Stress Cops: Stress Research

The Different Kinds of Stress

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:30:09 GMT

In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a special article about the different kinds of stress by the American Psychological Association. Learn the important differences between acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress. Included are how to recognize the signs of each kind of stress, and the best steps to take to manage your stress.

The Different Kinds of Stress
By the American Psychological Association (APA)
(c) APA

Stress management can be complicated and confusing because there are different types of stress -- acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress -- each with its own characteristics, symptoms, duration, and treatment approaches. Lets look at each one.

Acute Stress
Acute stress is the most common form of stress. It comes from demands and pressures of the recent past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. Acute stress is thrilling and exciting in small doses, but too much is exhausting. A fast run down a challenging ski slope, for example, is exhilarating early in the day. That same ski run late in the day is taxing and wearing. Skiing beyond your limits can lead to falls and broken bones.

By the same token, overdoing on short-term stress can lead to psychological distress, tension headaches, upset stomach, and other symptoms.

Fortunately, acute stress symptoms are recognized by most people. It is a laundry list of what has gone awry in their lives: the auto accident that crumpled the car fender, the loss of an important contract, a deadline they're rushing to meet, their child's occasional problems at school, and so on.

Because it is short term, acute stress doesn't have enough time to do the extensive damage associated with long-term stress. The most common symptoms are:

* Emotional Distress -- some combination of anger or irritability, anxiety, and depression, the three stress emotions;
* Muscular Problems -- including tension headache, back pain, jaw pain, and the muscular tensions that lead to pulled muscles and tendon and ligament problems;
* Stomach, gut and bowel problems such as heartburn, acid stomach, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome;
* Transient over arousal -- leading to elevation in blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, heart palpitations, dizziness, migraine headaches, cold hands or feet, shortness of breath, and chest pain.

Acute stress can crop up in anyones life, and it is highly treatable and manageable.

Episodic Acute Stress
There are those, however, who suffer acute stress frequently, whose lives are so disordered that they are studies in chaos and crisis. They're always in a rush, but always late. If something can go wrong, it does. They take on too much, have too many irons in the fire, and cannot organize the slew of self-inflicted demands and pressures clamoring for their attention. They seem perpetually in the clutches of acute stress.

It is common for people with acute stress reactions to be over aroused, short-tempered, irritable, anxious, and tense. Often, they describe themselves as having a lot of nervous energy. Always in a hurry, they tend to be abrupt, and sometimes their irritability comes across as hostility.

Interpersonal relationships deteriorate rapidly when others respond with real hostility. The work becomes a very stressful place for them.

The cardiac prone, Type A personality described by cardiologists, Meter Friedman and Ray Rosenman, is similar to an extreme case of episodic acute stress. Type As have an excessive competitive drive, aggressiveness, impatience, and a harrying sense of time urgency.

In addition there is a free-floating, but well-rationalized form of hostility, and almost always a deep-seated insecurity. Such personality characteristics would seem to create frequent episodes of acute stress for the Type A individual. Friedman and Rosenman found Type As to be much more likely to develop coronary heat disease than Type Bs, who show an opposite pattern of behavior.

Another form of episodic acute stress comes from ceaseless worry. Worry warts see disaster around every corner and pessimistically forecast catastrophe in every situation. The world is a dangerous, unrewarding, punitive place where something awful is always about to happen. These people also tend to be over aroused and tense, but are more anxious and depressed than angry and hostile.

The symptoms of episodic acute stress are the symptoms of extended over arousal: persistent tension headaches, migraines, hypertension, chest pain, and heart disease. Treating episodic acute stress requires intervention on a number of levels, generally requiring professional help, which may take many months.

Often, lifestyle and personality issues are so ingrained and habitual with these individuals that they see nothing wrong with the way they conduct their lives. They blame their woes on other people and external events. Frequently, they see their lifestyle, their patterns of interacting with others, and their ways of perceiving the world as part and parcel of who and what they are.

Sufferers can be fiercely resistant to change. Only the promise of relief from pain and discomfort of their symptoms can keep them in treatment and on track in their recovery program.

Chronic Stress
While acute stress can be thrilling and exciting, chronic stress is not. This is the grinding stress that wears people away day after day, year after year. Chronic stress destroys bodies, minds and lives. It wreaks havoc through long-term attrition. It is the stress of poverty, of dysfunctional families, of being trapped in an unhappy marriage or in a despised job or career.

Chronic stress comes when a person never sees a way out of a miserable situation. It is the stress of unrelenting demands and pressures for seemingly interminable periods of time. With no hope, the individual gives up searching for solutions.

