Secret About Stress

How to deal with chronic anxiety and panic attacks, of course?

Here are the best ways I found to do with these attacks. Every sufferer should look for natural cures for these conditions before taking to the doctor and pills.These attacks are a number of symptoms, but the most common are: feelings of restlessness, when the breath, vomiting, rapid increase in heart rate, tightening the ‘abdomen and chest, the fear of uncontrollable anxiety etc.Sometimes victims feel very close to death. But, above all, the best news is that we can throw into panic and anxiety attacks completely out of our lives by using natural remedies.

Stress is the main villain behind the attacks. Each patient must identify the cause of his / her exact tension and try to keep / to be all kinds of stress. If you feel that you start a panic attack, try to take control of your breathing. Try to take breaths in the nose and exhale through the mouth. This is the first step for anyone to try an attack.

If you try to keep your stress level, which will undoubtedly reduce anxiety and panic. Stress is not good for your health. So always try to have a good handle on your stress level. Self-control is the best way to treat this type of anxiety attacks.

Most people think that the reason behind the panic attacks are imbalances or any alteration in the brain. Others believe that anxiety is an inherited problem. As much as I studied, I think the main reason behind the panic attacks is stress and this can be corrected.

A good meditation and yoga helps lower stress levels indefinitely. This has been proven again and again. If you meditate, you should try. Anxiety attacks are not fun and something can be done to remove them, should be considered. Take care of yourself and eat well. Movement Benn has been shown to naturally lower the panic by taking your mind the things that trigger attacks. Always be due to an attack earlier in your mind and try not to think about it. These are some natural ways you can save the fighting against the panic attacks and anxiety.

When a person is faced with many functions, responsibilities, heavy, influential life events and crises faced with stress.

Stress is normal. In fact, it is beneficial. It keeps us focused and alert. But too much stress is harmful. A stressed person is vulnerable to disease. One of the effects the most common and most dangerous of too much stress is heart disease.

Unfortunately, many people ignore the symptoms until it is too late and they get sick. They may not even know they are stressed out and think that what they feel a loss. That’s why doctors recommend people to take a stress test.

A stress test is also called a stress test or stress test. With a stress test, a doctor can tell how your heart in the midst of increased workload or physical effort.

The test makes the body work harder than expected. This means that the body will require more oxygen. Therefore, the heart will beat faster to pump more blood and deliver more oxygen to the cells. Stress test will then determine whether there is increased blood flow in the arteries that supply the heart. It also helps doctors to determine what kind of exercise is necessary for a patient.

A stress test begins when the doctor asks a person by their health history. The doctor also asked about their work and how you feel. Next, medical sensor pads are placed on the patient’s body and connected to a cardiac monitoring. The patient happens to have a treadmill and walk slowly.

The belt speed is higher, making the patient walk a lot faster. In addition, the tape is gradually inclined. In fact, as if the patient is walking on a small hill. The person is also asked to blow into a tube.

During the test, heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and ECG are measured and monitored.

When the person is exhausted, you can tell the doctor to stop the machine. Patient’s heart and blood pressure also is checked when the machine stops.

Medical professionals are usually present when the stress test. While the stress test may be very little risk for healthy people, doctors do not take risks if the test is to give stressed out people. Medical assistants usually have to deal with emergencies that may occur.

Stress tests are used to diagnose potential heart disease or existing, to determine a safe level of exercise and if the patient is at risk of heart disease in the midst of stress.

What are the signs of stress? You probably already have your own personal stress gauge. Stress is very personal, and so is your reaction to stressful situations. Therefore, the signs and symptoms of stress tend to vary from person to person. Here is a list of some of the potential symptoms or signs that are often associated with the effects of stress.

