Stress Management Consulting Article on Stress and Health

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Stress is a health issue that is overlooked.  Many individuals worry about diet, lack of exercise, hereditary illness and contagious disease but never consider stress.  Stress is a silent killer that can take a healthy person with healthy life styles and over time kill him or her.

Stress is one of the biggest killers of people in the modern world.  It can suddenly cause death or gradually cause illness in the body.  This is true in any living creature and not understanding the nature of stress on the body and taking appropriate stress management strategies can lead to an early grave.

Stress can kill overtime. Please also review our Stress Management Consulting Program

 

The body reacts to stressors in life.  Each person reacts to different stressors uniquely.  What may be stressful for one person is not for another.  When the body’s stress reaction takes place, various systems within the body prepare the body for the fight or flight experiences.

Walter Cannon, a physiologist, was the first to coin fight or flight.  Early man responded to stressors or threats by either fighting the threat or fleeing from it.  The body produces various hormones after the brain interprets the threat.  The hypothalamus and pituitary gland send messages for the adrenal cortex to produce glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids.   These in turn produce cortisol and aldosterone.

Cortisol is the primary hormone that fuels the fight or flight reaction.  This is an extremely important process for survival, especially for early man.  Increased levels of sugar to burn, allow the body to deal with the stressor.

Aldosterone prepares the body for action.  It increases blood pressure, hence permitting the body to transport food and oxygen to other parts of the body.  In addition, the adrenal medulla, secretes adrenalin to give the body more energy and strength in any stress or crisis response.  Combined, these hormonal changes in the body give it the energy, strength and ability to respond to stressful conditions.

Due to this, the temporary reactions raise blood pressure and increases heart rate.  Various other parts of the body also react, including the autonomic nervous system, the gastrointestinal system, the muscular system and even the skin.  While temporarily this is needed to respond to stress, over a long duration, these conditions can cause heart attacks, strokes, stomach ulcers and other forms of illness.

Due to modern man’s less primal living situation, one cannot resort to fight or flight responses but must instead internalize issues.  One cannot flee a job assignment, yell at a boss, not take an exam, or scream at a customer.  Instead, one is forced to deal with the stress and endure the physical reactions within the body.

This over time becomes deadly.  Whether the degree or duration, stress kills because of the changes it forces upon the body when proper outlets are not permitted.  Long work hours, deadlines, toxic relationships at work and home, poor diet, smoking, and type A personalities more prone to anxiety, anger and impatience all deal with an abundance of stress.  This excess stress without proper outlets and management leads to early death.

It is imperative to limit the body’s reaction to stress with stress management techniques which teach one to cope.  Stress is part of life but it can be managed.  Stress can be environmental or from within and how we react, but how we handle the stressors and learn to navigate them can reduce the wear and tear on our mind and body.

Hans Sele, the Father of Modern Stress Management, conducted a variety of experiments on rats, inducing different rats with different levels of stress and stressful situations.  He noted that the rats with the most stress over time developed various conditions to their bodies.  These conditions affected almost all bodily systems, from heart issues to ulcers and anything in between.  He became aware that stress over time kills.

He pointed out three phases all animals face. First, the alarm reaction. During this phase, the body reacts to stress and exposes the reactionary characteristics of the body to the stressor.  Within this phase, the body reacts to stress and if the stress is to strong, the person dies.

The second phase is the reactionary phase in which the body endures and adapts to the stressor.  Alarm appearance had diminished and the resistance to the stressor rises.

The final phase according to Seyle, is the stage of exhaustion, where the body’s adaptation energy becomes exhausted, and the alarm phase appearances return, but this time, become permanent and the body dies due to duration of the stress.

Hence Seyle pointed out that if the body does not adapt or remove the stress irritant, one can either die from stress immediately or over duration.  This led to the idea that stress kills according to degree or duration.  This is why it is important during the second stage, to overcome the issue and move on or if the issue is not life threatening, to learn important coping strategies to deal with the stress itself.

This is difficult with hard and long work hours, definitive deadlines and toxic interpersonal relationships.   Divorce, loss, death, unemployment, illness, and other issues can pile upon an already stressful life style and compound the body’s ability to overcome the stressor.  Duration sets in and the body’s stress responses in themselves become deadly.

