Stressed?

We live in a culture of stress. We stress about work, the economy, politics, school, love, weight, tv; we even stress about stress itself. April is National Stress Awareness Month and Stress Awareness Day is on the 16th. Here are some of the latest numbers on how we see, feel, and deal with stress.

- There are two types of stress: DISTRESS, the regular stress that plagues us, and EUSTRESS, a positive form that improves productivity and performance.
- 62% of Americans are stressed about work, according to the American Psychological Association.
- One third of American children ages 8 to 17 say they worry about their family's finances. Two other major sources of childhood are HOMEWORK AND TEASING. Kid's top coping mechanisms: listening to music (44%), eating (26%), and talking to their parents (22%).
- A Wake Forest University study of 42 female monkeys found those suffering from social stress held more abdominal fat, a precursor of heart disease.
- Each year, more than 275,000,000 working days are lost in the U.S. because of stress related absenteeism.
- More than three out of five doctors visits are STRESS RELATED. In the U.S. alone, more than $22.8 BILLION is spent on anxiety-related health care each year.
- According to a psychological survey done in 1938 and in 2007, anxiety and mental health issues are 5 TIMES more common now among high-school and college students than they were at the end of the Great Depression.
- Despite their proliferation over the past 10 years, anti-anxiety medications like Xanax and Valium are NOT the best solution to stress and anxiety - coping skills such as diet, meditation, exercise, and changing one's thinking are the keys to long-term stress-free living without medication.

How do you cope with your stress? Are you equipped with the tools you need to deal with those stressful days or week? Eating healthy and exercising regularly are two key components to mitigating stress. But when these are not enough, our bodies and minds may be calling us to change the way we perceive stress or to change the stressor

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