Serious stress management vs. dangerous / gimmicky stress management
As cost of work related mental illness increases to £28bn a quarter of the UK’s total sick bill, it is becoming clear in terms of health and productivity for employers to invest in dealing with work-related stress seriously and effectively.
The current economic depression, individual job insecurity coupled with the “threat” from Swine flu and the vaccinations are all adding to the stress levels being experienced by most people. Like a frog placed in cold water under a flame doesn’t realize the danger, so it is with those who are unaware of their stress or do not have any really effective solutions to deal with stress. Unfortunately, many people will only wake up to the impact of these continuous levels of daily stresses when they experience a major health issues, such as high blood pressure, heart attack, cancer or stroke, not to mention the negative ongoing impact of stress on relationships.
Stress begins within our mind. Stress is a mental reaction to a perceived demand. The most obvious method of managing stress is to start with our minds, and there are two ways, either with the use of psychoactive drugs or meditation .
The range of drugs available to treat stress falls into the following categories:
• Antidepressants offer treatment for disorders such as clinical depression, eating disorders, anxiety and borderline personality disorder ;
• Stimulants are used to treat disorders such as attention deficit disorder (ADD);
• Antipsychotics which are used to treat psychoses, mania and schizophrenia;
• Anxiolytics for anxiety or stress disorders;
• Depressants used as hypnotics, sedatives, and anesthetics;
• Mood stabilisers.
All the drugs are known to have serious side effects, including addiction. Compared to meditation which requires a commitments of about 20 minutes a day, is non-toxic, no side harmful side effects and has been shown through numerous studies to completely and effectively manage stress, anxiety and depression.
EXERCISES:
Mindfulness (by Dav Panesar)
Symran (by Dav Panesar)