Some chronic stresses stem from traumatic, early childhood experiences that become internalized and remain forever painful and present. Some experiences profoundly affect personality. A view of the world, or a belief system, is created that causes unending stress for the individual (e.g., the world is a threatening place, people will find out you are a pretender, you must be perfect at all times).

When personality or deep-seated convictions and beliefs must be reformulated, recovery requires active self-examination, often with professional help.

The worst aspect of chronic stress is that people get used to it. They forget it is there. People are immediately aware of acute stress because it is new; they ignore chronic stress because it is old, familiar, and sometimes, almost comfortable.

Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find an ever growing supply of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the QuantumBrainGym -- the first online brainwave training center.

The Stress Cops Radio Show
We always talk stress management and stress reduction.

Post Cancer Stress Management

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:22:33 GMT

In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a quantum-self stress research report about the use of mindfulness for instant stress management and stress reduction. Post surgery cancer patients reported significantly less stress after mindfulness stress management training. Here is how to use this stress reduction method in your own life

A Quantum-Self Stress Research Summary
The term *mindfulness* is rooted deep in the tradition of Buddhism, a philosophy of life dating back thousands of years. Mindfulness refers to a stress free mental state of being totally focused in the present moment.

Now obviously most of us spend little time in such a present-focused mental state. Our life stress constantly pulls our attention into both the past and the future. But there is new evidence that at least trying to spend a little time in a mindful state of mind has some great benefits -- including stress reduction, and possible stress management.

For those who want to learn how to manage stress, this could actually prove to be a very powerful personal tool.

The Research Findings
Two University of Rochester researchers -- Kirk Brown and Richard Ryan -- formally tested the psychological and stress management benefits of mindfulness. They found that people who report being *more mindful* tend to have positive personal traits such as: high self-esteem, high life satisfaction, primarily positive feelings -- and less stress, anxiety and depression.

The researchers then tested whether consciously creating a mindful state will reduce the extreme stress during cancer post-surgery. The researchers trained a group of cancer patients to enter into a low stress mindful state. The post cancer surgery results indicated that the patients trained to become more mindful did indeed report less stress after their surgery.

A Personal Experiment
The results of this study suggest that being more mindful can help reduce even the most intense stress in our lives. Here is a mindfulness experiment you can do:

Settle into a private, comfortable space. Then just allow yourself to focus on what is going on around you right now. This can be as simple as looking around the room and consciously focusing on what your eyes land on -- and listening to the sounds around you. If your thoughts pull off into the past or the future, just gently refocus on the present moment. Do this for at least 5 minutes.

If relaxation is still difficult, you may want to do some mental re-programming to improve how your mind responds to stress. Chronic stress is a mental habit. And like any other habit, it will only go away if replaced with other behavior patterns.

Over thirty years of research have proven that brainwave training is the fastest instant stress reducer. Instant stress management is great. But a regime of alpha/theta (A-T) brainwave training has an even bigger payback -- it trains your brain to easily order your mind and body to relax on its own, and makes you far more creative.

The Research: Brown, Kirk, W., & Ryan, Richard, M. The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. J. Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822-848.

By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
© 2005 All Rights Reserved

The author, Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the Quantum Brain Gym -- the first online brain gym and brainwave training center.

The Stress Cops Radio Show
Where we always talk stress management and stress reduction.

How Stress Affects Decision Making

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 19:08:07 GMT

In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a quantum-self stress research report about decision making under stress, and the evidence that making snap decisions under stress frequently yields results that are good for the short term, but even more stress producing for the long term.

A Quantum-Self Research Report
Stress can make you more likely to base your decisions on the short-term without considering the long-term consequences. The consequences of decisions made under stress can be serious at all levels of the business world, and even more stress producing.

At times we have to make choices that have good immediate consequences -- but may have bad long-term consequences. For example, if you stay up late to work on a project at the last minute you may finish the projects on time (a good immediate consequence) -- but suffer from sleep deprivation over time (a bad long-term stress creating consequence).

Or you may sit in an uncomfortable chair at work all day, and end up with a bad back. Again not a good thing.

A Harvard researcher explored how stress affects the way we make decisions that promise a positive short-term reward , but have negative long-term consequences.

Thirty-two Harvard University students viewed a slide show that they individually controlled. Some of the participants viewed pictures stimulating a sense of stress and negative emotion, while the other participants viewed neutral pictures during their slide show.

The participants were told they would receive a certain amount of money for each slide they viewed during the 10-minute slide show. Thus the more slides they advanced through the more money they would make.

The participants advanced to the next slide by pushing one of two buttons on a control box. One button represented *good immediate but bad long-term consequences,* because it allowed them to quickly advance the next slide, but also slowed down the advance of later slides.