Signs of Stress

1) Anxious

2)Races of the Mind

3) Chest Palpitations

4) Focus on issues

5) Anxiety

6) is easily irritated

7) Do not people or responsibilities

Focusing on negative thoughts

9) Anger Issues

10) Headache

11) Digestive problems

12) Muscle Tension and pain

13) Sleep problems

14) Fatigue

15) Hypertension

16) weight loss or gain

17) Skin problems – pimples, rashes, hives

18) Hair Loss

19) decrease in sexual desire

20) nervous behavior – biting their nails, pacing, teeth grinding

If you feel up to three of these symptoms at the same time, you’re probably a lot of stress. And all of these symptoms are potentially harmful to health and mental well-being. If you think stress is out of control, contact your doctor. Point is active against stress, because if you do not in any way diminish or relieve stress in your life will certainly affect your health. Stress can make you sick? And ‘safe as possible. Stress can age? You know it can be.

What causes stress? Again, this varies from person to person, but could be one or a combination of agents mentioned above. What can you do about stress. Use stress management techniques and meditation exercises, breathing and relaxation, yoga, aromatherapy, there are several techniques to choose from. Search techniques to relieve stress is Yours.Com tranquility and discover the technique that works for you.

It is a fact that everyone experiences stress from time to time, although the level of stress varies each pass through. But did you know that there is such a thing as “stress ulcer”? There are two kinds of stress: one is physical stress, and the other is emotional stress. Emotional stress ulcer is most painful and difficult to heal, but the concept that emotional stress causes stress ulcer is bad because the stress does not cause ulcers.

E ‘has been suggested that stress causes ulcers, chronic emotional stress. Before the people and even doctors tend to believe that. Doctors advise patients to exercise to reduce stress in their lives, so that the wound, or rather to improve it. However, not all of them have not seen any improvement in their situation. Contrary to this belief, studies have shown that emotional stress does not cause ulcers or stress ulcers, but the wounds could do worse.

The cause of stress ulcer is related to a type of bacteria called H. pylori. About 15 years ago, Dr. Barry Marshall found that stress ulcer is not caused by stress, but is caused by a bacterium known that this finding is that about 28% of Americans and others continue suggests that stress can cause ulcers. With this information you just read, now has a way of dealing with the use of antibiotics.

Few people know that some brands of oral drugs in one form or another cause ulcers. These drugs are the cause of damage to the lining of the stomach and, in turn, allows gastric juices affect the stomach and create a wound.

Now that you know that stress does not cause ulcers or stress ulcers, if you have a wound that does not respond to antibiotics, you should relax a bit ‘to reduce stress. This will prevent the wound from getting worse. Do something useful, like reading a book, cook your favorite food or watch a movie to relax. Exercise and movement to reduce stress. And ‘one of the best ways to lose weight, feel good, and to reduce the levels of cortisol.

There is no meaning to a life stress or ulcers. You should enjoy the best of life. As Wolfgang Puck said, “Live Love Eat!”

They say that teenage years are the most exciting yet the most critical part of anybody’s life. In these years, we experience a lot of changes and we often struggle facing those. In fact, many teenagers reach “the rebellious stage” where they somewhat refuse to obedience, making them act like they are disrespectful. This is because teenagers are highly emotional. They take things too seriously and for instances that made them feel down and depressed, they eventually suffer from emotional pain.

Emotional pain becomes severe whenever a person hides it. And teenagers are in the most cases. The question is why do teens hide their emotional problems? There are three major reasons about that.

1. Distrust of people

The first one is because they do not trust anyone. And because they trust no one, they are not able to express their selves and share their emotional thoughts. This makes them hide all their emotional problems within themselves. They may have peers but they find no one of them worthy to trust in.

2. Pretending

The second one is that they are shy to show what they really feel. They are afraid to cry for they think that it is a sign of weakness. They would prefer pretending their happy and strong rather than letting other people see them like little weaklings. That’s a big no- no for teenagers. But it is understandable that they just find it hard to adjust with the sudden changes of their emotions as well as their mentality. The worse is that if they brought that kind of attitude as they go to their adulthood.

3. Childhood traumas

The third one is because they are maybe linked to their childhood traumas. The pain they suffered from remained inside them as they grow up. When they reach adolescence or the teenage stage, they find it hard to adapt with the environment. This is the reason why they hide their emotional dilemmas.

