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by Jackie Klapak DON’T STRESS OUT...
I always look forward to April, because it symbolizes the end of the bleak weather for me. Unfortunately, the drab conditions of the exiting winter months often get the best of us. After all, there is a direct connection between the weather and a person’s state of mind and emotions.
Among people my age, I’ve found that stress sometimes rules my friends’ lives. It’s true—we’ve all been in situations where stress gets the best of us. Sometimes it even renders us unable to function. (If you’ve never been in a situation like this, count your blessings!) I am just amazed at how stress can beat my friends up. It has definitely done its share of intervening in my life, and I’m seventeen—wow. There are a lot more years of stress ahead of me. Eeeek!
Since stress is inevitable, it would be helpful to know the effects of stress and how to prevent getting too stressed out. Some stress is normal, but it can often become a major problem.
Stress is defined as “the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response.”
What does this mean? Stress is defined as the physical, mental, and emotional changes your body goes through when you have too many challenges to overcome without a break. The body is naturally inclined to be able to handle stress. In fact, some stress is good—it helps us to achieve what we need to: it helps us sing in front of crowds of people, give speeches, or get through any questionable task we might face.
When stress becomes problematic, it is referred to as distress. This is the more common kind of stress. The effects are pretty awful: a person can become obsessive, have bad vision, be prone to infections, have headaches, develop an upset stomach, may consistently have high blood pressure, develop chest pain, and not be able to sleep. Stress weakens the immune system and advocates disease. If a person has chronic stress, this is why he or she can’t ward of diseases, can’t overcome infections, or always has some type of cold.
The long term effects of stress are no better. Often, a permanent emotional disorder is the result of stress. Physically speaking, stress leads to heart disease, cancers, lung ailment, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide—all of these things are the six leading causes of death in the world. That sounds pretty serious. It is.
Studies have been done on the nineteenth century composer Ludwig van Beethoven, and it has been proven that his stress as a child lead to the deafness that sunk in when he was twenty-eight and his death at fifty-six. He was constantly stressed about his family, even after he moved away to be on his own at the age of seventeen. His stress about his family and music only increased, and it definitely got the best of him. It’s astounding to think about all of the problems of this world that could have been prevented if stress hadn’t been such a factor.
By now, you’ve been made aware of the heinous impact of stress. It happens to everyone, but do you think you may suffer from chronic stress? Ongoing dizziness, feelings of “being out of it”, grinding teeth, clenching jaws, headaches, indigestion, changes of appetite, muscle tensions, lack of sleep, racing heart, sweaty palms, and shaking are all signs of stress that has gotten out of hand.
Of course, it would be best to see some type of medical person if these symptoms persist, but there are some things that you can do to prevent yourself from getting to the point of hyperventilating and out-of-control stress.
Eating right and drinking plenty of water helps decrease stress levels. Your body needs the right nutrients to function, and if it is deprived of these nutrients, the effects of stress can be coupled with malnutrition. Sleep is an important factor as well. (Sleep has its added benefits, as well. A person who gets five hours of sleep is much more likely to be obese than a person who gets eight hours of sleep. Wow! Now we know why it’s called beauty rest!) Drugs, alcohol, and caffeine certainly worsen the situation. Stay away from these things anyway! They’re just no good!
I suppose it helps to have a positive outlook on life. Any given situation could always be worse. If you get stressed while you’re waiting something out, whether it’s something trivial like the results to an exam or something huge like the outcomes of a court hearing, it’s best to keep in mind that you have no control over what happened in the past, such as not studying. The past can’t be changed, so there’s no use worrying about it.
Everything really does happen for a reason, even if it seems unlikely. Sometimes, the reasons for things happening aren’t the reasons we expect. (This is usually great because when bad things happen, we can almost always realize something good about a situation. Woo-hoo!) Take the advice of Nietzsche, an old philosopher. He said, “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” What’s better than being a strengthened person?
THIS TEEN TURNS ON...
Something that didn’t stress me out this month was listening to U2’s new album, How to Dismantle and Atomic Bomb. I really liked it.
It amazes me that U2 has been around for decades, and yet they still continue to write great songs. This album was more than upbeat—it rocked my whole dorm room! (And the dorm rooms next to me, and the hallway, and the next two wings over, and the floors both above and below me….) Get the point?
I really liked the song “Miracle Drug.” My favorite line was “love makes no sense of space or time.” Those U2 guys really know what they’re talking about. (And they’ve been around long enough to know!)
For next month, I’m going to share my thoughts on the album Rain Dogs, by the gravelly-voiced singer/songwriter, Tom Waits. Stay tuned… you know you want to!
This month, take it easy and try not to be stressed out. As always, email me at Jackie@midwestbeat.com with anything that might be on your mind.
See you next month! | ||
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