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Fatigue, Stress and Irritability
You should be able to feel refreshed and revitalised after a decent nights sleep, being able to work the whole day without agitation. After a long hard day at work it is natural to feel tired but in a pleasant way, especially if your job has high job satisfaction. We need to feel like we have a purpose and that we have actually achieved something. Normal fatigue will disappear after a good night’s sleep so you are ready to repeat the next day. However, for a person experiencing fatigue or exhaustion as a result of long-term stress the daily cycle of work and sleep becomes a struggle as they are incapable of relaxing and always feel like they are lacking energy. When you are stressed you do not wake up feeling refreshed and revitalised. Someone experiencing fatigue is fighting a daily battle to keep forcing a smile and enduring the regular stress, whilst all the while the stress and tension is building. When an exhausted person is close to giving up, they may seem irritable or agitated. They have had enough of themselves, their job, their workplace and their family. Everything. There seems like there are not enough hours in the day and they are never getting enough sleep. It all seems too much for one people to handle by himself or herself. Here at BAAM we have a few tips for handling stress. If it does get too much talk to your therapist or join us on one of our Calming Strategy Days (http://www.calmingstrategy.com/) Tips for handling stress and irritability: Nothing beats a hug. When you...
Heartbreak and Pain
Your brain is drowned in dopamine and oxytocin the “happy chemicals” or neurotransmitters of the brain. When the relationship comes to an end, the happy chemicals leave your system and are replaced by cortisol, adrenaline and epinephrine the stress chemicals. The stress of the break up takes the body into fight or flight mode. No wonder you feel so down after a breakup. Too much cortisol can lead to too much blood being deposited to your muscles. This causes muscular tenseness preparing your body for action. Unfortunately no action is actually required. This can cause tenderness and sensitivity in your muscles due to prolonged contraction, headaches, stomach cramps and chest pains. Your brain believes that you’re physically hurt, as the same area of the brain is activated when you are physically injured and when you suffer from social rejection, in this case heartbreak. This is because emotional and physical pain share the same neural pathways in the brain. In an experiment, participants were told to look at photos of their friends, along with positive thoughts and then they were told to look at photos of their ex causing them to relive their breakup. During a brain scan the same participants felt a pain on their forearms, equal to holding a hot cup of coffee. The same areas became active in physical and emotional turmoil. Love can be just as addictive as drugs, so it is not surprising that just as a drug addict gets withdrawals, after a breakup it’s natural to be experiencing withdrawals from your previous significant other. It is not usual for someone...
Why Does Being Rejected Make Us Angry?
There is no denying that rejection hurts, but why is it that it brings up feelings of anger? Feeling loved and accepted is a primary human need and when you feel rejected you are being denied just that. When you are rejected, it can cause the same feeling as physical pain. This is because rejection activates the same areas of the brain as physical pain. Physical pain has been seen to provoke an anger response, for example, rats that were given an electric shock have gone on to randomly attack other rats. When people feel devalued or rejected it is natural to become angry as you feel that the other person is not taking your wants and needs seriously. By being ignored or excluded, the message portrayed is that you’re not worth another person’s time. This feeling is disheartening, especially if you are emotionally invested in the other individual. If you feel that the other person is not giving you as much affection as you would like, despite the fact that you appreciate that you are valued and accepted by the other person, you may feel rejected. The amount of pain felt is based on how much value you give your relationship. However, other than relational value, there are apparent individual differences in anger and one factor that may influence aggression is the fact that some people are simply more sensitive to rejection. Several experimental studies have looked into this apparent connection between anger and rejection. The experimenters manipulate the participants into believing that the other participants had rejected them or making...
3 Easy Steps Towards Nursing Stress
Are you pressed for time in your nursing profession? Are you always on the go? Do you ever feel stressed out? Are you stressed out during the day in your nursing career? You know what I mean. You get up in the morning and have to rush out of the door to get to your nursing job. At your job, you have 100 things coming at you and a list of tasks to get done for the day. You rush home, you take care of the “stuff” at home, and do it again the next day. So how do you deal with the stress in your nursing profession? More and more nurses and nursing students are dealing with stress at some point of the day. More and more health issues are arising because of stress. How can you kill the root of stress to live a better and healthier career and life? Here are 3 easy steps to manage stress through your nursing day right now: 1. Plan your day. Write down the tasks that you need to do for the day. Use a day planner or a palm pilot. There are many types of day planners. Choose the one that works for you and your needs. This will help you see what really is important to get done. And what is not important in your day. This can help reduce the stress in your day by half. 2. Schedule time for yourself. Every week take time for you. Whether it is a whole day or a few hours take the time for you. Watch a movie, take a...
7 Leading Causes Of Stress
If you knew the leading causes of stress in your life, would you take action to eradicate them? Can you eradicate stress ñ or is it an inoperable condition that will be with you all of your life, possibly causing your eventual death? Which Is Your Leading Cause of Stress? 1. Finances Most studies agree that finances are a leading cause of stress. In an online poll conducted in 2005 by LifeCare, Inc., 23 percent of respondents named finances as the leading cause of stress in their lives. Financial stress has led the list in many modern polls. Some who name finances as the leading cause of stress cite major purchases they have to make, such as a home or car. Others are stressed by a loss of income, or mounting credit card debt. For some, financial stress will eventuate in bankruptcy. While college students stress over paying for an education, Baby Boomers and older senior citizens find that retirement income can be a major cause of stress. 2. Work Closely tied to finances as a cause of stress is work. Our jobs or careers seem to cause constant stress. In the LifeCare poll, 21 percent of those responding listed this as the leading cause of stress in life. How is the workplace a cause of stress? We worry about getting and keeping adequate employment. We worry about new types of work or new responsibilities. We struggle to climb a career ladder, overwhelmed by the demands. Work conditions may change, or we may have interpersonal trouble at work. Students, especially teenagers and college age students, cite school work as...
10 Ways to Manage Work Stress for Women
Summary: Women are much more vulnerable and susceptible to workplace stress because of their varied roles. Women are more prone to workplace because of the many roles they play in life: as career woman, wife, mother, daughter, and friend. Women work way beyond the 9-5 shift, often having to rush home to cook dinner, help the kids with homework, and prepare the next day’s office attire for the hubby. The stress and anxiety caused by endless tasks and impossible deadlines in a high-speed, high-tech world has made women’s lives a living web of complexity. The question is: How can women cope with stress and anxiety? The first step is to dissect the problem and understand how these psychological and emotional conditions make women’s lives more difficult. Stress is a combination of fatigue, restlessness, depression, over-focusing, and over-all gloominess that is a consequence of overwork and other domestic or personal problems. The difficulty of trying to balance time between work and the home has caused many women to suffer from stress. Personal or relationship issues like divorce or separation have also been the cause of anxiety panic attacks among women. Women who own and manage their own business are also prone to stress. Their high drive for business success cannot always protect them from times of depression and overwork. Career women, on the other hand, have to confront office politics, gender discrimination, sexual harassment, and the fear of being laid-off. But there’s still hope for over-worked, stressed women. Here are some practical ways for women to reduce and manage work-related stress: 1. Put up relaxing scenes- It could be a...FREE Anger Test
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