Stress

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As fall brings with it dark mornings, getting up is getting harder. My first inclination when my alarm goes off at 6.00am is to roll over and go back to sleep. But that little voice in my head starts reminding me gotta get up, gotta hit the gym. Argh! its hard, but this is something I have to do, something I need to do. The older I get, the harder it gets, but the benefits outweigh the struggle to resist, and go back to sleep.

A research study out of McMaster University has found that only 40 per cent of Canadians exercise to cope with stress.

The researchers analyzed data from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey of nearly 40,000 Canadians 15 and older. Of 13 coping behaviours or strategies polled, exercise was ranked eighth, meaning people were more likely to cope with stress by problem-solving; looking on the bright side, trying to relax, talking to others, blaming oneself, ignoring stress or praying, rather than being active.

“We know stress levels are high among Canadians, and that exercise is effective at managing stress and improving health and well-being, so the fact exercise is number eight and that less than half of the population use it is worrisome,” said principal investigator John Cairney, a professor of family medicine, and psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences, at McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine.

The study, published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health, also found that younger, single, more educated and more active adults as well as women were more likely to use exercise for stress release. As well, the individuals who reported using exercise to combat stress were more likely to endorse other positive coping strategies and less likely to use alcohol or drugs for coping.

Encouraging exercise, especially in groups identified as being less likely to use exercise to cope with stress, could potentially reduce overall stress levels and improve general health and well-being, said Cairney.

“Exercise as a coping strategy for stress can be a ‘win-win’ situation because there are both mental and physical health benefits.”

McMaster University

 stressed woman

Women suffering from stress-related exhaustion exhibit hypersensitivity to sounds when exposed to stress. In some cases, a sound level corresponding to a normal conversation can be perceived as painful. This according to a study from Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University’s Stress Research Institute in Sweden, which tested sensitivity to sounds immediately after a few minutes’ artificially induced stress.

 
The study, which is published in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE, involved exposing 348 people (208 women and 140 men) between the ages of 23 and 71 with low, medium or high levels of ’emotional exhaustion’ to five minutes of experimentally induced physical (hand in ice), mental (performance on a stress test) and social (being observed) stress. [continue reading…]

Facebook Like  ButtonResearchers at the University of Edinburgh Business School found that more Facebook friends means more stress.

A large number of friends on Facebook may appear impressive but, according to a new report, the more social circles a person is linked to online the more likely social media will be a source of stress.

A report from the University of Edinburgh Business School has found that the more groups of people in someone’s Facebook friends, the greater potential to cause offence. In particular, adding employers or parents resulted in the greatest increase in anxiety.

Stress arises when a user presents a version of themself on Facebook that is unacceptable to some of their online ‘friends’, such as posts displaying behaviour such as swearing, recklessness, drinking and smoking.

As older people join the site, this has become an increasing problem as their expectations may
be very different from those of younger users.

Some 55 per cent of parents follow their children on Facebook. Likewise, more than half of employers claim not to have hired someone based on their Facebook page. Researchers found that on average people are Facebook friends with seven different social circles. The most common group was friends known offline (97 per cent added them as friends online), followed by extended family (81 per cent), siblings (80 per cent), friends of friends (69 per cent), and colleagues (65 per cent).

The report also discovered that more people are Facebook friends with their former partners than with their current relationship partner. Only 56 per cent of users were friends with their boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse online, compared with 64 per cent of exes.

The report surveyed more than 300 people on Facebook, mostly students, with an average age
of 21. It also discovered that only one third use the listing privacy setting on their Facebook profile, which can be used to control the information seen by different types of friends.

Ben Marder, author of the report and early career fellow in marketing at the Business School, said: “Facebook used to be like a great party for all your friends where you can dance, drink and flirt. But now with your Mum, Dad and boss there the party becomes an anxious event full
of potential social landmines.

Source:University of Edinburgh Business School

When stress sticks

angry and stressed womanPennsylvania State University researchers have found that it’s not just the stress, but how you react to it, that could have an impact on your health down the road. Oh ho!That means I’m in big trouble 😉

The research demonstrated that how you react to what happens in your life today predicts your chronic health conditions 10 years in the future, independent of your current health and your future stress.

For example, if you have a lot of work to do today and you are really grumpy because of it, then you are more likely to suffer negative health consequences 10 years from now than someone who also has a lot of work to do today, but doesn’t let it bother her.

There’s a lesson to be learned here for us all.

Teflon vs. Velcro

As reported in the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine, the team found that people who become upset by daily stressors and continue to dwell on them after they have passed were more likely to suffer from chronic health problems—especially pain, such as that related to arthritis, and cardiovascular issues—10 years later.

“I like to think of people as being one of two types,” David Almeida, professor of human development and family studies at Penn State says. “With Velcro people, when a stressor happens it sticks to them; they get really upset and, by the end of the day, they are still grumpy and fuming. With Teflon people, when stressors happen to them they slide right off.

“It’s the Velcro people who end up suffering health consequences down the road.”

Thats where I come unstuck you see I realize I am a velcro kinda girl 🙁

Futurity

Read the original study:

Affective Reactivity to Daily Stressors and Long-Term Risk of Reporting a Chronic Physical Health Condition

Jennifer R. Piazza, Susan T. Charles, Martin J. Sliwinski, Jacqueline Mogle and David M. Almeida
Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Online First™, 19 October 2012