Long hours, deadlines and taxing mental work can lead to unhealthy levels of stress over time

 

One can take some control though in how the body responds to stress.  Meditation, bio-feedback, hypnosis, channeled breathing, prayer, positive outlooks, humor, exercise, diet, and life evaluations can all play key roles in limiting stress. Ultimately it is up to you if you wish to limit the damage stress can do on your body.

Stress Management coping strategies are key to a healthy life.  Certified Stress Management Consultants can help others learn how to better cope and deal with stress.  Stress Management is becoming more mainstream in a variety of areas beyond just personal health but is also becoming a big service offered in business, politics, emergency response, policing,  and other industries that see a high level of stress.

Stress reduction will limit poor health and help someone find a better balance in life. Please also review AIHCP’s Stress Management Consulting Program

 

If you would like to learn more about Stress Management or would like to become a certified Stress Management Consultant, then please review AIHCP’s Stress Management Consulting Program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.  The program is online and independent study and leads to a four-year certification.  In the meantime, limit your stress and live a healthier life.

Stress Management Consulting Article and Physical Health

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Stress kills.  This not a clique or a baseless statement, but a real statement based on fact and science.  Stress causes disease and death in many people every year.  Stress can be real, physical, environmental and immediate,  or social and psychological.

Psychologist Walter Cannon first studied the stress response of human beings.  He termed the popular phrase, flight or fight.  The flight or fight response is humanity’s most evolutionary basic response to stressors.  When something immediate and threatening approaches, our ancestors fled or stayed and fought.  In that process, the stressors were analyzed in the brain and the necessary adjustments were made to the various bodily systems to prepare the body for stress.  These systems included the endocrine, cardiovascular, automatic nervous and muscular systems of the body to respond to the stressor or threat.  Through these complex systems, various reactions in the body take place that prepare the body for fight or flight

One is not tied to stressors but can react and cope against stress in positive ways

 

Among these many reactions originating from the brain and then transferring to the various glands that emit hormones include faster heart rate, higher blood pressure, muscle contraction, increased metabolic rate, less fatigue, more energy, and more oxygen.   These changes are a result of hormones in the body.  Cortisol is a primary hormone that increases blood sugar for energy. In addition, aldosterone is a hormone that increases blood pressure.

These essential changes are pivotal in flight or fight responses.  However, over time, these increased hormones and the chemical changes they produce in the body are not healthy.  Seyle, the Father of Stress Management, studied the effects of stress on rats and discovered that a multitude of physical ailments befell the rats when over stressed.  This is the same truth for human beings.  Human beings can injure their bodies through prolonged and intense stress.  Heart damage and higher blood pressure, leading to stroke or heart attack are real killers due to stress response.  Other ailments can develop over time, such as stomach issues, ulcers and digestive disorders.

Stress does kill.  It can kill immediately or over time.  It is hence important to understand stress and reduce stress.   Stressors all play different roles to an individual.  One may be stressful for one person may be a blessing or nothing at all to someone else.  How we view stressors and react to stressors play a key role in activating our flight and fight responses.  We need to limit these responses to only life altering situations so as to spare our body the changes it deals with during a stress incident.

Unlike our ancestors who could flee or fight stress, modern humanity must deal with stress internally or externally.  One cannot flee a job or fight the customer but must deal with the everyday stresses.  This leads to chronic stress that modern humanity is not evolved to deal with.  So ultimately, it comes down to how one views life, reframes stressors and reacts.

Stress is all about the stressor and the stress response.  If someone is stressed in the a traffic jam, he can scream, yell and honk the horn, or take the time to listen to music or reflect on the day.  If someone is watching a sporting event, they can become intensely stressed or enjoy the game for the love of the game itself.  Ultimately, how one reacts to a stressor depends on the uniqueness of the individual.  Life is not about avoiding stress, for no stress is not living and not healthy in and of itself.  Instead, life is about sorting out stressors and dealing with the most important ones.  One needs to learn to cope with stress by reducing the degree and duration of the stressor event.  In doing so, one can limit the natural effects of stress on the body and its natural reactions to stress.