Hiding your emotional pain and even problems can cause you too much, even your life. There are cases of suicides and physical injuries from people who severely suffered from emotional pain. It is important to prevent these from happening. Parents and elders should deeply understand how teenagers act with their problems. They should be guided and helped how to deal and cope with those problems so that they will learn not to hide their emotional pain.

The impression of people to the word “stress” may be more on the negative light. This is because the more common effect of stress to people is the accumulation of many harmful diseases that may possibly lead them to death if not cured.

When an individual suffers from stress, he or she may experience sudden changes within his or her ability to perform. This is because stress response to people may be good or bad. On the positive side, stress may cause a person to feel like they have to finish his or her job more effectively. Good stress increases a person’s ability to focus and concentrate. It is also a reason for an individual to be much motivated and pursue his or her specific career. It boosts the excitement of a person when meeting new challenges and duties. The energy and enthusiasm becomes more apparent though at first it may not be obvious until one gets into the flow. This makes people to be more productive and effective as well, finishing all the tasks in the proper manner and efficient way.

On the negative hand, the bad type of stress can worsen the productivity of a person. He or she may feel anxiety, depression, frustration, low self esteem and lack of confidence. His or her world may seem to be like he or she is in an uphill battle, not being able to reach the top. The atmosphere always seems that there are existing unbeatable problems which he or she can never overcome.

Many times, people do not immediately notice the effects on stress to their selves due to their heavy workloads. You will know that stress affects your productivity when you experience the following:

1. After eating a meal, your stomach becomes upset. This is because when a person is stressed out, the stomach function is slowed in order to let other organ systems to function more effectively. This results an individual to decrease his or her concentration on the task. Through this, mistakes are often done.

2. You experience difficulty in understanding other person’s point of view in a particular dilemma. The rational and the logical thinking side of the brain are being slowed down by other pressing thoughts that result in primal single focus.

3. Your mind always wanders to the tasks you must be doing when you talk with other people such as customers, making you miss significant information.

The designated month for National Stress Awareness is April. This month may start out with a day for pulling pranks on April Fools Day, but stress is no joking matter. Since 1992, National Stress Awareness Month has been sponsored by the Health Resource Network. During the entire month of April, health care professionals and health promotion experts are busy raising public awareness about the many facets of stress, such as its causes and treatments. The main goal of these endeavors is to educate people about the dangers of stress and to provide them with effective coping strategies. Medical professionals are also working to dispel the harmful misconceptions about stress.

Stress encompasses emotional and physical symptoms. Those who suffer from stress are usually facing a problem, or problems, that they find troubling or painful. Stress is considered the cause of many health problems including heart disease, obesity, body aches and pains and depression. Stress varies from person to person. What may be stressful for one individual could be perfectly comfortable for someone else. Many people suffer from job related stress.

Students are one of the most stressed-out groups of people. Many students have difficulties with stress derived from trying to juggle a busy school schedule and everything else that comes with an academic lifestyle.

Students who are experiencing stress may feel that their life is spiraling out of control. Getting an adequate amount of sleep is crucial to reducing stress, especially when pulling all nighters studying. The body typically needs seven to eight hours of sleep a night. But most people still experience drowsiness in the afternoon. In this case, a power nap may be just the ticket. A power nap is generally about twenty minutes long. It can be lengthened or shortened by five minutes to fit into a hectic schedule. Studies show that power naps significantly reduce stress levels, increase alertness and improve cognitive functioning.

Another thing that students can do is to develop structured and focused study habits. Generally, for each hour spent in class, a student should expect to spend two hours studying the material outside of class. Some people find it helpful to quiz themselves over class material. Asking for help with homework and difficult material is a great way to relieve pressure. Not knowing the material makes for a very stressful situation on test day.

These tips are only a few of the options available to help students feel more in control and less stressed out during some of the most important years of their lives.

It has been known for a long time that negative emotions are tied to specific diseases — i.e. fears lead to cardiovascular diseases, anger damages liver, apathy affects the stomach. They all have something in common – stress. But how should we deal with stress?

