Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

The Stress Factor Column for the week of June 22-28, 2003

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According to the Medical Arts Press, stress is estimated to be the major cause of 75% of ALL illnesses. 75%! Dr. Archibald Hart seems to agree. His book, Adrenaline and Stress states, “We are entering a new age in medicine and health sciences. On the one hand, we are making remarkable progress in curing illnesses and prolonging life. On the other hand, we are losing the battle against a very simple but elusive problem, stress. The time is rapidly approaching, if it hasn’t already arrived, when we will be dying less and less from infectious diseases, but more often from the ravaging effects of too much stress. And stress disease is different from most forms of illness, we bring it on ourselves!”

Stress used to be an engineering term. Years ago people might have been anxious, nervous, worried, or fretful but not stressed. Stress referring to people is a relatively new term starting in the 1950s. In those days we needed a major catastrophe such as death, a life threatening health problem, or divorce to trigger stress but today just getting out of bed could qualify. Here are some of the things recent research indicates are stressful: being married, not being married, having children, not having children, having a job, not having a job, working more than 40 hours a week, working less than 40 hours a week, retirement, your spouse’s job, your spouse not having a job, having sex, not having sex, taking a vacation, not taking a vacation, having family get togethers, not having family get togethers, playing the stock market, not playing the stock market, and so on and so forth. Does anyone see a trend here? It looks like stress has us coming and going.

Consumers spend over $9.4 billion trying to find ways to cope with stress. People think they can buy everything....even peace of mind. So, they try to cope by using drugs, drinking alcohol, shopping, overeating, going on vacations, and joining fitness centers. Everyone buys the Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff books but evidently not reading or implementing what they say. Prescription medication such as Valium and Prozac sales are off the charts. Not only are humans on this medication but so are their pets. Veterinarian schools are teaching courses on how to treat stressed house pets. Although how your dog or cat can be stressed is beyond me. All they do is sleep, eat, and play. I’m sure everyone wants a fun pet you have to pay $100 a month to keep sedated.

Stress is a self-induced disease resulting from a modern life style. People are on the go 24 hours a day. They work hard. They play hard. They have no down time and are so programmed to go, go, go, it would stress them to know what to do with down time if they had it. God created the world and everything in it in 6 days but man thinks he needs 24-7 to keep it running.

Stress is a nebulous culprit because what causes stress for one person will not cause stress for another. Some people thrive on a stimulating debate and others would rather throw up. People need a certain amount of what they would consider positive stress for excitement or anticipation, which helps to enrich life, perhaps cause them to take action, or give them a new perspective. But too much negative stress manifests itself in very real health problems such as ulcers, rashes, insomnia, high blood pressure, stoke, headaches, and heart disease to name just a very few. Hypertension, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) were virtually unheard of a few years ago. Now everyone has it. We may be living longer overall but our quality of life is so poor that we can’t really enjoy it. That may be one-reason suicide rates are way up. Another might be because people can’t cope with change. Stress is actually how our mind and bodies respond to change. Unfortunately today’s world and society change so quickly our mind and bodies don’t have time to adjust. If we want to enjoy the life God has given us we must find ways to cope with or manage this change because it can’t really be eliminated.

Finding information on relieving stress or stress management will almost always include meditation. Renowned human environmentalist author, René Dubos, puts it this way, “What happens in the mind of man is always reflected in the disease of his body ...” So what we meditate on can effect us greatly.

I find that so interesting because meditation is mentioned throughout the Bible. (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2, I Timothy 4:15) God in His infinite wisdom knew we would need such a tool. Society might tell you to stand on your head, contort into certain positions, breathe deeply, or focus on one object for 30 minutes but God had other ideas and He invented meditation. He says, “Be still and know I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) He says to focus on things that are good, true, noble, right, pure, lovely, honorable and think of ways to put into practice what you learn and receive from Him. (Philippians 4:8-9) I figure He made me and He knows what I should meditate on to bring peace of mind to my life. Lord knows, you can’t buy it. If you could, the stress factor wouldn’t even exist today.

©June 2003

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