Stress Reduction
Recently, Bill Moyers had a short
serieson public TV abouthow some people
use their minds to help fight whatever
disease they were fighting. The methods
included attitude adjustments, stress
reduction, meditation, and group therapy.
‘Stress reduction is listed separately,
butall of these can result ina reduction of
stress, and once the body is released from
the harmful effects of stress, it becomes
free 10 use more of its resources to fight
infections or other diseases.
There are several methods of
‘meditation, many of which are associated
with Easter religions or philosophies.
It'snot necessary to convert to Buddhism
or some branch of Hinduism to get the
benefits of meditation. You can have a
good meditation simply by relaxing all
your muscles, closing your eyes, and
clearing your mind. If you want a deeper
philosophical or religious experience, go
forit, but youcan reap the benefits without
allof that. If you do try by yourself, and
‘you just don’t fee! comfortable, or don’t
‘think you are getting any good from it, try
taking some yoga classes or sign up for
Transcendental Meditation. It’s the actof
meditatingthat’simportant,notnecessarily
the method.
Group therapy is another method of
helping youunderstand the processthrough
which you are going, and to share both
fears and feelings you felt you were alone
infacing, which are in fact shared by many
others. Youarenotalone inthis. Thereare
a number of organizations, including
NAPWA, that offer support groups.
‘There are other things you can do in
your everyday life that can keep things in
an even keel. Exercise can be very
important. Besides working off stress,
there have been observations that building
and maintaining lean muscle mass, as
opposed to aerobic fitness, seems to help
delay the quick progression of infections.
‘Spending time with any number of
hobbies can also take your mind off the
pressures oflife. Gardening canbe a great
hobby. Frustration can be taken outon the
weeds. If you avoid the labor-saving
‘methods of gardening, itcan also be great
exercise,
Pets have been shown to be a
wonderful way of relieving stress and
aC
pressure. Receiving such unconditional
Tove, as well as the physical touching
involved with petting an animal, lowers
your blood pressure and helps produce
calm consideration of life’s problems.
Exercisingpetsisanother way ofexercising
yourself,
Dealing calmly with your problems,
‘andleaming tounderstand the forces you're
facing can slow things downin your mind
togive you time to plan ut yoursystem of
surviving. Remember that no one plan
works for everyone. If your present plan
isn’tworking, there are always other plans
to try. Find the plan that works for you.
There are ways of dealing with your
problems.
The printing cost of this
edition of the Atlanta
NAPWA News has been
paid for courtesy of
Atlanta Family Home Care
145 North Avenue, NE
Atlanta,GA 30308