Stress if not controlled can have negative effects on the body due to the body’s own inherent fight or flight responses. Please also review AIHCP’s Stress Management Consulting Program

 

Ultimately it is one’s health that is on the line.   By understanding how the body internally responds to stress, one can see the bodily reactions, which in themselves are healthy in the moment but unhealthy in extreme degree and long duration.  Learning to sort out un-needed stress, reframing situations and utilizing stress management concepts such as meditation, one can then reduce the physical reactions within the body to stress.

If you would like to learn more about AIHCP’s Stress Management Consulting Certification, then please review AIHCP’s Stress Management Program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.  The program is online and independent study and designed to help qualified professionals meet the standards of AIHCP for the four year certification.

In the meantime, limit stress and learn to cope better with stress for one’s own physical well being.

Grief Counseling Certification Article on Grief Leadership

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

During mass social grief, it is important for leaders to show leadership in grief.  This involves in addressing the loss, looking for ways to help others cope with the loss and offering ways to adjust to the loss.  Leadership in corporations, government even to the smallest unite of the family, needs good leadership from individuals in time of grief and loss to reassure, help and inspire.

Crisis and grief define leaders. Leadership in grief helps others find purpose and reassurance to rise above it without ignoring the problem. Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Certification

 

The article, “Grief leadership in time of crisis” by Jitender Girdhar looks at how leaders during crisis and grief can take a leadership role in helping others through it.  The article states,

“Grief leadership is about leading people, whether or not they’re your friends, employees, or a nation, through experiences of sadness, trouble, and grief. Grief leadership is, essentially, resilient people leadership.”

To read the entire article, please click here

In times of crisis and pandemics, leadership is needed.  Not only to lead but to also assure and help cope with the loss.  A leader needs to not ignore the issue but embrace it.  Acknowledging the issue but reassuring the multitude of victory is essential

Please also review AIHCP’s Grief Counseling Certification program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.

Substance Abuse Counseling Training Article on Contingency Management

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Behavioral rewards to change bad behavior is a common concept.  Parents reward children to do chores or do good things to reinforce the good behavior with reward.  Contingency Management in addiction looks at the same principle.  In some cases, with stimulants and meth, it has been successful, with others, such as opioids it has not had as much success.  Sometimes, rewards have been misused if they have monetary value.  Still despite this, when combined with other therapies, it can prove useful.

Contingency Management rewards good behavior during addiction. Please also review AIHCP’s Substance Abuse Counseling Training Program

 

The article, “This Addiction Treatment Works. Why Is It So Underused?” by Abby Goodnough looks at this way of rewarding.  She states,

“The treatment is called contingency management, because the rewards are contingent on staying abstinent. A number of clinical trials have found it highly effective in getting people addicted to stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine to stay in treatment and to stop using the drugs. But outside the research arena and the Department of Veterans Affairs, where Mr. Kelty is a patient, it is nearly impossible to find programs that offer such treatment — even as overdose deaths involving meth, in particular, have soared.”

To review the entire article, please click here

Please also review AIHCP’s Substance Abuse Counseling Training Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals.

 

Healthcare Case Management Certification Article on Healthcare Finances

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Healthcare can be confusing and costly but there are many things individuals do not understand in regards to finances and healthcare. Healthcare affordability is a big issue with the coming election and prices and payment policies are always at the front of voter’s minds.

Good article on healthcare finances. Please also review AIHCP’s Healthcare Case Management Certification

 

The article, “Four Myths About Healthcare Affordability” by Bird Blitch looks at payment options and ideas surrounding healthcare. He states,

“Even when we’re not dealing with a global pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis, paying healthcare bills is often confusing and overwhelming for patients. To make matters worse, there are many misconceptions patients have about healthcare finances, which adds to the confusion. Now is the time to debunk these common myths, some of which may be preventing patients from scheduling the care they need.”

To read the entire article, please click here

Healthcare can be costly but how we finance it can make it easier.  Please also review AIHCP’s multiple programs in healthcare, most notably AIHCP’s Healthcare Case Management Certification and see if you qualify.

 

ADHD Consulting Training Program Article on ADHD and Reclaiming One’s Life

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Adult ADHD can create many personality conflicts with others.  When one discovers they have ADHD, they can start to reflect on the past and how they acted or how they wish they behaved.  Being able to reclaim one’s life and understand ADHD and cope with it is critical in living a successful life at work and home.

