Stress . . . it doesn't do a body good.Life is full of stressors. From the news headlines and the economy to personal relationships, commitments, jobs, and deadlines each of us is bombarded with tension-inducing factors. Left unchecked, these factors impacts our lives. We race, we worry, and we deal with waves of panic as each of us look for ways to react to and cope. According to Dr. James Rosenbaum, M.D., chair of the Division of Arthritis and Rheumatic Diseases and the Edward E. Rosenbaum professor of inflammation research at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, “Stress is really a component of every disease.” Some of the adverse health conditions include: • Cardiovascular illness • Irritable Bowel Syndrome • Sleep Disturbances • Type 2 Diabetes It also alters neurotransmitters, which regulate our moods and emotions, leaving us susceptible to depression and feelings of anxiety. All of this costs our economy as well. According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, over 250 million days are lost in the United States due to stress-related absenteeism and is responsible for lost productivity in the US to tune of 18 billion dollars per year.
Regular massage is a tool you can use to help create a balance point between unavoidable tensions in our life and our coping abilities
Stress ManagementA lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?" Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes." He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden." "So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can." Therapeutic massage is an excellent way to experience the tensions leaving our body and the burdens lifted from our minds.
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