What is stress? Why does it happen? Is it always bad?

Stress is an inevitable part of everyday life. Minor stresses are harmless (and even helpful at times), however, negative, long-lasting stress can be debilitating to one’s health.

The author of the theory of stress, well-known Canadian scientist Hans Selye, has determined stress as a set of typical genetically-programmed nonspecific reactions of an organism aimed for its survival by means of its “fight or flight” response. Minor effects of negative factors do not usually cause stress. It happens when the stress factors (stressors) surpass our natural ability to handle them. The stressors cause the body to change its way of functioning by mobilizing its resources to cope with danger (raise blood pumping and dilate airways to increase oxygen intake, increase blood clotting, etc.) or adapting to it. This is the main purpose of stress response.

A typical stress response has 3 phases:

1. Alertness – to mobilize all protective means of the body.
2. Stabilization – balanced use of the body’s adaptive capabilities.
3. Exhaustion – final phase coming after the prolonged effects of stressors have used up all adaptive reserves of the body.

Some stress is a natural part of life, which in Selye’s opinion creates a “taste of life”. Stress stimulates us in complex processes at work, in creative endeavors, and in competition. However, when the strong influence of stressors become excessive and constant, they drain our protective means and can lead to illness, or even cause neurotic or psychosomatic disorders.

Different people react to stressors differently. Some react proactively, fighting the danger. Others react passively and give up quickly. Generally these types of reaction cause specific types of disorders. Based on numerous clinical observations, doctors have discovered that most stressors typically cause hypertension, ulcer, heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrhythmias, etc. Anger that is not expressed could cause rheumatoid arthritis, skin problems, migraine, indigestion, etc.

Why does stress cause somatic disorders? When we are feeling strong negative emotions, significant physical changes happen in the body causing excessive energy production. Moreover, a prolonged negative psychological attitude/personality often promotes faster exhaustion of the body’s protective means.

Connection between stress and disease.

Psychologists and psychiatrists have discovered strong connection between certain personality traits on one end and somatic disorders on the other. Example: individuals trying to fit in a certain position/job that doesn’t fit their personality or capabilities have a higher chance to develop cardiovascular diseases. Chronic coronary disease is more typical for proactive goal-oriented, ambitious and less tolerant individuals.

Individuals suffering from stomach ulcers are typically very anxious and irritable. They are very conscientious, but usually have a low self-esteem, are vulnerable, shy, sensitive and hypochondriac. These individuals always try to do more than they are capable of. They tend to overcome difficulties having very high level of anxiety.

The level of stress-related pathological changes in the body is usually linked with personal assessment of the situation, which in turn depends on feelings of personal responsibility. The signs of emotional tension appearing in stressful situations tend to intensify when there is a lack of physical activity.

Stress Disorders.

There is no definite list of stress-related disorders. The same type of disease could have a stress origin or could be caused by something else. Many different factors may be combined with the stress in a person’s life that have a negative influence on the body function. The combination of negative factors is particularly dangerous because it creates more chances to develop certain diseases.

Among the many stress-related disorders the main ones are neuroses – mental imbalance caused by prolonged psycho-emotional experience, mental and physical strain, lack of rest or sleep, long-lasting internal struggling, inhibited feelings of grief, anger or suffering. Some somatic diseases may also cause neurosis as well.

Neurosis may appear due to having a lack of options to resolve a serious problem. It could happen when a person tries to resolve a problem, but is unable to do it. This leads to increased sensitivity or irritability to the problem making an individual more emotional. This then causes the person to experience various pains in response to the effect of stressors.

Stress reactions are very different.

A satisfactory level of emotional gain makes a person perform better. However prolonged emotional strain eventually leads to a drop in performance. The more complex the activity is, the quicker the person becomes distressed, causing feelings of fatigue, apathy, loss of concentration, distraction and memory difficulties.

