Stress Relief Action Guide

I just came across a report on a new study published by Daniel K. Mroczek, a professor of child development and family studies at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana).  The study looked at personality traits and how they affected mortality rates.  They found

“that having worrying tendencies or being the kind of person who stresses easily is likely to lead to bad behaviors like smoking and, therefore, raise the mortality rate.”

The researchers followed 1,788 men over a 30 year period.  They looked at their personality traits and smoking behaviors, to see if there were any connections.  What they found was that those men who exhibit higher levels of neuroticism tend to “self-medicate” themselves by using tobacco, alcohol, or drugs.

Neuroticism is excessive worry over minor events in which there is an expectation of negative consequences or an inability to deal with those events.

What does this mean to you?  Well, first of all, if you’re a person who stresses easily, such as worrying about events that are outside of your control, then you need to take affirmative steps toward realizing that you may be at risk.

Make your motto:

DON’T WORRY.  BE HAPPY!

When you do worry, do you turn to bad habits to see you through?  If you do, you are setting yourself up for future medical problems.  At the very least, make the conscious connection that you’re reacting to stress in your life when you turn to these vices.  Understand each time your partake in a smoke, drink, or pop a pill, you are reacting to stress.  Once you understand this connection, you can begin to deal with the real cause of your stress.  And in the meantime, eliminate the temptations to turn to these vices.  Remove them from your environment.  Instead, turn to healthy alternatives.

I know it’s easy to say, hard to do.  But your life is at stake.  Realize that it really is cutting your life short and it should be easier to attack the problem.

Stress Less and Live More

Dillon

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Everyone could use a break from the hustle and bustle of life.  With everything that’s going on in our lives, it can take a toll on us if we don’t take a breather.  You need to take a vacation away from it all, even if it is for a few days.  It helps to get rejuvenated for the next tasks at hand.

As you may have noticed, I’ve been gone for a while.  That’s because I was taking my own vacation.  My family, pretty much at the last minute, decided to go to the beach in Florida.  Now for many people (and you Florida natives can relate) going to Florida in August is not their idea of a vacation.  But we didn’t care.  We love the ocean and the beach.  We spent most of our time in the water, just enjoying the feel of the waves, the sun, and the wind.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of your vacation:

• The best way to take a vacation is to get away from your familiar surroundings.  Even if the destination is a few hours away, it can help to take your mind off what you’ve been doing.  The relaxation and rest will be good for you.  People get so engrossed in their work that it’s hard for them to see the forest from the trees.

• Go somewhere different than where you usually go for vacation.  Look for somewhere that’s unfamiliar to you.  There are lots of places to choose from.  If you’ve never been on a nature trail, there are many parks that have them.  I highly recommend vacations around nature.  When you’re in a city or amusement park, the stress of lines, people, and money just seem to take away from the experience.  If you’ve been stressed, you need to feel calm and uplifted.  Get those feelings from nature.

• The key to enjoying vacations is lists.  “Lists, you say?”  Yes, lists.  I know for a lot of people, the work you do to get ready for a vacation is stressful.  Making sure your work is caught up at your place of employment, making sure the mail and newspaper are stopped, making sure you have your hotel reservations, and on and on.  You need to get these details out of your head and onto a list.  Then the tasks at hand are in front of you and you’re not stressing because you imagine those tasks are bigger than what they are.  Methodically set dates for tackling those tasks so that the day before you leave is quiet and stress-free.

• And don’t forget lists for getting back home.  No need to spend time relaxing and relieving your stress, just to get back and have to deal with everything you need to do to get ready to go back to work.  Use lists.  They work.

If you have any tips for making vacations enjoyable and stress-free, share them with us.  As Americans, we probably work more than any other country.  We need vacations to rejuvenate ourselves.  It’s really important to use them to unwind and relax.

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