Proof of the Effectiveness of Reducing Chronic Stress!

by Nina

Joy Sassoon, Age 60, by Tanja Constantine

“the data suggests that mind body interventions should perhaps be instituted as a form of preventative care similar to vaccinations or driver education. Such interventions are likely to be useful in population management and supported self-care, have negligible risk and cost and may help reduce the demand curve in healthcare.” —James E. Stahl, et al

According to a new study “Relaxation Response and Resiliency Training and Its Effect on Healthcare Resource Utilization” by James E. Stahl, et al, published in the journal PLOS one, practicing Relaxation Response techniques, such as meditation and yoga, could reduce the need for health care services by 43 per cent. To me, this was really exciting news (and not just because I’m not very fond of going to the doctor or the emergency room). I feel it’s solid scientific proof that using yoga’s stress management techniques will be very likely to improve your health. The authors of this study decided to do a thorough study of the effects of mind-body interventions on health care services because stress-related illnesses are “drivers” of healthcare use. Here is how they put it:

“In primary care, stress-related illnesses are known drivers of healthcare resource utilization in the US. Health care expenditures attributable to stress-related disorders, such as, depression and anxiety, were over 80 billion dollars/year in 2012. These have been the third highest cause of healthcare expenditures after heart disease and cancer in the US; each of which carries their own substantial stress burden. Over 90% of people suffering from stress or stress-related problems seek help through primary care and tend to be frequent healthcare utilizers. These visits can comprise as much as 70 percent of physicians' case- loads. In addition, more than 80% of patients presenting to general practice evidence lack of resiliency and psychological stress. Common physical manifestations of stress, e.g., headaches, back pain, insomnia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, irritable bowel, chest discomfort, are among the most frequent reasons people seek care.”

To conduct this study, the researchers tracked all 4452 patients who received training at the Relaxation Response Resiliency Program at the MGH Benson-Henry Institute from 1/12/ 2006 to 7/1/2014 for a median of 4.2 years. They then compared the usage of health care resources by this group against that of the control group of 13149. Total utilization of health care resources for patients with Relaxation Response training decreased by 43% compared with the control group. Here’s the breakdown:

• Clinical encounters decreased by 41.9%
• Imaging by 50.3% 
• Lab encounters by 43.5%
• Procedures by 21.4%

In addition, the intervention group’s Emergency Department visits decreased from 3.6 to 1.7 per year (although Hospital and Urgent care visits converged with the controls).

Pretty impressive, isn’t it? Using mind-body techniques to manage chronic stress keeps you healthier in a whole range of ways. And the training that these people received at the MGH Benson-Henry Institute was in using meditation and similar techniques to trigger the Relaxation Response, all of which are similar to, if not exactly the same as, the techniques that yoga provides. (See The Relaxation Response and Yoga for information about the Relaxation Response and how to trigger it with yoga.) 

So my ongoing campaign for reducing or stress levels using yoga (see 6 Ways to Bust Stress with Yoga) is supported by this very thorough study. In fact, the researchers were so encouraged by the study results they proposed that mind-body interventions should be instituted across the board as a “form of preventative care, similar to vaccinations or driver education.” With that, all I can say, is that if you’re practicing yoga solely as “exercise” and not exploring the stress management tools because “relaxing” feels like wasting time, you’re missing out on some valuable health promotion activities (not to mention that peace of mind stuff).

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Our Hyper-Competitive, Stressful World

by Ram

Las Vegas Sign by Melina Meza

We are living in a hyper-competitive and stressful world thanks to global urbanization, competition, and the spread of technology. Stress comes from a multitude of reasons, including but not limited to financial problems, work place tensions and a difficult boss, unsatisfying jobs, relationship problems, domestic issues, and stress in school, among others. If one were to compare the statistics of stress and its effects world wide, it is interesting to note that that numbers are nearly similar throughout the world. Within the USA, nearly 33% of Americans are living with extreme stress. While acute short stress is good and has a positive impact, chronic and high stress levels that many Americans report have severe impacts on relationships and work productivity. Money and work are the two leading causes of stress. Forty eight percent of Americans believe that their stress has increased over the past five years. Seventy two percent of adults report that money is their single cause of stress. Fifty percent of Americans report that stress has a negative impact on both their personal and professional lives. Stress causes more than 50% of Americans to fight with people close to them, with 41% of adults reporting that they have yelled at their partners owing to stress. And 42% of adults report that they are not doing enough to manage their stress (see Stress a Major Health Problem in The U.S., Warns APA).