The other button represented *bad immediate but good long-term consequences* because it slowed down the advance of the next slide but sped up the advance of later slides.

Results showed that participants who were stressed by viewing the aversive slides earned less money than participants who viewed the neutral slides. The stressed participants also chose the *good immediate but bad long-term consequences* button on the control box much more than the participants with low stress.

A second study found the same results comparing a group of students who reported high stress levels because of upcoming exams, to students who had low stress levels.

A Note to Decision Makers
It is unfortunately sometimes easy to make a snap decision when under stress. This underscores the importance of solid stress management programs for key executives and decision makers – where the wrong snap decision can seriously damage an enterprise.

Stress management programs are more important than ever because of the stress producing fast pace business operates under today. If you have a challenge managing your stress, you may want to do some mental re-programming to improve how you respond. Your stress response is a habit. And like any other habit, it will only go away if replaced with other behavior patterns.

The Research: Gray, J. (1999) A bias toward short-term thinking in threat-related negative emotional states. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 65-75.

The author, Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the QuantumBrainGym -- the webs first online stress management brainwave training center.

The Stress Cops Radio Show
Where we always talk stress management and stress reduction.

Happiness in the Face of Stress

Tue, 08 Nov 2005 18:43:34 GMT

In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a quantum-self stress research report about the relationship of stress, stress management, and two primary personality directly related to your ability to respond positively to stress and stress related events. Includes recommendations on how to refine your ability to handle the stress in your life.

A Quantum-Self Research Summary

Is it possible to be happy if your life is full of stress. And what is it that makes some people happy and stress free, in spite of the stress in their lives. One researcher has found that the personality trait most often associated with happiness in todays stress laden world is ones coping ability – not a lack of stress.

Psychologist first seriously began looking for the connection between stress and happiness in the 70s – at first focusing on age and socioeconomic status. But now attention has shifted to the role of personality traits such as positive and negative emotions as the primary determinant of happiness in the face of stress.

Researcher Kristina DeNeve, PhD of the University of Utah reviewed the research literature on the relation between happiness and 137 different personality traits. She identified two personality traits highly relevant to stress and one’s ability to cope and remain happy.

According to Dr DeNeves, the lower your negative response to stress, the more likely you will be able to be happy in the face of stress. She also found that a high coping ability, or the ability to respond positively to a source of stress, goes hand-in-hand with a lack of negative emotions in response to a stress event.

The researcher concludes that if you desire happiness, it can be achieved by having (or developing) the ability to cope positively with stress, and avoiding feelings of tension in response to the stress in your life.

Helpful Strategies from Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
Perhaps Dr DeNeves advice could best be stated as: Avoid stress overload, and try to maintain a more positive outlook. Stress is a *response* to an event, not the event itself.

If you find stress coping difficult, you might want to do some mental re-programming to improve how your mind responds to stress. Chronic stress is a mental habit. And like any other habit, it will only go away if replaced with other behavior patterns.

The Research: Brown, Kirk, W., & Ryan, Richard, M. The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. J. Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822-848.

The Stress Cops Radio Show
Where we always talk stress management and stress reduction.

By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
© 2005 All Rights Reserved

Three Basic Needs for Stress Free Happiness

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 22:20:01 GMT

In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a quantum-self stress research report about the relationship between internal stress and happiness. It seems that regardless of the absence or presence of stress creating events outside us, our internal stress that results from not satisfying three basic personal needs can be so stress producing we cannot achieve happiness.

A Quantum-Self Research Report
A low level of stress is a key feature of what we call happiness. But the sort of stress imposed on us by outside events is not necessarily the strongest stress we encounter on a daily basis. And it is our daily experiences that determine the quality of our lives and ability to experience happiness.

But perhaps even more stress producing is the internal stress that comes from our daily personal decisions.

Researchers looked at how daily fluctuations in happiness relate to how well people satisfy three basic needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Their definitions included:
* Autonomy = doing what you want to without being controlled by others.
* Competence = the ability to meet the challenges you face.
* Relatedness = having positive relationships with others.

The Research Investigation
At the University of Rochester and the University of Missouri, sixty-seven undergraduate students were randomly selected for the study. Following an initial testing session, they filled out a daily questionnaire designed to measure their autonomy, competence and relatedness. The questionnaire also captured information for each day regarding their level of happiness, and any illness-related symptoms for that day.

The research team found a strong relationship between the degree to which daily activities helped people meet the three basic needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, and relatedness) and how happy they reported being. A closer analysis reveled that the more closely these needs were met, the happier the subjects reported being.

