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What is stress?
Dr Hans Selye, Founder of the Concept of Stress Excerpted from the Foreword to the first edition of Dr. Brian J. Gorman's book "Attitude Therapy for Stress Disorders" http://www.stressdoctor.com/selye.htm "Dr. Hans Selye was the pioneer in research into stress in the thirties. He defines stress as the non-specific response of the body to any demands made upon it. Each demand made on the body is unique in that there is a definite response: when we are cold, we shiver; when we are hot we perspire; a great muscular effort increases the demands upon the heart and vascular system. However, whatever the specific response, there is also activated a non-specific response which is independent of the cause. For example: The woman who is is told that her husband died in battle suffers a terrible mental shock. If, years later, he walks into the room alive and well, she experiences extreme joy. The specific results of the stress are opposite, but the non-specific effect on the body is the same. The accumulation of stressors, whether good or bad, if intense enough, will ultimately cause physical disorders. When Dr. Selye was asked to present a paper in France, it was found that there was no word in French for stress, so they coined one: Le stress. Similarly, when asked to speak in Germany, there was no German word for stress, so it was named Der stress. He is therefore, without doubt, the founder of the concept of stress."
Dr Richard Lazarus (1922-2002) Excerpted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Dr Richard Lazarus, was a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley who was named by American Psychologist as one of the most influential psychologists in the field. He was a pioneer in the study of emotion and stress, especially their relation to cognition. Dr Lazarus published in 1974, a model dividing stress into eustress and distress. Where stress enhances function (physical or mental, such as through strength training or challenging work) it may be considered eustress. Persistent stress that is not resolved through coping or adaptation (distress) may lead to escape (anxiety) or withdrawal (depression) behavior. The difference between experiences which result in eustress or distress is determined by the disparity between an experience (real or imagined), personal expectations and resources to cope with the stress. A person living in a fashion consistent with personally-accepted expectations may have no stress even if the conditions might be interpreted as adverse from some outside perspective — rural people may live in comparative poverty, and yet be unstressed if their resources are sufficient to meet their needs and expectations. If there is chronic disparity between experience and expectations, stress may be relieved by adjustment of expectations to meet the ongoing experiences or conditions. Alarming experiences, either real or imagined, can trigger a stress response.
Simply put, stress is an overload of experience on some part of the nervous system. For example, if we lift a heavy suitcase, the overload of experience on the shoulder creates a stress, a chemical reaction that is stored in the nervous system. Similarly, as pointed out by Dr Hans Selye, pleasant experiences also cause stress, called "eustress", as compared to "distress". Every day, we are bombarded by stresses of all types. The fast pace of modern living means we are always on the go, have deadlines to meet and multiple activities to coordinate. Every activity can be stressful. If we consider the nervous system to be like a rope, every stress we encounter ties a knot on the nervous system. And the same stressors affect people differently - one experience may cause little stress on one person's nervous system, and a great deal on another's. The result is that many people have very knotted nervous systems and all the signs of stress - anxiety, psychosomatic illness, insomnia, asthma, hypertension, ulcers, etc. Stress is the basis of all types of illness. Stress breaks down our ability to cope with our varied responsibilities and makes interpersonal relationships difficult. Even those we love are not spared when our stress levels rise. We are easily angered, say things we regret and act in ways that are anti-social or even illegal. Increased stress leads us to rely on crutches like cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.
How Can We Effectively Combat Stress? Nature has given us the solution to stress. It is rest. Rest dissolves stress. If you are fatigued and you take a nap, you generally get up feeling refreshed. The worries of the day before are washed away in the night's rest. Maintaining good health requires that after spending the day in activity, we should have a full night's rest. But how many people get enough rest at night? How many people sleep soundly and restfully every night? Unfortunately, the fast pace of living means that we often have to make a choice between our health and progress on the job and in other spheres. Most people choose progress over rest and pay for it with their health. Fortunately, this is not a choice we have to make today. Scientific research has shown that 20 minutes of deep meditation, using the Transcendental Stress Management® (TSM) program lowers the metabolic rate by16%, whereas in six to eight hours of sleep, the metabolic rate is reduced by 8%. This indicates that during meditation we get rest that is twice as deep as six to eight hours of sleep. Rest is the antidote to stress. Deep rest releases deep-rooted stress. Persons who have deep emotional stresses, for example, can feel angry or cry about an incident 20 years later; testimony to the fact that deep-rooted stresses remain embedded in the nervous system until the body gets deep enough rest to dissolve it. When someone learns the TSM technique, he gets rest twice as deep as six to eight hours of sleep, in just 20 minutes. He does his meditation twice a day for 20 minutes and notices very quick relief from many stress-related ailments. His sleep improves, he feels less anxiety, less need to rely on drugs, his health improves and his social behavior improves. Friends notice the difference and find him to be warm and approachable. He radiates peace and harmony in the environment. We have taught thousands of people to meditate. Some experiences stand out more than others. In one case, a lady had been in a car accident which resulted in the death of a young child. She was the driver of the car. She could not get over this incident and stopped driving for ten years before coming to learn TSM. A few months after learning TSM, this lady started to drive again and was able to move on from this painful period in her life. Here we see that the deep rooted stresses remained with her because the rest at night was not deep enough to remove the stress of the accident. The deeper rest gained in TSM, twice daily, dissolved the stress and enabled her to enjoy life again.
Enjoy a Stress-free Life with TSM Hundreds of scientific research studies have verified the beneficial effects of meditation on one's health. The TSM Meditation works on nature's principle that rest dissolves stress. It is very simple to learn and easy to practice. Take the step today and call us for a free introductory lecture on the TSM program at 314 521 4390. Enjoy a stress-free life! Or, in more scientific terms, "enjoy a distress-free life!"
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Meditate ~~~~~~ Call us today Health is
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