CHRONIC STRESS: THE URBAN EPIDEMIC

The American Institute of Stress estimates that 43% of all adults in the United States suffer physical consequences from adverse stress effects. I believe this is an extremely conservative estimation. In fact, with only very rare exceptions every patient that walks into my office exhibits some sort of chronic stress syndrome.

On some level, knowing whether or not you have chronic stress is obvious. Just run a tally of everything you do each week: work a 9 to 6 job, commute up to an hour each way, manage your children’s lives, groceries, gardening, exercise. No wonder many people average 6 hours of sleep or less a night…there’s no time! Because these patterns slowly evolve over time, we don’t notice the effect stress has on our health.

The effects of chronic stress manifest in countless ways. Each person is an individual, and so the problems we experience show up in differently. Some of the stress-related symptoms I commonly treat include migraine headaches, irregular digestion, eczema, PMS, and/or irregular menstrual cycles. A symptom almost every person with chronic stress experiences is difficulty calming down at night, with restless sleep and exhaustion in the morning. In some cases, morning exhaustion can be so severe as to feel almost like a hang-over with headache, difficulty concentrating and nausea.

As evolved species, we are incredible adaptors. We find ways to keep up with demands, and the crutches we use can enable us for years. Coffee becomes part of our morning ritual while wine serves the opposite purpose at night. We push through to the weekend, ignoring the signals of our body. If we get a migraine we take an aspirin, if a skin rash develops, we get a prescription for a steroid to suppress the problem back under the surface. I’m sure this won’t come as a shock…we can’t keep this up forever. The signals from our body become more difficult to suppress over time, in some cases leading to devastating problems such as diabetes, heart disease or even cancer.

So what can you do? Start listening to your body and have a serious reality check about your priorities. I know to play the game you’ve got to play by the rules. But the rules in our society are all wrong. Once you recognize that your need for health, happiness and time with loved ones ranks over your need to stay at the office longer than your boss, you’ll start to find ways to decrease stress and get back on track. Create your priority list, put the steroid cream and aspirin back in the medicine chest, and then make an appointment. Uncovering the ways stress manifests in your body and life may be the most important thing you can do to ensure health and happiness for decades to come.