Chronic stress affects every aspect of people's lives, from work to personal relationships to sleep patterns and eating habits (see Acute Stress Impairs Self-Control in Goal-Directed Choice by Altering Multiple Functional Connections within the Brain's Decision Circuits). This takes a toll on people’s health, contributing to numerous physical, mental, and behavioral problems. Psychological symptoms of stress include: experiencing irritability or anger, constant fear, worry, anxiety, and nervousness and mental fatigue (see Stress A Major Health Problem in the U.S., Warns APA).

The adverse effects of stress at the physical and mental level include:

• effects on lung capacity and function as it quickens breathing and episodes of hyperventilation leading to asthma and panic attacks
• hypertension and a rise in bad cholesterol, 
• underactivity of liver’s metabolic and detoxification functions leading to metabolic disorders like Type-2 diabetes and obesity
• irregular menstrual cycles and decreased libido
• improper digestion and absorption of nutrients leading to malabsorption and other inflammatory conditions in the gut
• insomnia and/or fatigue 
• chronic anxiety or depression 
• weakened immune system
• effects on muscle function (under stress, muscles tense up and this can lead to systemic pain especially in those already compromised areas like shoulder, back, neck or joints)

For more details on how stress affect at the physical and mental level see How Does Stress Affect You.

Stress management techniques vary among the general public. For those who manage their stress poorly, health status is affected. It is common to see stressed individuals overindulging in unhealthy foods, resorting to poor eating habits, smoking, or seeking out sedentary activities including TV, video games or internet ,which affects the body and mind further, putting these people in an endless cycle of stress and stressful behavior (see Stress a Major Health Problem in The U.S., Warns APA).

The American Heart Association lists several tips for dealing with stress, including maintaining a positive life-style and positive communication, involving in those activities or simple things that provide pleasure, and daily relaxation (see Four Ways to Deal with Stress). The Mayo Clinic, too, has detailed information on how to identify and deal with stressful situations (see Stress Relief). 

Interestingly, all of the literature searches on stress unanimously describes the positive impact of yoga, meditation, and guided relaxation in alleviating stress, even though the Yoga Sutras do not allude to their role in relieving stress. These techniques were actually developed to strengthen the body and mind to delve deeper into meditation, pranayama, and other spiritual practices as a means to achieve enlightenment. However, the positive effects of the asanas, breath techniques, and meditation were so astounding that over the years these practices were adopted as part of stress management techniques (see About Stress: Acute vs. Chronic). Interestingly, for each of the physical and mental effects described earlier, there is a suitable yoga regimen for managing the stress. Just type the ailment + stress using our blog search function and you will find the recommended techniques. 

Anyone can resort to short sessions of yoga and relaxation as a quick practice, especially to deal with stress. There are several articles on our blog that have advocated the need to incorporate short sessions of yoga, meditation, and breath practices to deal with acute and/or chronic stress at home or office (see Stress, Your Health and Yoga and Featured Sequence: Mini Office Practice). One may question the benefits, if any, from a short session of yoga. However, scientific studies have shown the numerous benefits including the rejuvenation of the body and mind, from even a short session of yoga and relaxation. Participants not only showed improvement in their physical parameters but short sessions added a cognitive boost as well. The reasoning is simple: stress triggers all the physical and mental changes, while yoga practices can reduce stress, so use yoga to reverse the physical and mental effects. At the cellular level, yoga, meditation, and relaxation techniques de-stress the mind and body through numerous mechanisms including:

• releasing brain chemicals that contribute to a feel-good response and ward off anxiety and mental stress
• normalizing blood pressure and stabilizing the heart beats 
• reducing anxiety and depression
• improving the ability to sleep by de-activating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal stimulus (HPA) and lowering the hyperarousal phenomenon (see Proof that Meditation Helps Improve Sleep)

Thus, yogic stress management practices not only help to deal with stresses of all kinds, but they also enable you to move toward equanimity (see 7 Ways to Cultivate Equamity). Making the commitment to take care of yourself through regular asana, meditation, and relaxation practices may seem to be a huge undertaking, but, remember, not only does these practices empower you—they keeps you free from the mercy of stressful forces.

