STRESSTABS NO MORE…

by: Mirriam Bless F. Detera


Earlier tonight, my co-teachers and I got home from school after our “over time”, which we are used to doing ever since last school year, my best friend which is one of my co-teachers is not feeling well, this morning she was complaining about headache and flu for the whole day, luckily, the first years had their medical check-up with the school physician, after the kids check-up she also had her check-up with the doctor, surprisingly she got a prescription that she never expected. Later in the drug store, I asked her, “What was the doctor’s prescription?” Stresstabs-she said plainly. I was in great shock. I though the doctor would give the Advil type of medicine or Bioflu. But Stresstabs??? Are we that stressed already? I tried to look at the mirror before writing this article, then I noticed, (as if I don’t notice it every day) my eye bags-gosh, their huge. How did I got them? Am I this workaholic already? Am I nocturnal? Then, I came to remember the article I once read in the Readers Digest, that one of the root causes of migraine is Stress-the highest in rank. So that answers my question of why am I having migraines, because of Stress. Well, I cannot totally blame stress for that, an some “paranormal” things happening in my body. I usually sleep at 12:00 midnight, but 1:00 am is the latest, woke up at around 6:20 in the morning, go to school, work for at most 11 hours, go home and work again. Whew, that’s stressful. Before I blame stress for all this-let us take a look at the anatomy of stress.

Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger – whether it’s real or imagined – the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid, automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction, or the stress response. In general, stress is related to both external and internal factors. External factors include the physical environment, including your job, your relationships with others, your home, and all the situations, challenges, difficulties, and expectations you're confronted with on a daily basis. Internal factors determine your body's ability to respond to, and deal with, the external stress-inducing factors. Internal factors which influence your ability to handle stress include your nutritional status, overall health and fitness levels, emotional well-being, and the amount of sleep and rest you get.

So, do I really need Stresstabs to fight stress? Or just manage my life well so that stress would be eliminated. While browsing the net, I got some tips on how to reduce stress. (http://advancedlifeskills.com/blog/10-ways-to-overcome-stress/)

1.      Do things one at a time. Focus as much as possible on doing one thing at a time. Clear your desk of distractions. Pick something to work on. Need to write a report? Do only that. Remove distractions such as phones and email notifications while you’re working on that report. If you’re going to do email, do only that. This takes practice, and you’ll get urges to do other things. Just keep practicing and you’ll get better at it.

2.      Simplify your schedule. A hectic schedule is a major cause of high stress. Simplify by reducing the number of commitments in your life to just the essential ones. Learn to say no to the rest — and slowly get out of commitments that aren’t beneficial to you. Schedule only a few important things each day, and put space between them. Get out of meetings when they aren’t absolutely essential. Leave room for down time and fun.

3.      Get moving. Do something each day to be active — walk, hike, play a sport, go for a run, do yoga. It doesn’t have to be grueling to reduce stress. Just move. Have fun doing it.

4.      Develop one healthy habit this month. Other than getting active, improving your health overall will help with the stress. But do it one habit at a time. Eat fruits and veggies for snacks. Floss every day. Quit smoking. Cook something healthy for dinner. Drink water instead of soda. One habit at a time.

5.      Declutter. This is a favorite of mine. I like to take 20-30 minutes and just go through a room, getting rid of stuff we don’t use or need anymore.

6.      Be early. But being late can be very stressful. Try to leave earlier by getting ready earlier, or by scheduling more space between events. Things always take longer than normal, so schedule some buffer time: extra time to get ready, to commute, to do errands before you need to be somewhere, to attend a meeting before another scheduled appointment

In totality-some of these tips really do work miracles to me. But, just what a famous nutritional drink would say “With proper diet and exercise”, Stress could be eliminated, eye bags gone, messy hair in the morning gone and other signs of stress would bid goodbye “with the right outlook in life, and how we manage our life”.