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Lion Hudson - Kate Middleton

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78 pages

English

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Stress is a growing problem in modern life, with three out of five visits to the doctor attributed to stress-related problems. But what is it? Who does it affect? And what can be done about it? This lucid and helpful book guides us through the symptoms and causes of stress, emphasizing that being stressed is not a sign of 'being weak' but an unavoidable challenge of twenty-first century life - in fact, often the most motivated and successful people experience the highest levels of stress. Debunking the myth that you have to clear your calendar to feel less stressed, Dr Kate Middleton provides tried-and-tested techniques for handling this challenge effectively. Because handling stress well will help you feel better and achieve more, even if it won't make you super(wo)man.

Informations

Publié par	Lion Hudson
Date de parution	10 juin 2011
Nombre de lectures	5
EAN13	9780745959979
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

STRESS
HOW TO DE-STRESS WITHOUT DOING LESS
Dr Kate Middleton
Copyright 2009 Kate Middleton
This edition copyright 2009 Lion Hudson
The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A Lion Book an imprint of Lion Hudson plc Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DR, England www.lionhudson.com
ISBN 978 0 7459 5373 1 (UK)
ISBN 978 0 8254 7919 9 (US)
ISBN 978 0 7459 5997 9 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7459 5996 2 (Kindle)
ISBN 978 0 7459 5998 6 (pdf)
Distributed by: UK: Marston Book Services, PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4YN USA: Trafalgar Square Publishing, 814 N. Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610 USA Christian Market: Kregel Publications, PO Box 2607, Grand Rapids, MI 49501
First electronic edition 2011
All rights reserved
Cover image: Roy Morsch/Zefa/Corbis
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Contents

Introduction

Part 1 Understanding stress: What is stress and how might it affect you?

1 Why worry about stress?

2 What is stress?

3 When does stress start to become a problem?

4 The physical impact of stress

5 The emotional impact of stress

6 Why are you reading this book?

Part 2 All about you: What makes some people particularly vulnerable to stress?

7 I feel, therefore I am! Emotions and how they relate to stress

8 Anxiety: fighting the fires

9 Personality and stress

10 I think, therefore I am! Thinking styles, stress and creating emotional bonfires

11 Self-esteem: knowing who you are

Part 3 Here and now: How to deal with a high-stress life

12 What if you are at crisis point (or fear it might be just round the corner)?

13 What to do - and what not to do!

14 Emotional gardening

15 Learning how to relax

16 Fitting relaxation into your life

17 Dealing with sleep problems

Conclusion

Notes
Introduction

In my job I work with all kinds of different people, in lots of different situations - in their workplace, in schools, in the community, at work and at home. As I share in people s lives, I come across a variety of issues. Listening to them as they talk about their journeys, the things they have been through and the difficulties they are struggling with, has given me the opportunity and the privilege of sharing in many people s experiences of what their own emotions can lead them to. I have learned a lot - far more than I ever learned in any of my years of formal studying - about what the things life throws at normal people can push them to: the extremes of emotions, difficulties with addictions, traumatic memories, and difficult and unhelpful beliefs about themselves and the world around them.
Writing this book has given me another opportunity to share some of the insights I have gained in my work. But if I am honest, writing this book has been very different for one key reason. Although I understand them very well, on the whole the issues I have covered in my previous books have been things that I do not struggle with myself. They are things I have learned about through sharing the experiences of others, through witnessing their struggles and applying the theory and fact that I already knew. This issue, however, is one that I readily confess I face day to day, like so many other people - and no doubt like you, seeing as you are reading this book.
Stress is a modern-day plague, something that very few of us escape - something that we probably all have to think about as it follows us every day. Stress is always there in the background, lurking behind us, following throughout our lives and ready to hit at moments we least expect it. Stress can take many forms and come from many sources. Like a lot of people, I am someone who likes to fill life with many different things. I like to achieve things, to accomplish things, to fit plenty into my days. Too easily I see things that need doing and take on the responsibility of doing them! But my own experience, starting with life as a medical student years ago, has taught me (though I have not been quick to learn it!) that if I do want to push myself that hard and achieve the things I aim for, I must not forget to make sure I handle stress well.
Stress can often be an unwanted companion along the road of life. We may not like it but it s there! Too many people I have worked with have had months or years stolen by stress, or are facing the risk that they might have to give up things they love or stifle something of the person they are, because stress is having too serious an impact on them. We have to be sensible where stress is concerned. Finding the balance of how much we really can squeeze into life means we have to learn how to fight stress in the best way possible.
This book is about how to deal with stress - how to reduce it where we can and live with it when we can t (we may as well accept it is unlikely to vanish completely). It is about how to stop stress from taking over our lives and ultimately taking bits of our lives from us. So join me on a lifelong journey of fighting this battle - negotiating with stress and trying to come out as the winner!
PART 1
Understanding stress
WHAT IS STRESS AND HOW MIGHT IT AFFECT YOU?
1 Why worry about stress?