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About Stress: Acute Versus Chronic

by Nina

We go on and on about stress management on this blog, don’t we? Well, that’s because the more we learn about the effects of chronic stress on the body, mind, and emotions, and the relationship between chronic stress and various diseases of aging, such as heart disease and hypertension, the more convinced we are that practicing yoga for stress management is one of the most important things you can do to promote healthy aging in the long term and enhance the quality of your life in the short term. 

But even though we think managing stress levels is so critical, it’s important to understand that stress in and of itself is not a bad thing. In fact, in certain situations, it’s actually a good thing. So today I’m going to do a little compare and contrast between acute and chronic stress and discuss how your nervous system responds to both. Yes, it’s another one of my little anatomy lessons but it is one that can have a profound effect on your physical, mental, and emotional health.

About Acute Stress

It was 5:04 on October 17, 1989 when the Loma Prieta earthquake hit. I was about to leave my Berkeley house to go grocery shopping with my five year old daughter at my side and my baby in his stroller when I felt such a violent shaking that I knew the quake was going to be a big one. I quickly looked around the house to find the safest place for us to be, and then grabbed my daughter and moved the three of us under a reinforced doorway. It turned out that our lives weren’t really in danger—though the framed artwork over the fireplace did come crashing down—but it was good to know that in an emergency, I could think and move with speed and clarity even while the floor underneath me was rolling and shaking. Although I didn’t realize it at the time—I was too busy reacting in the moment—my nervous system had switched into Stress mode (aka Fight or Flight mode, which is sometimes called Tend and Befriend for women). 

This is a dramatic example of a time in my life where I experienced acute stress. In my post Life-Changer: Understanding Your Autonomic Nervous System, I described how your nervous system responds to perceived danger or extreme physical activity. Preparing you to fight, run, or take evasive action, your autonomic nervous system releases hormones—adrenaline and noradrenaline—to increase your heart rate, blood pressure, blood flow to the muscles, and widens (dilates) your airways to make breathing easier. It also causes your body to release stored energy and increases muscle strength. And to increase your ability to assess your current situation and make important decisions, your nervous system causes your mind to race. So during that earthquake, my nervous system was doing just what it needed to do!

After the quaking stopped, we went outside onto the street to see what happened to the neighborhood. When we realized that everyone and their homes were all fine, we started to calm down. There was still some stress and worry while we waited to hear that my husband was safe and for him then to get home (which took several hours). My baby, of course, had no clue what was going on and I put him down at the usual time, but my daughter had to see her father before she could even think of going to sleep so I had her stay up with me (of course, even children feel stress).

By the next day, safe and reunited, we were feeling pretty normal as we dealt with the aftermath, like taking the brick chimney down (it had shaken dangerously loose). Of course, we were sad and horrified at the loss of life and property that occurred as a result of the quake, especially in nearby Oakland, where the double decker freeway collapsed. But our nervous systems recovered pretty quickly. 

After a bout of acute stress, you settle back down to normal. Your nervous system reduces the levels of stress hormones in your body, slowing your heart rate, decreasing blood pressure, reducing oxygen intake, and so on—your organs don’t need to work as hard now that the stressful situation has passed. And, now that you’re out of danger, your racing mind will also slow down. Your nervous system also stimulates your digestive tract to process food, eliminate waste, and use the energy from the processed food to restore and build tissues. After all, you need to build yourself back up after being depleted by a period of stress. 

Acute stress is a short-lived episode that is a natural, healthy response to danger, a perceived threat, or a physical challenge. And this is something we cannot and should not eliminate from our lives because even if we’re not living not in an earthquake zone, we all need to get out of danger sometimes, whether that means getting out of the way of an oncoming car or protecting a family member from a threat. But our stress response also prepares us for some really good things in life, including running a race, traveling to a foreign country, having a creative brainstorm, falling in love with someone, and even having an orgasm. 

About Chronic Stress

Back in the early nineties when my husband and I were raising our two children, I had a job as the documentation manager and lead technical writer at a software start-up company. As you might imagine, the pressure was intense as our small company struggled to meet our first deadline, the first test of the product by real customers (who needed my manuals to teach them how to use the product!) and balancing my work/home life was a definite challenge. As the deadline approached, I started working overtime. And I began having terrible insomnia—I could fall asleep but would be wide awake after just a couple of hours. I also started losing weight because the stress made me so feel nauseated that I lost my appetite.