Some people may react to stress in a very active manner while the others would give up quickly. A proactive response may lead to snap decisions that focus on only the main aspects of the problem. This hyperactive-compulsive reaction leads to a significant increase in making mistakes while the activity remains strong or even increased. As opposed to this, an inhibited-reaction leads to slower thinking , and increases forward movement in the learning process.

The emotional climate at work and home plays a major role in maintaining mental and physical health. Everybody’s mood depends a lot on the mood of the people who surround him/her, and it shows up in their words, mimics and behavior. When communicating with other people, one tends to take on their optimism or depression. Thus mutual sympathies become typical signs of good atmosphere in the group of co-workers or family members.

Nobody is immune from accidents, irreplaceable losses or insoluble problems. However, it isn’t good to focus on negative emotions too long or let depression overwhelm you. For your health, it is much better to focus on trying to find a positive solution.

Ways to relieve stress.

Isometric exercises. This method is based on putting tension on certain muscles and then relaxing them in a repeated, rhythmic way. An example might be making a fist and then relaxing it, or put your hands behind your head and press it forward straining neck muscles to force back, then press your feet to the ground and relax. These simple exercises can be used in any situation to achieve relaxation.

Autogenic training. This is a well-known method of relaxation. A deep relaxation that people usually feel after hypnosis can be achieved by means of self-suggestive techniques. You can sit quietly and give yourself simple commands like: I’m feeling calm, I’m feeling heavy, My arms and legs are feeling warm and heavy. To get really good at this, you must practice it a few times. The effect of this technique could become stronger if deep-breathing is used during the exercise.

Meditation. All known meditation techniques are targeted to focus your thoughts and attention on a single thing. It could be music, a mantra or your own breathing. All other thoughts become shut off, and other distractions are completely ignored. Such concentration helps you to achieve a deep relaxation. Deep breathing in combination with a specific sitting posture and closed eyes helps to achieve a full rest.

Biofeedback training. For the past few decades biofeedback has become very popular among stress- management professionals. The concept of biofeedback training is based on measuring certain physical parameters that can be directly or indirectly controlled. The subject/person can see the actual levels while being given specific suggestive or controlling commands that affects the parameter being measured. An example is — skin temperature is being continuously measured while suggestive thoughts are being induced aimed to relax muscles. Muscle relaxation causes peripheral blood vessels to dilate and increase blood flow in limbs, which in turn causes skin temperature to rise. The temperature level is being displayed to the subject along with the continuation of giving suggestive thoughts. Thus the subject establishes a feedback leading to deeper relaxation.

For the past decade a special biofeedback method has gained much attention in the stress-management field. It is based on using deep rhythmic breathing positively affecting the heart rhythm by causing it to oscillate coherently with breathing pace. This method involves a very important physiological mechanism of baroreflex that is responsible for body’s adaptation to various factors (physical exertion, psycho-emotional stresses) and for achieving the body’s internal homeostasis. This technique is a special workout to this mechanism, by training and toning it in a similar way to physical exercise for muscles and cardiovascular system.

During the training session, your heart rate is being measured and displayed. At the same time a visual and/or audio pacer is presented to trainee to maintain specific rhythm of breathing. Using a special mathematical algorhythm an influence of paced breathing on heart rhythm is being evaluated and continuously displayed. This algorhythm analyzes a level of consistency between your heart rhythm and breathing pace at a very specific rate of around 6 breaths per minute.

The immediate effect of such training is stress relief and bringing back the body’s inner balance. Regular use of this technique causes various positive effects such as lowering blood pressure, strengthening immune system, improving digestion, normalizing metabolic processes and chemical balance.

Stress factors into our motivation more times than we may realize and in this way it can actually provides a positive in our lives. The common perception, and rightfully so, is that mental stress is bad for our health and in fact is viewed by some medical practitioners as an illness that can kill! Strangely enough however, is that using stress as a source of motivation can actually help us to increase our personal productivity.

Here are 3 ways how using stress can actually lead to an increase in our personal productivity.

