Beating Stress

Words By Amanda Johnson

Everyone has one of those days where nothing seems to go right. The car won’t start. The dog tracked mud all over the carpet. The alarm clock didn’t go off. All these things contribute to an increase in bad stress—the kind that is familiar to most people. However, there are other types of stress—even good stress.
Defining Stress 
According to Marc Showalter, director of The University of Mississippi Counseling Center, stress can be divided into several categories. He says that good stress adds urgency to our lives. An example of this is preparation for finals. Good stress can lead to distress, or bad stress “A wedding is a wonderful event surrounded by the good kind of stress,” Showalter said. “Distress comes in when there is apprehension about getting married and a lack of time to get things done. Distress often occurs when what we’re expecting to happen doesn’t happen that way or when something unexpected comes up.”
Jerome F. Kiffer, a member of the Department of Health Psychology and Applied Psychophysiology at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation wrote an article for the website WebMD.com titled “The Effects of Stress on Your Body.” In this article he defines stress as the “body’s reaction to a change that requires an adjustment or response.” The body reacts to the changes in three ways: physically, mentally and emotionally.
Kiffer also says that there are different types of stress. 
“The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert and ready to avoid danger,” Kiffer says in his article. “Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges.” 
The result of too much of any kind of stress leads to a third type known as overstress. Showalter defines this as simply having too much on your plate. He says this has a clear explanation.
“When we have too many chocolate sundaes, we feel sick afterward,” Showalter said.  He says this is very similar to the way the body deals with overstress.  “We don’t know what to say ‘no’ to, and it causes overstress.” Showalter says.
When this happens another phase of stress develops. When overstress happens a person becomes overwhelmed. Showalter defines this as more than a person can deal with.
“Being overwhelmed is very common in college students,” Showalter says. “People with young children are another group that can easily become overwhelmed. They have more than they can manage; they can’t get to everything.”
Effects of Stress on Physical Health
Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress, according to Kiffer. He also states that 75 to 90 percent of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
Headaches, tight muscles, all-over tension and stomachaches are common ailments related to stress, Showalter says. He also points out that a person’s physical state is related to stress. Some of the more common physical responses to stress are low and high-energy levels. 
“Different people have different reactions to stress,”
Showalter says. “Some people get very low on energy and become irritable. They may want to sleep all the time.  “Others may be bouncing off the walls and may have trouble sleeping. Blood pressure and adrenaline levels are affected by stress.” 
Sleep is a big issue related to stress.

stress.  Appetite is another physical trait affected by stress. It is very similar to sleep. Some people want to eat all the time and others may not eat very much at all when they are overstressed.  “Women associate food with comforting stress,”
Showalter says. “We see that people go on a see-food diet.”
Heart function is affected by stress according to Kiffer and Showalter. The six leading causes of death in the United States are clearly related to stress in some way, Kiffer says. These causes are heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide.

from the editor... 

         As school starts again, bills from the holidays begin to be paid and tax season approaches, we here at Oxford Health and Fitness thought stress would be an appropriate theme for our Winter 2003 issue. Everyone feels  stressed at some point in their lives, whether it is because of school, family, work or money, and it can cause numerous health problems, such as heart attacks.
       There is a good kind of stress, however, and this is what helped the OH&F staff produce this issue. Whether we were tracking down writers, scrambling to take pictures or making sure all our bills were paid, the stress of our deadline was always looming in the background. But now it is finished and the stress of the deadline has passed. It has been replaced with a new kind of stress, the stress of whether or not people will like it. Will they like the magazines new design, enjoy reading the stories or perhaps get something out of it.
       This issues has also opened my eyes to different types of therapy, like Yoga and acupuncture. I knew little about either of them before I read the stories on pages 10 and 12, respectively. The photograph which goes along with the acupuncture picture still gives me the chills. I don’t think I could let someone stick a needle in my forehead, no matter how much they claimed it didn’t hurt.
       I think students will particularly be interested in the story about Yellow Jackets, a drug which either they, or people they know might have taken in order to study longer, remain alert or just party. This story could make you think a little harder before taking a drug like this.
I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I do. And just remember, chill out.

Kelley Hunsberger