your job, your relationships, your finances—your whatever—is simmering just below the surface. And unless you can dial down those stressors in a healthy way, they could boil over and damage your emotional and physical well-being. The toll of stress Stress is likely to strike when deadlines loom, when little annoyances pile up or when big changes—a job loss, divorce, illness or death in the family—occur in your life. Common signs of stress include feeling worried, irritable, depressed or unfocused. People who are stressed out may also have physical symptoms, such as headaches, back pain, trouble sleeping, digestive problems, tense muscles and changes in weight. As uncomfortable as those symptoms can be, long-term stress can also lead to serious health problems. Depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, fatigue and obesity are just some of the risks linked to stress. Fight back Realistically, almost no one is able to avoid stress entirely. But each of us can take steps to manage stress and protect our health. Broadly speaking, there are basically two methods of managing stress: a healthy one and one that’s, well, not so healthy. The latter method involves masking stress with alcohol, tobacco, too much or too little food, or some similar activity. Practices like these might make us feel better in the short term, but overall, they’re much more likely to make things worse. The healthy method involves building strong, positive habits that help us prevent stress overload.