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Take time out for yourself to beat stress
Dr HK Chopra
Sr Consultant Cardiologist, Moolchand Medcity
STRESS-RELATED problems are the main epidemic of this millennium. 95 percent of patients who visit healthcare professionals have stress related problems.
Many people are walking emotional time bombs, which may blast into a major heart attack, stroke or paralysis, cancer catastrophe,high blood pressure, ulceration in the stomach or intestine or nervous breakdown any time. We should save ourselves before it is too late by coping with stress in a positive manner.
A common man today has to face a lot more stress than his counterpart a hundred years ago. Stress is an essential part of life. If there is no stress there is no progress. But the stress should be positive and taken up as a challenge for better performance.
Stress is defined as an individual’s physical, mental and emotional reaction to the daily events of life. It is a force, which pushes a person to change or grow, fight or flight, yield or adapt. From a medical standpoint, stress is a disturbance in the body’s homeostasis. From an Ayurvedic standpoint it is an obstruction in the flow of natural intelligence. Every disease, which you and me come across has its link with negative stress.
Studies carried out at the London school of Economics have come out with startling conclusions. The happiest place in the world is Bangladesh. India occupies the fifth place. UK ranks 32 and US comes as low as 46. It means happiness is inversely proportional to the peak of economic development. But self-discipline and stress management lead to strong willpower and happiness.
If we are physically, mentally, socially, psychologically, emotionally, environmentally and spiritually healthy with optimum level of stress and develop the stress coping capability in the journey of life, then we will be a successful being. I firmly believe ‘kindness in words creates confidence; kindness in thinking creates profoundness; kindness in giving creates love; kindness in loving creates health and happiness’.
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Positive stress is fine but manage your time well to remain happy |
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Typical signs and symptoms of negative stress are palpitation, nervousness, sleeplessness, restlessness, tremulousness, excessive sweating, anxiousness, aggressiveness, agitation, anger, hyperacidity, fast breathing, tiredness, altered appetite, an attack of angina, heart attack, hypertension, stoke or paralysis, headache, nervous diarrhoea, recurrent infection and even cancer may occur because of excessive stress.
Addictions such as excessive intake of alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea and other drugs, and even lust for sex is also because of excessive negative stress and decreased stress coping capability. Excessive negative stress may cause extreme exhaustion such as burning both the ends of the candle at the same time. To combat it, I advise you not to be highly ambitious at the cost of losing your health. Hopelessness, helplessness may also accelerate ageing. A wise man hastens but hastens slowly.
One also has to be a communicator too. Whatever you want to say, just say it, but also try to be a good listener. Time management is another important part of stress management. One of the most common complaint we hear is ‘I don’t have the time to relax’. This sounds like a familiar statement. But you must make take time out for relaxation and entertainment. Follow all of this and enjoy a stress-free life.
The opinions expressed here are the author’s own
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