Sense of Urgency

Using stress as a source of motivation comes with a ‘natural’ advantage that being already somewhat anxious, there now exists a sense of urgency in your actions. Much like running down a hill with a large boulder right behind you, there is little need to dig deep for motivation since you obviously want to alleviate and/or eliminate the anxious feelings. Another good thing here is that the more productive you are the less you are feeling stressed or anxious so it is really a win win situation.

Increase in Focus

With a sense of urgency hanging over your head your ability to maintain your focus also increases as well. In many cases a lack of concentration can be attributed to boredom since the task at hand is not being perceived as a priority. Mental stress has a way of capturing your attention, and it does not matter who you are, relieving yourself of stressful feelings is a priority everybody shares! With this focus you now will also experience an increase in your personal productivity.

Increases Resourcefulness

Now that you are fully concentrating on what it is you are doing you are better able to think more clearly allowing you to improvise more easily. It is amazing that as we get pushed to the ‘edge’ how quickly we can think and respond in certain situations. Hats off to our survival instincts!

The ways in which stress factors into our motivation is strangely ironic from the standpoint that it can actually lead to an increase in personal productivity. How can mental stress, which is commonly perceived as an illness that can kill you, serve such a positive role in our lives! The 3 examples discussed above serve to demonstrate how using stress as a source of motivation can actually perform a positive. Now this is not to say you should seek out tension deliberately to serve as a motivator, but that there are certain times such an undesirable can be of service. For the record I am still a huge fan of simply using desire to motivate me. On the other hand however, if being stressed will serve a useful purpose for me on occasion I welcome its help.

Everyone experiences stress at some point in life. Stress can be good and is an important element of mental health. If we did not have stress we would not get energized to meet deadlines or to finish what we start; it can be invigorating, but the key is control. As long as you have some feeling of control, stress is beneficial. It is when stress becomes out of control that it becomes negative and can impact both our bodies and minds.

When stress is allowed to get out of control it can lead to illness (both physical and mental), low-level performance, and even premature death. People under stress generally become more irritable and overreact to moderately minor frustrations. They show a change in their sleep patterns, may step up their drinking and smoking, and become increasingly tired and restless. They get fewer pleasures from life, laugh less, and become overwhelmed with feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. As the strain mounts, their memory fails and their powers of concentration diminish (Curran, 1985).

C. Everett Koop, M.D. Sc.D., former Surgeon General, once cited the following example which may make stress easier to understand.

“The stress of a strong wind might alter the balance of a suspension bridge so that the bridge swings from side to side. Usually people do not even notice the gentle swaying as they drive across the bridge. When the wind increases, the swaying of the bridge becomes obvious to everyone. Although this swaying might make someone uncomfortable or anxious, it is actually the way that the bridge copes with stress. If the bridge did not sway at all, it would be brittle and more likely to be damaged to the stress of the wind. If the strength of the wind increased dramatically, so that the limits of the bridge were exceeded, the bridge could actually collapse. Stress in our lives is like that wind. Although stress is often present, it usually goes unnoticed. Sometimes the stress that people experience makes them feel shaky or frightened, as if they, like that bridge, were at risk of collapse. Usually this fear is unrealistic; and people’s foundations are much sturdier than they think. Occasionally, one is truly at risk of collapse; it is critically important to recognize this risk. Most often, however, the real risk that comes from stress is that, over many years, it will damage people’s health and detract from their quality of life.”

Medical research can explain the dramatic effects that stress has on one’s body and health. Stress is really one of the ways that the body protects itself. When danger threatens, the body produces chemical substances called “hormones” that prepare people for action. These hormones are released into the bloodstream and pumped throughout the entire body. They increase the tone in the muscles, raise the heart level, signal respiration to become more rapid, and even increase the speed of thoughts, thereby helping individuals to plan and think their way out of trouble. These physical and psychological changes are helpful when people are actually threatened by danger. They are not so helpful if people experience them every day, all day. It is difficult for the body to remain in a state of alert all of the time. If this occurs, people become tired, anxious, and/or depressed.

