Be like the zebra and relax
In the book, 无毛视频淲hy Zebras Don无毛视频檛 Get Ulcers,无毛视频� Robert Sapolsky exposes us to the concepts of stress management and biology. When addressing diet and stress management, he gives the example of a young lawyer who decides that 无毛视频渞ed meat, fried foods, and a couple of beers per dinner constitute a desirable diet, and the consequences are anything but clear 无毛视频� a half a century later, maybe he无毛视频檚 crippled with cardiovascular disease, or maybe he无毛视频檚 taking bike trips with his grandkids.无毛视频�
Sapolsky goes on to explain the various 无毛视频渘uts-and-bolts factors无毛视频� that will help determine which of these outcomes will occur. He explores the liver无毛视频檚 role in the making of cholesterol, the enzymes in fat cells, and potential congenital weaknesses. Then he hits the motherload, which is personality and how we individually deal with the stress generating problems between the mind and body.
We know that the predominant diseases we deal with today are those resulting from, as the author explains 无毛视频渁 slow accumulation of damage 无毛视频� heart, cancer, cerebral vascular disorders.无毛视频� We无毛视频檝e also come to learn the fact that these inflammatory diseases are fed by a 无毛视频渃omplex intertwining of our biology and our emotions.无毛视频� And there is zero doubt that 无毛视频渆xtreme emotional disturbances can adversely affect us.无毛视频� In other words, 无毛视频渟tress can make us sick.无毛视频�
I was recently invited to give a presentation to selected deans and directors from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Indiana Regional Medical Center. The presentation was titled, 无毛视频淭he Role of Integrative Health and Medicine in Rural Hospitals,无毛视频� and it was based on my work both at Windber Medical Center during the first decade of the 21st century, and then nationally and internationally in integrative medicine, wellness and prevention.
Because my goal was to help build a stronger even more co-operative relationship between IUP and IRMC, I addressed how a combined effort between these two strong neighboring organizations could foster improved health in their workplace, for their patients and students, in the communities they served and finally, in the local school districts. As Sapolsky stated in 无毛视频淶ebras,无毛视频� 无毛视频淲e are certainly aware of the extraordinary amount of physiological, biochemical, and molecular information available as to how all sorts of intangibles in our lives can affect very real bodily events.无毛视频� My presentation was directed toward the steps we, as education and health-care professionals, can take to assist our stakeholders in their life journey.
Because 无毛视频渟ustained psychological stress is a recent invention mostly limited to humans and other social primates, we can experience wildly strong emotions linked to mere thoughts.无毛视频� These fight-or-flight emotions were originally intended to assist all mammals during their lives but especially when being chased by saber tooth tigers. (That doesn无毛视频檛 happen much anymore.)
The purpose of both my presentation and the efforts we made to help our stakeholders was to provide them the tools needed to deal with our daily ongoing stressors. It无毛视频檚 all about diet, moderate exercise, non-judgmental social support, and stress management via mindfulness activities. In many cases, we can decide every day in every way what should be worth dying over and, for the most part, determine what types of things knock you out of your homeostatic balance?
Inactivity can be as harmful as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Obesity can kill as many people as smoking, and smoking is still life-ending annually for over 450,000 people in the United States alone, but stress? There无毛视频檚 no limit to the amount of people who are harming their health and limiting their futures by not learning any type of mind-calming, stress management techniques. It doesn无毛视频檛 matter if it无毛视频檚 yoga, the rosary, worry beads, meditation, or calmly nurturing a pet.
Find what stops your amygdalae from pushing your emotional buttons to stop making you think that a tiger is chasing you.
My former Chief Medical Officer, an emergency room physician, used to look at me when I was stressing and say, 无毛视频淓verything无毛视频檚 OK. No one died.无毛视频� And, indeed, it was, and even I无毛视频檓 still here.
Nick Jacobs of Windber is a health-care consultant and author of two books.