ADHD can control one’s life if one does not learn how to reclaim it. Please also review AIHCP’s ADHD Consulting Training Program

 

The article, “Has ADHD Warped Your Sense of Self? It’s Time to Reclaim Your Story — and Power.” by Dr Alise Cogger looks at how one can reclaim one’s life against ADHD.  She states,

“Yes, ADHD is a constellation of inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive symptoms accompanied by academic, professional, social, and other life impairments. But perhaps most importantly, ADHD is a web of deeply rooted memories and stories. These memories hold a long history that inform our perceptions of ourselves and our capabilities. They are hard to shake and may warp our self-esteem and understanding of who we are.”

To read the entire article, please click here

Please also review AIHCP’s ADHD Consulting Training Program and see if it meets your academic and professional goals.

Stress Management Consulting Certification Article on Humor and Stress

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Stress causes numerous health issues in life and knowing how to manage it is key.  One simple way to manage stress and reduce its impact is through smiling and humor.  Studies have shown that humor and laughing are big stress reducers. Learning how to reframe stress and control it through humor can help one get through the day and limit the negative effects of stress on the body.

When stress approaches, are we able to reframe it and find humor in it? Please also review our Stress Management Consulting Certification

 

The article, “How to Use Humor to Manage Stress” by Dr Clay Drinko takes a closer look at the value of humor in dealing with stress.  He states,

“Humor starts to come into play when we start reframing our stressors. You probably can’t reject everything that causes you stress. You are an adult and there are certain things you have to do. That’s when you can try to reframe them.”

To read the entire article, please click here

Humor is a great medicine and by learning how to react to stressors and reframe them, we can then be able to react differently in a more healthy fashion.

Please also review AIHCP’s Stress Management Consulting Certification and see if it meets your academic and professional goals

Anger Management Consulting Certification Article on Controlling Words

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Many times people say things in anger they regret.  Words can damage relationships permanently.  It is important to watch one’s tongue when in anger and never allow emotion to get the best of oneself when dealing with other people.  Learning to what to say when angry is critical.  It is a life skill that can help one stay out of trouble and not hurt family and friends.

It is sometimes best to talk when angry after reflection. Please also review AIHCP’s Anger Management Consulting Certification

 

The article, “The Thing To Say Every Time You’re Angry” by Laura Vanderkam looks into what is best to say when anger overtakes.  She states,

“In this angry, anxious, and polarized time, it’s easy to lash out, whether on social media or at people in your real life. And we often end up wishing we didn’t:One survey found that a majority of social media users had posted something they regretted.”

To read the entire article, please click here

Learning to avoid the conflict with immediate verbal slashes is critical to good relationships with others. Learning how to walk away and say what gives you more time to reflect is key to not allowing emotion to dictate words you may later regret.

Please also review AIHCP’s Anger Management Consulting Certification.  Qualified professionals can learn how to help others how to manage their emotions and control anger.

Healthcare Manager Article on Managing Cost

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Like any business, healthcare deals with managing costs in their budget.  There are numerous ways to proactively manage a healthcare business budget.  Healthcare Managers can play a big role in keeping prices down. Keeping prices down benefits everyone

Learn more about becoming a Healthcare Manager by reviewing AICHP’s Healthcare Manager Certification program

 

The article, “How health care businesses can proactively manage their costs” by Jeffrey Stevenson discusses healthcare management of costs.  He states,

“Cost control measures are likely to take a more prominent role among healthcare practitioners because of COVID-19-driven economic disruption. The pandemic has raised the stakes for physician-owners, some of whom have been joining multi-service organizations to reduce their administrative burdens and pursue new avenues of growth, to take a more hands on approach to driving down costs and ensure their businesses are being run profitably.”

To read the entire article, please click here

Please also review AIHCP’s Healthcare Manager Certification and see if it meets your academic and professional goals.  The program is online and independent study.  Qualified professionals can earn a four year certification.

Stress Management Consulting Program Article on New Life Paradigms

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Creating a new paradigm in life is difficult.  We are trapped and stuck in the routine mud of life.  Many people are held back by beliefs and values that may no longer fit their life style.  Others may be unhappy and incapable of change.  Stress will continue to eat at the soul of individuals who are unable to change.  Grief, depression, stress, anxiety and unfulfilled ideals will force a person to a early grave.  It is imperative, if unhappy and overly stressed, to find one’s values for a better life and incorporate positive changes.