Even though I wasn’t in the middle of an emergency, my nervous system was doing the same thing it had been doing during the earthquake, keeping my body and mind ready for fight or flight, but it was now a problem because the stress never let up and I had no chance to rest and recuperate. Eventually I was so anxious, exhausted and nauseated that even though I met my deadline (and the company went on to success), I couldn’t bounce back to normal health and my stress-related problems continued to plague me. It took a year and half of therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes to recover completely. (This was before I had the knowledge I do now both of the nervous system and how yoga can help.)

Unlike acute stress, which is short-lived and in response to a single event, chronic stress is ongoing stress that never lets up. Many different life circumstances can cause chronic stress, from job pressures, marriage or family problems, and financial or health problems to living in a stressful environment, such as a dangerous neighborhood or war zone. But regardless of the reasons, when your nervous system is continuously on the alert, and your body and mind never have a chance to recover and recuperate, your body and mind become overtaxed. And some of the serious health problems that can be caused by chronic stress include:

• heart disease 
• hypertension (high blood pressure) 
• insomnia and/or fatigue 
• digestive disorders 
• headaches 
• chronic anxiety or depression 
• weakened immune system 

But helping you manage chronic stress is where yoga really shines. Sometimes you can change your circumstances and your yoga practice can help support you through those changes, but other times circumstances are out of your control. Either way, yogic stress management practices (see The Relaxation Response and Yoga) and yoga philosophy (see Why You Should Study Yoga Philosophy) can help you face difficult challenges while at the same dialing down your stress levels. Maybe you will even be able to move toward equanimity. After all, the Bhagavad Gita defines a yogi as: 

“Who unperturbed by changing conditions sits apart and watches and says “the powers of nature go round”, and remains firm and shakes not. —trans. by Juan Mascaro

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Chronic Stress Can Damage Your Brain

by Nina 

Opening Peas by Melina Meza

"Stress can damage the brain. The hormones it releases can change the way nerves fire, and send circuits into a dangerous feedback loop, leaving us vulnerable to anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.” — Geoffrey Mohan, LA Times

One of my new areas of interest is brain health. Yes, not too surprisingly, I’d like to keep my brain—along with my body—healthy as I age (as I’m sure you all do, too). And one thing I’ve been noticing lately in my research is that chronic stress is as bad for the brain as it is for the body. In a way, that makes sense because really your brain is just another organ in your body, and we all know that chronic stress takes a toll on other organs, such as your heart and your digestive system. But I was fascinated to read recently in Stress matters to brain's white matter that neuroscientists at the University of California found evidence that cortisol, one of the stress hormones, trips a switch in stem cells in the brain, causing them to produce white matter cells that can change the way circuits are connected in the brain.

In a study published in Nature, Stress and glucocorticoids promote oligodendrogenesis in the adult hippocampus, researchers examined stem cells in the brain’s hippocampus. (The hippocampus plays an important role in the consolidation of information from short-term to long-term memory and spatial navigation. And in Alzheimer’s disease, the hippocampus is one of the first regions of the brain to suffer damage.) Under normal circumstances, these stems cells in the hippocampus form new neurons or glia, a type of white matter. But after examining the brains of mice that were chronically stressed out (yes, they’re stressing out those poor mice again), the researchers discovered that the stress hormone corticosterone (the rodent equivalent of cortisol in humans) causes the stem cells produce instead an abundance of oligodendrocytes. The LA Times quoted Daniela Kaufer, lead investigator of the study:

“Usually the brain doesn’t make much oligodendrocytes in adulthood from those neural stem cells. But under stress, all of a sudden, you discover they are making those cells.” 

She observed that moderate stress, such as that produced by studying for an exam or competing in the Olympic Games, can build stronger circuitry and a more resilient brain. But acute, prolonged stress can wreak havoc.

So scientists are now actually finding specific evidence—and understanding the exact mechanisms at work—of how chronic stress can actually damage brain. We’d all like to avoid that, I’m sure. Of course, chronic stress can also cause high blood pressure, which leads to strokes, also damaging—sometimes very seriously—the brain. In fact, my father suffered in the later part of his life from stroke-related dementia, so I’ve seen it up close.

If you haven’t already incorporated some yoga stress management techniques into your daily life, take a look at one of my early posts The Relaxation Response and Yoga, which gives an overview of the many options that yoga provides. There are so many choices you’re sure to find something you enjoy and that you can practice on a regular basis.