The researchers also found that the more a subject’s autonomy and competence needs were satisfied, the fewer illness-related symptoms they experienced.

The Conclusion
You may be able to live happier, less illness-prone life by paying closer attention to satisfying your autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs more completely in your daily life.

This could involve engaging in more activities that are not controlled by others, going after challenges that match your abilities, and participating in positive relationships.

The Research:
Reis, H. T., Sheldon, K. M., Gable, S. L., Roscoe, J., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 419-435.

By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
© 2005 All Rights Reserved

The author, Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the Quantum Brain Gym -- the webs first complete online brainwave training center.

The Stress Cops Radio Show
Where we always talk stress management and stress reduction.

Proof more innovation = less work stress

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 21:19:30 GMT

In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a quantum-self stress research report about workplace stress and innovation, and the surprising evidence that an innovative work environment is actually far more likely to be stress free ? regardless of whether or not a stress management program is in place.

Working in an innovative environment? You have a lower probability of job related stress, with or without following a formal or personal stress management or stress reduction program.

Quite a bit of past research has shown that innovation is associated with such factors as: goal clarity, feedback, and communication. Stress, however, has been somewhat neglected in most research on innovation in the workplace.

A group of researchers in Finland recently published the findings from a study in which they investigated whether occupational stress is associated with innovation.

The researchers surveyed almost 1800 employees from the health care, metal and retail industries. The results showed that increases in stress are associated with decreases in innovation.

Although the study was not designed to determine whether occupational stress influences innovation in the workplace, it nonetheless demonstrated that the two are related. Evidently, an innovative work environment is not a high-stress work environment.

In most work situations, however, stress management programs are more important than ever because of the fast pace business operates under today.

If you have a challenge managing your stress, you may want to do some mental re-programming to improve how you respond. Your stress response is a habit. And like any other habit, it will only go away if replaced with other behavior patterns.

The Research: Länsisalmi, H., & Kivimäki, M. (1999). Factors associated with innovative climate: What is the role of stress? Stress Medicine, 15, 203-213.

By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
© 2005 All Rights Reserved

The Stress Cops Radio Show
Where we always talk stress management and stress reduction.

Breathe Deep for Instant Stress Reduction

Sat, 05 Nov 2005 17:36:06 GMT

In this edition of the Stress Cops PodCast Radio Show we bring you a special article about stress, stress breathing, and how to control your breathing for immediate stress reduction and longterm stress management.

The Problem
Ever notice that stress makes you breathe different. Stress instantly changes the flow of oxygen into your body. Stress related rapid, shallow breathing is a primitive survival mechanism to help prepare you to fight or run.

This is great if you are being chased by a tiger. But it is not so great when it becomes part of chronic high stress . Breath control is a key to instant stress reduction, and is an excellent stress management tool.

You can survive for several weeks without food, and for days without water. But life ends in minutes without oxygen. You have an estimated 75 trillion cells in your body, and each of these tiny cells needs a supply of oxygen to do its work.

You normally breathe between twelve and sixteen breaths a minute. But when you are experiencing high stress, your breathing may become so rapid you might even start to hyperventilate. In some cases, your breathing may even stop momentarily to give your body a chance to recover.

Here is what you need to know: When you become caught up with such rapid breathing, you are only using the uppermost portions of your lungs. This can only result in very rapid shallow breathing, and often becomes hyperventilation.

Shallow breathing triggers a vicious cycle in which your stress level will become even higher. Shallow breathing can even cause distressing chest pains simulating those connected with heart attacks.

Continued shallow breathing causes your anxiety levels to rise, your physical and intellectual performance to diminished, and your sleep to become disturbed. Even your vision can become disrupted vision, creating hallucinations and sensations of unreality.

Shallow breathing is a primitive mechanism for survival, and gives us the ability to prepare to fight or run. But since we rarely actually have to run or fight, we do not use up the adrenaline and noradrenalin being released into our bloodstream. This causes our physical tension to become chronic.

The Solution
The bottom of your lungs have the most blood flow, so it's important to get as much air down to the bottom of the lungs as possible. Slow deep breathing gets air to the plentiful blood vessels in your lower lungs, and gets balanced gases into your bloodstream.

This helps your brain stimulate the production of the mood-boosting endorphins that help control your emotions, moods and motivation.

The author, Stress Cop Dr. Jill Ammon-Wexler, is a pioneer brain/mind researcher, doctor of psychology, author, life adventurer, and international executive advisor. You will find more of her stress management and stress reduction articles at Quantum-Self.com -- the Self Discovery Community, and in the QuantumBrainGym -- the web's first online brainwave training center.

The Stress Cops Radio Show
We always talk stress management and stress reduction.
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