Stress can sidetrack life goals. If stress is dictating your life, it is time to re-evaluate your values and work towards a new life paradigm. Please also review AICHP’s Stress Management Consulting Program

 

Any first step to change is a commitment to that change. It involves writing down one’s values and beliefs and creating a true mission statement of one’s life and where they wish to go in life.   Sometimes to better understand oneself, one can meditate upon what others would say about oneself.  A co-worker and what they think of your work ethic, your strengths and weaknesses, as well as family and friends.  What do you think your image is outside your own sometimes biased self?  What is your diet, your exercise habits, your strengths, weaknesses and overall values?

Understanding this is critical in applying the needed changes to one’s life and reducing stress.  One needs to work on this change, find obstacles and stressors to it and implement better coping strategies and plans to become what your goal may be.  One should choose one thing at a time in this process.  Choose one weakness or vice, or stressor and work on it.

J. B. Cunningham in his “The Stress Management Sourcebook” looks at ways to free oneself from the mud of life and overcome stress.  He lists 8 primary principles to create a new paradigm and find better meaning in life and reduce stress.

The first principle is “changing the dragon within you”.  Cunningham alludes to first developing a positive spin on things.  A positive disposition that replaces negative values.  This new way of outlook is critical the creation of a new paradigm.  It returns to the old adage of making lemon aide when life gives one lemons.

The second principle is controlling your organization.   Whether the job is menial or meaningful, find deeper meaning within an organization.  While this is more difficult with some jobs and may require new career moves, it still can be utilized temporarily.  Look to learn new things, promote goals within oneself and reach those goals.  This can be applied to a job, or merely everyday life at home.  Home, school or work can apply.

Third, Cunningham addresses the importance of establishing winning relationships.  Relationships and how we deal with other people are key elements in what our life is will be like.  It is critical to avoid negative relationships and reduce the toxicity they produce in one’s life.  It is important to find better support systems as well as be able to communicate and share life’s successes and failures.

Life can overtake one and make it feel one has no control. One needs to take control of one’s stressors and create a new paradigm

 

The fourth principle is enriching one’s job, career, or schooling.  Learning and gaining experience is a valuable thing no matter the situation.

The fifth principle is controlling one’s life’s trials and tribulations.  One can fall and not get up or learn from past failures.  Avoiding failures and not learning from them can keep one in a pit of despair and loss.  One must be able to cope better with stress and deal with the issues at hand.

Principle six deals with our diet.  Diet is a key factor in stress and health.  Better diets and eating habits can prevent stress and help the body become more immune to disease and illness.  Fats, salts,  and sugars can destroy the body over time.  Combined with stress, they can tear the body down.  It is critical to find time to create a better diet and a better healthy paradigm to reduce stress and be more healthy.

Principle seven deals with another part of healthy life style and that is exercise.  Exercise can reduce stress.  However, it is important to not create routines that one cannot keep.  It is also important not to create regiments that are unhealthy on the body.  Some individuals cannot endure heavy exercise while others can.  So the proper exercise for the particular person is critical for their own health and stress reduction.  Like diets, exercise can quickly fade when one attempts to do too much.

The final principle is interior health and deals with spirituality and meditation.  Meditation and prayer is important to overcoming stress.  It allows the mind to reset and opens one up to higher truths beyond the stress filled temporal ones.  Meditation not only clears the mind but also pushes one towards higher values that help make the everyday life have meaning.  One can also apply other alternative techniques such as self hypnosis or other spiritual methods to better understand oneself.   This is all critical in stress management.

Ultimately, reducing stress and creating a new paradigm involves one taking an active and direct part in changing one’s life.  It allows one to play an important part in one’s future.  The reduction of stress is dependent upon one’s willingness to overcome the fear of change and the anxiety that goes with it.

One can take control of one’s life and find new meaning if they are face change. Please also review AIHCP’s Stress Management Consulting Program and see if it meets your academic and professional needs.

 

If you would like to learn more about Stress Management or would like to become certified as a Stress Management Consultant, then please review the program and see if it matches your academic and professional goals.  The Stress Management Consulting Program is independent study and online.  After completing the core courses, qualified professionals can apply for the four year certification.