P.S. After my post on Of Mice and Men, are you wondering how the scientists stressed out their test subjects? According to the LA Times, the researchers stressed out the mice by either immobilizing them in a straitjacket for three hours a day, seven days a week, or injecting them with corticosterone. Tiny straightjackets for mice? I’m not so sure what I think of that.

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Preventing Migraines (and Other Headaches), Part 1

by Nina

Supported Child's Pose

A dear friend of mine, with whom I’ve stayed on many vacations and have traveled with, suffers from terrible migraines; the kind where all you can do is curl up on the fetal position for 24 hours in a dark room. So even though I don’t have migraines myself, I’ve witnessed first hand how awful they can be. Baxter had some good suggestions yesterday (see Yoga for Migraine Headaches) for how to use yoga to get through a migraine headache. But wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to get a migraine in the first place?

Unfortunately, since there are many different triggers for migraines, including different types of food,  it is impossible for us to give you any guaranteed solutions. However, we do have some recommendations for yoga practices you can try. Suffering from a migraine is such a miserable experience and these yoga practices will benefit you in many other ways, so it really seems worth giving them a shot. And everything we’re going to suggest here applies to ordinary tension headaches as well as to migraines, so listen up, everyone!

In his book Yoga As Medicine, Timothy McCall identifies two possible triggers for migraines and other headaches that we can address with yoga: stress and muscle tension in the head, neck and back areas. Today I’m going to talk stress and tomorrow I’ll post something about muscle tension (see Preventing Migraines and Other Headaches, Part 2).

Okay, now to address stress. In his book, Timothy says, “Since stress is a major factor in both tension headaches and in migraines, yoga can certainly play a role in prevention.” And he goes on to say that “There is scientific evidence that relaxation techniques and biofeedback can be effective for both tension and migraine headaches, lessening the duration as well as the frequency of attacks.” That sounds pretty promising to me!

I’ve been ranting about the subject of chronic stress and the importance of stress management since we started the blog (see Chronic Stress: An Introduction  and The Relaxation Response and Yoga), but as a reminder, I’ll simply reiterate that yoga provides a huge selection of possibilities for stress management and you can pick and choose from amongst them according to your experience level, temperament, schedule, and/or personal preference. All of the following yoga techniques reduce your stress levels by switching your nervous system from stress mode (Flight or Fight) to relaxation mode (Rest and Digest). This type of relaxation is something you cannot achieve with a nap or even a full-night’s sleep (see Conscious Relaxation vs. Sleep).

•    Meditation. See How to Meditate for information on how to meditate.

•    Breath practices (pranayama). See Your Key to Your Nervous System for information your nervous system and your breath. For stress reduction and headache prevention, be sure to avoid stimulating and/or overly complex breath practices and focus on simple, calming practices.

•    Restorative poses with a focus for the mind (such as your breath or the relaxation of your muscles).

•    Inverted poses. Studies by Dr. Roger Cole proved that inverted and semi-inverted poses, where your heart is higher than your head, trigger the relaxation response through the mechanisms that control your blood pressure. This is why supported inversions, such Legs Up the Wall pose and Easy Inverted Pose (legs on a chair), are so effective for stress management (See Just in Time for the Holidays: Inverted Poses).

•    Corpse pose (Savasana) with a focus for your mind (such as your breath, the relaxation of your muscles, or peaceful imagery). See Savasana for information.

•    Yoga nidra (yogic sleep), a long, structured form of Savasana. See What is Yoga Nidra? for information about yoga nidra and the Audio Tracks tab at the top of the page for a mini version of yoga nidra that you can stream or download.
 
If you find it difficult to settle in and relax because you’re too restless or anxious when you lie down, first try any active asana practice to burn off steam (although you might want to be careful with backbends—I’ll address that tomorrow) and then move on to relaxation practices.

