So , you all made your New Years Resolutions. Some of them are very admirable, some are pleasant, some are altruistic, some are healthy , wealthy and wise. As the month of January reaches its end, we all have a tendency to look again at our resolutions, so with that said, I will let you look in on mine.
But I believe that most of you will have made some mistake and overlooked the most obvious. Yep for several months before the new year, actually starting back in the summer, I resolved to get a handle on stress. I have a fairly stressful working life and I am convinced that , at least in part in my case, stress did trigger my episode of illness, last year. Even though at the time I was living a relatively stress free existence. It is the stress that came before that comes around to bite you.
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In retrospect, there were a series of persons close in my life who died in close order. I personally thought I was reconciled to their situation, but on a different level I was not at all reconciled to the emotional responses of those around me. I felt their pain , more than my own and I think that is where the stress came in, also in the year prior I had an audit which I found particularly annoying.
So when I totaled my score it exceeded 300. Not a good sign.
During my illness my PSA spiked, which caused my family doctor to urgently recommend a urology review. Urgent Urology, appointment made. Urologist did his thing , tells me I have an unremarkable prostate, destroying my view that everything about me is remarkable. Oh well. later I learned that it was a good thing to have an unremarkable prostate.( Little prostate humor---hey there is so little of it to begin with)The Urologist upon hearing about the UC situation began by talking about stress triggers and he said something that interested me. He simply said that Western Medicine ignores the role of stress in illness. He told me to think about the incidents of stress that had take place in the two year prior to my having become ill. They very easily came to mind ad they were profoundly stressful and I had not yet forgotten them. It was also interesting to me because while I was ill, I had insomnia and my nights were frequently spent reading inspirational , spiritual, books and books on the idea of relaxation techniques and the idea of positive thinking. I mean I had a slew of them, there were nights where I felt that I was getting sound advise from a close friend. They, the authors, were speaking to me and I was taking their advise to heart.. So taking up the good Doctor's observation I continued my reading and continued to work on stress reduction.
I had seen a few doctors over the course of the last year and the GI mentioned stress is a tigger, the family doctor spent almost no time on the subject, a couple of others said nothing at all. The urologist really got into it. He tells me that he sees men in their 30s and 40s coming in with prostate and urinary tract issues and when he delves into it he finds many instances of stress. He said he has had men admit financial, relationship and job issues while talking and he prescribes stress reduction .
Exercise, counseling, meditation, religion ,hobbies ,music, relaxation techniques he says he subscribes to them all.
Several Eastern religions base their value on meditation to produce a calmness of spirit. There is a practice called Shinrin-yoku in Japan which is a form of meditation in a natural setting. The practice is also known and practiced under different names in Korea nd China. Essentially in its simplest terms states that exposure to nature and the natural world and its sights , feelings and smells will produce a positive relaxation response. Western medicine is picking up on this and it is demonstable true. It is found that exercise in the outdoors is of greater benefit than walking a treadmill in front of a TV screen
.RELAX
Amazingly, there is very little conscious thought given this area of health , given out expensive health care situation it should be number one. I fully understand that our society is just loaded with stress makers, so it is hard to avoid, but we must all learn to push back gently against that tide.
Look Out !!! I hope others will make the conscious choice to help themselves.
