Stress is not a natural state of the body but a reactionary one. Stress hormones are produced during the fight or flight moment when a person faces intense moments. The moment can be a life threatening one or a moment that requires more attention. The body is designed to handle these situations in short term reactions.
Stress though over a long period of time can cause health issues. While it is good to produce these hormones in emergency situations, it is counter productive over a long period of time. Due to this, stress is very unhealthy for the body over long periods of time.
Stress can cause headaches, depression, insomnia, weakened immune system, higher blood sugar, higher risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, and for women, missed periods. Chronic stress symptoms include anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia and depression. (1)
In the central nervous system, stress produces hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These help speed up the heart beat to deal with danger. This is the reason we call it the fight or flight response. While this is good in the short term, it causes long term issues on the heart and blood pressure.
The digestive system during stress also reacts. It increases one’s glucose to boost energy during stress. While this is temporarily good, it can have long term problems, leading to diabetes two.
The respiratory and cardiovascular systems also play a role during stress. Due to cortisol, it allows your heart to beat faster but also for your blood to absorb more oxygen. This is not good for those suffering from asthma. It is also not good for the long term, leading to higher blood pressure and chance of stroke.
The muscular system is also affected during stress. The muscles tighten up during stress. This can lead to headaches and other muscles spasms. In addition to this, the sexual organs are also affected negatively during stress. In men it lowers testosterone and in women it affects menstrual cycles.
The immune system is also negatively effected by stress. Stress overtime weakens the immune system which leads to many becoming sick when over stressed over a long period of time.
Ultimately, stress hormones are essential to our survival, but chronic stress is unhealthy. The temporary adjustments to stress are good but overtime they are destructive to numerous systems of the body. This is why stress management is so pivotal to good health. Stress Management helps individuals cope with stress hence reducing long term health issues. (2)
It is pivotal for good health to identify stress. Somethings in life are worth worrying about short term and need our attention but many things need to be controlled. Stress Management helps an individual identify whats important and how to cope properly. Stress Management also helps one to identify what is not important.
Some critical stress management techniques can help one reduce stress and become more healthy. Of course the first step in stress management is overall mental view of life. How one reacts to anger and anxiety determine how we cope. Issues from work or home can build up if not properly dealt with from a mental standpoint. A healthy mindset is key to good stress management.
Stress Management hence is closely tied to Anger Management. Identifying triggers that are not essentially stress worthy is important. If triggers can be spotted, then an individual can avoid them or minimize them.
In addition to targeting potential triggers, individuals need to also know how to relax. Relaxation is a key element to stress management. Reducing frustration, mental worry and physical symptoms are important steps to long term health. Many individuals utilize meditation, yoga, or other spiritual practices to reduce stress. Massages and other physical therapies also help. Over working can be a negative thing at times, and individuals sometimes need a vacation, or simply a nice long nap. It is critical to be able to let off steam. Some utilize hobbies, or sports or the gym, to do this, but if one does not have the ability to reduce stress, it will overtake one’s life.
After noting triggers and having ways to reduce stress, individuals need to know how to limit stress around them as well. Rules at home or work that generate a certain type of order can help. Disorder is a big contributor to stress. Organization at home and work can play a large role.
While some find more stress at home, others find more stress at work. Working with difficult people, deadlines and heavy work load can all contribute to that. Some things cannot be avoided and need coped with but other things can be minimized. Again through good communication and organization, stress can be reduced anywhere.
Stress appears in anything in life. This is a reality. As living organisms, we are open to stressful situations by the very definition of living itself. One can learn to deal with legitimate stress appropriately or allow it to overtake one’s life. As we saw, chronic stress has way too many negative impacts on the body to be ignored. It is hence very important to face and reduce in one’s life. Stress Management is the key to spotting stress and coping with it. Stress Management also offers a variety of ways to escape stress and reduce anxiety levels.
Since stress is such a big reality in life, stress management is sought after by millions of people. Individually people seek stress management consultants for aid. Large corporations also look for stress management consultants. Employers have discovered that a less stressful work environment is conducive to higher employee productivity.
Stress Management Consulting is in very high demand because of these needs. Many healthcare and behavioral health professionals look to give stress management consulting to individuals and large corporate firms. The American Institute of Health Care Professionals offers a Stress Management Consulting Training Program to qualified professionals seeking certification.
The program is entirely online and independent study. It is working professional friendly in that it allows professionals to work on the online courses leading to certification at their own pace. The program is completely online and the exam for each course is open book. One can utilize an instructor as much or as little as needed. Some of the courses also have approvals for certain professionals seeking CE hours.
The certification in Stress Management Consulting is a four year certification and be renewed.
If you are interested in learning more about the Stress Management Consulting Certification offered by AIHCP, then please review the program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.