stress

[Al Rubottom <aer -at- PCSI -dot- CIRRUS -dot- COM>]

To those who've held those truly stressful,
if not horrendous or heart-rending jobs,
we acknowledge you for your truly noble
and life-supporting efforts.

But...

What many seem to overlook is the FACT
[not supposition] that the perception of
stress, be it as dramatic as a life-threatening
situation or as seemingly innocuous as a
co-worker or superior getting on your case,
produces in our body the well-documented
"fight or flight" reaction, i.e. a cranking up
of all physical mechanisms in order to prepare
you for self-defense or a hasty retreat. This is
the legacy of our evolutionary development.
[adrenaline, increased blood pressure,
feelings of anxiety/arousal, etc.]

This is not an arguable point of debate.
It's a truism of modern biological research.
It is the reason for most, if not all, of the
stress-related ailments we may suffer -- because
we are no longer in situations where either
fight or flight is a reasonable or rational solution
to the challenges of modern  life, we simply suffer
the internal consequences.

Thus, it matters not what your job actually entails;
if you experience stressors, you *will* be aroused.
How you handle the seesaw of the inevitable cycle
of arousal and recovery ["cooling down", hence
the exhortation to "Chill out" ?] is what
determines how stressful your job is for YOU.
That's why many have learned to cope
by reducing caffeine intake, meditating, yoga,
exercise, etc. and so on ad infinitum.

We are simply not built to get revved up -- needlessly
for the most part --  and then just as easily wind
down and shake it off with no ill effects.
We suffer whether it's a REAL threat to our
body or not. That's the cost of being the human
animals that we are -- part animal in a way that
no "conscious decision making" can overrule.

So, people, stop ranking on each other about who
has had the more awful stressful job.  Any- and everyone
can and does undergo similar [in fact nearly identical,
in biological terms] physiological arousal when a
stressor is present.  Learn to cope or suffer.
That's the only bottom-line truth here.

FWIW, meditating [I've practiced TM for 27 years]
can be a potent antidote to the rigors of modern life.
Research on TM, and other forms of meditation as well,
shows dramatic reductions in hypertension/high blood
pressure, heart disease, and a host of other effects
that many of us suffer as a result of stress.

Take it as it comes!

Al Rubottom  /\  tel: 619.535.9505, x1737
aer -at- pcsi -dot- cirrus -dot- com /\ fax: 619.541.2260