If you are interested in practicing a combination of inverted and restorative poses, you might like to check the headache sequence in Yoga As Medicine, which includes the following poses:

1. Legs Up the Wall pose
2. Supported Reclined Cobbler’s pose
3. Chair Shoulderstand
4. Half Plow Pose (with chair)
5. One-Legged Forward Bend with head support
6. Full Seated Forward Bend with head support
7. Breath Awareness

Note that this sequence was designed for an experienced practitioner, and if you aren’t familiar yet with or can’t get comfortable in Chair Shoulderstand and Half Plow pose, you may want to skip over those two poses. An easier alternative to those two poses would be to do a Supported Straight Leg Bridge pose (must photograph that for our blog one of these days!). The teacher who designed this sequence also recommended his student use a head wrap (a large bandage that is wrapped around the head to relax the eyes) while practicing, so that may be something you could experiment with. Start wrapping the bandage clockwise at your forehead, go down to your eyes, and then come back up again. Tuck the loose end to secure the bandage.

If the sequence from Yoga As Medicine is too long or complicated for you, any simple restorative sequence could be very effective. Try our Mini Restorative Sequence, which includes three classic restorative poses that almost everyone can enjoy.

So how often should you do these stress reduction practices? I think that if you are chronically stressed out and suffering from debilitating headaches, you should practice six or seven days a week for at least 15 minutes (keep in mind that could be 15 minutes of meditation or 15 minutes in Legs Up the Wall pose). I realize that sounds like a lot. It will take some work—if you can call relaxing “work”—to bring your overall stress levels down. Keep in mind that the payoffs could be huge, as stress management can result in many additional health benefits besides reduced headaches, such as lower blood pressure and a stronger immune system, as well as quality of life benefits, such as increased equanimity and maybe even happiness. And if any of you take up this headache reduction challenge, I’d love to hear back from you about the results.

Check back tomorrow for tips about how to use yoga poses to release neck, shoulder and back tension that can trigger headaches.

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Stress, Your Health, and Yoga

by Timothy

As I travel around the globe teaching workshops on yoga therapy—the use of yogic tools from postures to meditation to help people heal—I am struck by what an enormous problem stress-related illness is.  Everywhere I go, from ultra-modern cities like Stockholm where I've spent the last week, to less developed nations, people young and old are suffering the health consequences of their increasingly busy schedules and sometimes even busier minds.

Surprisingly, in this time of widespread tension, unrest and economic insecurity, most doctors still seem not to fully appreciate the deadly consequences of out-of-control stress or how much something like yoga can help. In medical school we were taught about the connection of stress to such health problems as duodenal ulcers, migraine headaches and irritable bowel syndrome. But scientific evidence is increasing indicating that stress can be a factor in life-threatening conditions from heart attacks to depression to hip fractures. Ironically, doctors may be among the most at-risk members of our society, due to their endemic stress and lack of understanding of simple non-drug tools like yoga that can fight it.

When scientists talk about the stress-response system, they are referring to a complex web of events that ramp the body up to deal with an acute crisis. The sympathetic nervous system—the so-called “fight or flight” system—kicks in, which among other things increases blood flow to the large muscles that help you defend yourself or run away from a physical threat. Stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are also released. In response, blood pressure and heart rate go up and breathing quickens. Blood sugar and other energy stores are mobilized to fuel whatever challenge you are about to face. In case you are injured, your blood begins to clot more easily. In crisis mode, the body shunts energy away from restorative functions like digestion and reproduction, mediated by the parasympathetic nervous system, which you can think of as the “rest and digest” system.

Arctic Landscape by Michele Macartney-Filgate

This built-in stress-response system is well-adapted to acute crises but can lead to all kinds of problems if it doesn’t gets switched off after the acute crisis passes. Blood clots increase the risk of a heart attack or a stroke, as does the high blood pressure and elevated blood lipids that stress contributes to. Elevated levels of cortisol are associated with everything from major depression to osteoporosis to overeating and weight gain (and the many problems that result from that). And while the immune system initially gets stronger during an acutely stressful event, it starts functioning less well if the stress goes on too long, raising the risk of serious infections and, as at least some evidence suggests, autoimmune diseases.

The problem is that the ancient human stress-response system isn’t so well adapted to mostly non-physical modern world stressors like work deadlines, traffic jams, and even abstract ideas about whether you are happy or fulfilled. If you repeatedly mull these problems over, the chemical and physical changes that were designed to deal with an acute threat to physical health—and which are then supposed to shut off when the threat is removed—remain activated. Such mental tape loops can thus turn abstract worries into concrete threats to health and even to life itself.

Yoga is arguably the best overall system of stress reduction ever invented. More and more evidence suggests the practice can help treat and prevent a wide range of health problems (for details see my web site). Beyond the harmful effects on the body, feeling stressed is a drag. It can make you feel anxious, preoccupied, full of dread.

