Stress and mental health

David Zizzo, Staff Writer

Published: May 25, 2008

Most of us don't run across many predators or rockslides these days, but the natural reaction we developed to help survive them is still with us. The stress response. In fact, we still use it a lot. We have adapted it for almost everything these days, experts say.

“We can think that maybe our job is in danger, and our brain just kicks into that stress response,” said Pamela Garcy, a psychologist in Dallas and author of “The Power of Inner Guidance.” And there's family life and finances and the war and the economy and ... .

Too much of this “fight-or-flight” reaction, as the response also is known, can catch up with you, though.

“All the things your body has set up to help protect you can, over the long run, actually end up hurting you,” Garcy said.

Take Jim Shaffer. The Norman man works long hours and travels on business. He helps care for and homeschool his three young children and takes college courses online. He volunteers at church.

“You can do only so much,” he said.

His lifestyle left him struggling to sleep at night and to stay awake in the daytime, and he figures it's responsible for some physical ailments he suffers. Jim Shaffer is stressed-out. He is not alone.

“It's endemic here in the United States and all over the world,” said Anita Nicholson, a stress counselor in Houston.

One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress, and nearly half of Americans say their stress has increased over the past five years, the American Psychological Association said. Some say stress has given us road rage, air rage, computer rage and even shopping rage. Stress has taken a toll on relationships and work productivity. And worse.

People have always endured stress — what French physiology pioneer Claude Bernard called “milieu interieur.” Stress is the body's way of putting itself on alert. The fight-or-flight mechanism releases hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, and blood-clotting chemicals to reduce blood loss in case of injury. Glucose levels rise to provide quick energy. The heart speeds to supply more oxygen and cooling. The digestive system slows, and blood is diverted to the major muscles and the brain.

Chronic stress burdens the cardiovascular system, alters the immune system and irritates the digestive system. Studies suggest this can cause or at least exacerbate various maladies, from sleep disorders and diminished sexual drive to diabetes and even cancer.

Stress essentially is what happens when we try to adapt to change, said Peter Lambrou, a psychologist in La Jolla, Calif. And these days, we're deluged with change.

“Today is vastly more complex,” Lambrou said.

In our agrarian past, people would work long, hard days. But the challenges, duties and chores tended to remain stable. In the industrial age, change ratcheted up, but people still tended to live in the same home for 50 years, work at the same job for 40 years, do pretty much the same things each day.

Today, we have computers, the Internet, satellite communications, blogs, text messaging, telephones in every pocket and TVs on every wall. Fear seems to sell, so we're showered with streaming, breathless alarm 24-7. We're tuned-in, turned-on and stressed-out.

“The information age has allowed us to be aware of virtually everything going on in the world all the time,” Lambrou said. “We have the ability to have too much information.”

Of course, there are many ways to reduce or at least handle stress, experts say. Strategies range from organizing and simplifying your life to tuning out and meditating.

“The sky's the limit on what you can do,” Nicholson said.

One more thing about stress: You can never get rid of all of it. You wouldn't want to, anyway, experts say. Stress can increase performance and awareness, and can heighten your senses. It can even be enjoyable, as anyone who has seen a scary movie, ridden a roller coaster or stepped out of an airplane with a parachute can tell you. In the right amounts at the right time, stress can be an energizing splash in the face with cold reality.

“If you're not stressed, you're not living,” Nicholson said. “If you take stress out of the picture, you're 6 feet under.”

David Zizzo: 475-3233, dzizzo@oklahoman.com

Your thoughts!