Stress, it seems, is everywhere! In fact, in my job, if there is one thing that ordinary people ask me about more than any other - people of all ages, from all walks of life, people working, people bringing up children, people with worries for themselves and people who are worried about others - it s stress! It doesn t take long if you are reading the daily papers, scanning the news channels or reading reports on the internet to find something referring to stress - something that has triggered stress, the impact stress has on a situation or on certain people, the medical or psychological impact of stress Stress has become something that almost everyone seems to be concerned about, yet, at the same time, something that we all feel we are at the mercy of. If you get a group of friends together to chat about how their life is going, it won t be long before stress comes up. Stress is a key issue in the workplace, where managers are expected to think about how the jobs they give people impact on them in terms of stress. It is discussed at schools, where teachers now often find they need to introduce programmes designed to help pupils cope with stress, as well as teaching them the usual subjects. Even very young children are not immune, with recent findings that even pre-school children can be affected by stress, leading some nursery schools to introduce yoga and relaxation classes for toddlers. As one mum said to me recently, How stressed can you be by four years old?
So, just how big an issue is stress ?
Are media reports highlighting a genuine problem, or are we just making too big a deal out of something that decades ago people would just have got on with? Are stress levels really rising, and how should we be responding to the apparent tidal wave of related problems? Concerns over rising stress levels in the UK have even led to warnings from politicians of a epidemic of mental distress . Should we be concerned?
There is certainly plenty of evidence showing apparent problems linked to or caused by stress. Research shows that one in three adults feels stressed every day, with younger adults feeling the pressure most - around half of people in their early twenties say that they feel under pressure most days. Stress has been linked to all kinds of physical problems including heart disease, problems with skin conditions such as eczema, and sleep problems. One study even found that women working in stressful jobs were more likely to start the menopause earlier than their more chilled-out colleagues.
Stress has also been linked to problems with mental health and emotional illnesses such as anxiety and depression. One study looking at a group of people in their early thirties found that work stress was related to the start of problems with depression and anxiety in 45 per cent of cases. The people studied worked in a wide variety of professions, but all reported stresses such as long hours, lack of control over their work and tight deadlines. About one person in four develops a new problem with anxiety or depression in any given year, but it seems the risk is doubled if you work in a high-pressure job.
Stress in the workplace is one of the big issues that we see discussed in the press. The reason for this is clear. Government statistics in the UK say that around one in five workers say they feel extremely stressed while at work, with about 14 per cent saying that they feel their work stress is making them ill. This equates to around 5 million people who are unwell as a result of work stress. Work-related stress accounted for an estimated 13.5 million lost working days in Britain in one year alone (2007-2008). The same trend is seen in other countries. In Australia stress costs more to the economy than any other illness, and figures from the US suggest that around $300 billion ($7,500 per employee) is spent every year on stress-related issues. This cost comes from compensation claims, absenteeism and lost productivity, because even when people are at work, stress can seriously affect the work that they do - or don t do. The term presenteeism describes those who are at work but are not working effectively because of stress. We ve all had days like that, where you feel as if you have run around all day like a headless chicken but actually accomplished next to nothing! One study reports that on average, Australian adults lose six working days every year through presenteeism. Meanwhile, workers across the world are working longer hours and feeling under more pressure than in previous decades. A report looking at workers from thirty different countries found that one fifth of those workers report feeling very high levels of stress.
The impact of this stress is not something to tak