Yoga can—sometimes within minutes—quiet down an overactive stress-response system. One of the great insights of the ancient yoga masters is that when you move and breathe with awareness, it calms your nervous system and slows down the tape loops in your mind. When your inner monologue slows, most people experience a sense of peace, relaxation and a feeling of being centered.

At first, this only happens when you are doing yoga and perhaps for a short time afterwards. But if you maintain a steady practice, more and more you become aware of and can tap into the tranquility you find in yoga throughout the rest of your day. Over time, you can actually make your nervous system less reactive to minor stressors, and less likely to get knocked off balance by life's inevitable ups and downs. You learn that you can be in a difficult situation, but nonetheless keep the breath slow and deep, and the mind both relaxed and attentive.

This sense of inner calm can make you feel more grateful for what you have, appreciate the beauty around you (which you otherwise might not have noticed) and help you realize that some of the stuff you're getting bent out of shape about may, ultimately, not be very important. And that may be one of the best stress reducers of all.

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Chronic Stress: An Introduction

by Nina

Wounded Bird by Brad Gibson

An ongoing theme that we’ll be exploring in depth on this blog is the negative effects of chronic stress on long-term health and the need for stress management as an important aspect of healthy aging. So perhaps it’s a good time for me to define exactly what we mean by “chronic stress” and to let you know a little about why it is such a serious problem.

I learned about dangers of chronic stress the hard way. Back in the early nineties, I had a job as the documentation manager and lead technical writer at a software start-up company, while at the same time I was raising two children. As you might imagine, the pressure was intense as our small company struggled to meet our first deadline, the first test of the product by real customers (who needed my manuals to teach them how to use the product!). As the deadline approached and I started working overtime, I began having difficulty sleeping. I also started losing weight because the stress made me so feel nauseated that I lost my appetite. Eventually I was so anxious, exhausted and nauseated that even though I met my deadline (and the company went on to success), I couldn’t bounce back to normal health. It took a year and half of therapy, medication, and lifestyle changes to recover completely.

Feeling stressed is not always a bad thing, however. It’s your body’s normal response to perceived danger or extreme physical activity (often called the “fight or flight response”), which is vital in keeping you safe and active. When you encounter a stressful situation, whether it is a grizzly bear or a stack of tax forms, your body releases hormones (adrenaline and noradrenaline) to provide you with the energy and alertness needed to cope with the situation. And anyone who has almost been run over an SUV knows the feeling: heart racing, rapid breathing, gut clenching. This is because in stress mode, your nervous system stimulates your organs and mobilizes energy by: 

• raising your blood pressure 
• increasing your heart rate and the blood supply to your skeletal muscles (and away from your gut) 
• dilating your pupils and bronchioles, providing improved vision and oxygenation 
• generating needed energy by breaking down sugar and fat stores for immediate use 

Between stressful situations, your body needs to rest, recover, and acquire new energy, so your nervous system responds by:

• lowering your blood pressure 
• reducing your heart rate, diverting blood back to the skin and gastrointestinal tract 
• contracting your pupils and your bronchioles for reduced oxygenation 
• stimulating your salivary gland secretion, accelerating digestion, and promoting normal movement of food through the gut 

But what if the stress is long term? When you almost get hit by a car, escape from a bear or finish your taxes, the incident is over quickly and you bounce back to normal soon after. But if the stress is ongoing or “chronic,” maybe because of continuing job pressures (like mine at the software company), marriage problems, health problems, and so on, your nervous system is continuously on the alert and this can overtax your body potentially causing:

• heart disease 
• hypertension (high blood pressure) 
• insomnia and/or fatigue 
• digestive disorders 
• headaches 
• chronic anxiety or depression 
• weakened immune system 

(Hmm, I just counted, and it seems I developed almost half of those symptoms, rather impressive in a weird sort of way.)

Of course, these symptoms are not only unpleasant but will seriously compromise your long-term health if you can’t manage to bring them under control. In addition, several age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Diabetes are exacerbated by stress, and some theories of aging itself (such as the telomere theory I discussed last week) propose stress as a factor in the aging process itself.

I hope you’re not getting too stressed out by reading all of this! I credit yoga with helping me stay well since that breakdown. And in the coming weeks, we’ll be offering many different alternatives for managing your stress even as you take on the many challenges that life has to offer.

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