Managing stress requires recognition of the typical sources of stress and options in dealing with them. Gordon (1990) states that stress related to overwork can be avoided by the following techniques:

• Learn to say no. Most overwork is self-imposed. Women find it hard to refuse the invitation to join the PTA committee and men find it hard to refuse to be a coach for their son’s baseball team. It is often the accumulation of a multitude of relatively minor tasks which causes the ultimate damage.

• Learn to delegate. A long working day is very often a sign of managerial inefficiency. It may stem from an inability to delegate or an irrational need to obtain a repeated confirmation of our ability and worth from obsessive work. Delegation gives a number of benefits. It gives subordinates the freedom to work in their own way without constant reference to the boss, frees managers to concentrate on the more important issues that only he/she can handle, and makes him/her more dispensable and therefore easier to promote. The main reason why managers fail to delegate as much as they should is because they know that they are accountable for the work of their subordinates and do not want to be blamed for any mistakes they might make. In the same way the chief reason why subordinates are reluctant to take on new responsibilities is that they do not want to suffer criticism if they should fail. This means that the process of delegation within an organization is favored if the rewards for success are always made greater than the punishment for failure. I once had an incredible boss who delegated a great deal of responsibility to me. I loved having responsibility, but was reluctant to take on a major project which he wanted me to do. He told me, “If you succeed (and I know you will), you can have all the glory. But if you fail I will take all the blame.” This took a great deal of stress off of me, and subsequently motivated me to volunteer for more projects in the future.

• Provide time for reflection. The higher an executive climbs the less time he/she should spend in routine work, and the more time he/she should have free for quiet, creative thought. In times of crisis the tendency is to act first and regret afterward. One international airline company has erected a warning notice above the flight instrument panel of all their jets: “Before you do anything – do nothing.” This cautionary note is aimed to prevent hasty, unconsidered action which has proved to be a common cause of pilot error.

When a group of people were asked to select from a list of ten habits the factor which they believed to have contributed most to the heart attacks of their friends and business colleagues, 70 percent had no doubts in selecting “meeting deadlines.” In creating the clock we have created the instrument of our own destruction. We view time as the enemy against which we must fight throughout our lives. This approach to time is both damaging and unrealistic. We struggle to complete a task before the end of the week; we struggle against the deadline of tomorrow morning; we struggle with the belief that hours of attendance are more important than either quality of quantity of work. When asked, many executives complained that the most powerful source of strain in their work was the constant struggle to meet impossible deadlines.

On the other hand, many creative workers find that they can only produce their best work when working against a strict deadline. This apparent paradox is explained by the Yerkes-Dodson law, which states that for the efficient performance of any task there is a certain optimum level of arousal. Exceed this level and we become less efficient, more anxious, and more prone to anxiety, fatigue, and error. This awareness of time, can, therefore, act as a spur or a curse. It can drive us on to produce our finest work or throw us into a tailspin of constant stress. Norfolk (1977) stated that adopting the following strategies can minimize time-lined stress:

• Refuse to be obsessed with time. The habit of constant clock-watching should be avoided, for it creates tension without generally improving performance. The things we are doing today, and which seem so very important to us, will probably be completely forgotten in a month or two.

• Plan the way you wish to apportion your time. We all receive the same allotment of 24 hours per day. It is a question of personal choice and disciplined application to set realistic goals and then work steadily toward their achievement.

• Keep the schedule flexible. We should be prepared to work a longer or shorter working period as the occasion demands. The introduction of a staggered work time in Germany has resulted in increased production and a reported decrease in absenteeism.

• Cultivate the habit of concentration. Concentration is an art which is rarely practiced today. Time-wasting, stress-producing interruptions must be reduced. Research at Cambridge University has shown that senior executives often spend only one-fifth of their time on creative work, with the remainder wasted on interruptions and breakdowns in the system of internal communication. These interruptions can be reduced by delegating more and by encouraging subordinates to work without referral.

Stress is an integral part of our lives. Handle it wisely and it will enrich your life. Allow it to get out of your control and it will cause needless anxiety, sickness, fatigue, depression, and even premature death. The choice is yours.