Brown Bagging It 22
Everybody has it. No one wants it, but we can’t seem to escape it. It’s an addiction that we don’t derive a single bit of pleasure or any semblance of a high. What we have is stress, anxiety and worry wrapped into a messy bundle of emotional turmoil. It deepens those wrinkles that then lead us to stress even more. It makes us sick, which causes us to fall behind at work and in school and the stress keeps piling up. It is one large vicious, self-perpetuating cycle that traps us with immense force. And lastly, it is completely and utterly useless. To quote Van Wilder, “worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.” This is a truly profound statement from the quintessential playboy who took seven years to graduate from Coolidge College.
The reason I am so interested in creating and understanding different realities – past blog – is that I want a life and reality free of stress and anxiety. I am done worrying. All of these mental burdens cause us to lose sleep, hair and add to our wrinkles. It is a cycle we can avoid with more controlled and positive thinking. With the assiduous work needed for graduate school upon the horizon, I have decided that I won’t let the experience take years off my life or make me spend hours cleaning to avoid my studies.
Excessive schoolwork used to be one of my biggest triggers for stress. I would dwell upon the unfinished task and whether or not I had enough time to complete my work. However the anxiety was constantly hapless because I always got the work done regardless of the amount of stress I put myself through. Despite the stress, the work usually gets done for most of us because we allow enough time and space to get everything done. Some of us work better under the self-imposed pressure, as one of my friends who is a resident in psychiatry describes waiting until the hung-over morning of a presentation to read and prepare because that way they absorb more information. This individual is certainly an exception to the general population and in repeatedly perfect hindsight, realized the stress is very unnecessary. The time we spend stressing only results in wasted moments of our precious lives.
Stress has been genetically linked to a shorter life span. Stress takes its toll on a part of our genetic makeup known as telomeres. Telomeres are responsible for cell health and the amount of times a cell can divide. Each time a cell divides the telomere shortens and once it becomes too short the cell can no longer divide. And stress only expedites the shortening of the telomeres and causes our bodies to fall apart sooner. A study on the effects of stress on telomeres was done at UCSF and I’ve heard about these influences multiple times. (You can find more information on it at futurepundit.com).
Stress also causes us to get sick. Stress releases the hormone cortisol from the adrenal glands, (adrenal=adrenaline) which are located directly on top of the kidneys. A normal amount of cortisol is essential for the body to function and keep our blood pressure up, but during stressful times our body is bombarded with cortisol and it can have many caustic effects. With extra cortisol, we can suffer from anxiety, depression and a list of other nuisances, but the most immediate effect is its weakening of the immune system. Extra doses of cortisol greatly reduces the immune system's ability to fight pathogens. Thus this hormone adds to that vicious circle of losing precious time to finish what needs to be accomplished by making us sick and useless.
Another key factor that contributes to the endless cycle of stress is focus. Now focus generally carries positive connotations of ‘being in the zone’ and my previous sentence may sound ridiculous, but give me a chance to explain. Focus is exacerbated by stress; it leads to an obsessive-like focus on our workload. This type of focus only increases our stress as we dwell on the issues, which then become a serious hindrance to moving beyond the pressurizing cycle of stress. We focus on the need to complete the task at hand more than how to actually complete and task without overlooking important issues. Fort Minor sums it up nicely for me in ‘Back Home’ with the lyrics, “focus is overrated, ‘cause you see every blemish and mistake and can’t change it.” Just something to think about next time you feel that knot of panic in your stomach to accomplish something then realize you have a tremendous urge to vacuum the entire house instead of working on the essentials. Escaping the stress – by cleaning or listening to some angry Linkin' Park - is always easier then confronting it.
The reason I am so interested in creating and understanding different realities – past blog – is that I want a life and reality free of stress and anxiety. I am done worrying. All of these mental burdens cause us to lose sleep, hair and add to our wrinkles. It is a cycle we can avoid with more controlled and positive thinking. With the assiduous work needed for graduate school upon the horizon, I have decided that I won’t let the experience take years off my life or make me spend hours cleaning to avoid my studies.
Excessive schoolwork used to be one of my biggest triggers for stress. I would dwell upon the unfinished task and whether or not I had enough time to complete my work. However the anxiety was constantly hapless because I always got the work done regardless of the amount of stress I put myself through. Despite the stress, the work usually gets done for most of us because we allow enough time and space to get everything done. Some of us work better under the self-imposed pressure, as one of my friends who is a resident in psychiatry describes waiting until the hung-over morning of a presentation to read and prepare because that way they absorb more information. This individual is certainly an exception to the general population and in repeatedly perfect hindsight, realized the stress is very unnecessary. The time we spend stressing only results in wasted moments of our precious lives.
Stress has been genetically linked to a shorter life span. Stress takes its toll on a part of our genetic makeup known as telomeres. Telomeres are responsible for cell health and the amount of times a cell can divide. Each time a cell divides the telomere shortens and once it becomes too short the cell can no longer divide. And stress only expedites the shortening of the telomeres and causes our bodies to fall apart sooner. A study on the effects of stress on telomeres was done at UCSF and I’ve heard about these influences multiple times. (You can find more information on it at futurepundit.com).
Stress also causes us to get sick. Stress releases the hormone cortisol from the adrenal glands, (adrenal=adrenaline) which are located directly on top of the kidneys. A normal amount of cortisol is essential for the body to function and keep our blood pressure up, but during stressful times our body is bombarded with cortisol and it can have many caustic effects. With extra cortisol, we can suffer from anxiety, depression and a list of other nuisances, but the most immediate effect is its weakening of the immune system. Extra doses of cortisol greatly reduces the immune system's ability to fight pathogens. Thus this hormone adds to that vicious circle of losing precious time to finish what needs to be accomplished by making us sick and useless.
Another key factor that contributes to the endless cycle of stress is focus. Now focus generally carries positive connotations of ‘being in the zone’ and my previous sentence may sound ridiculous, but give me a chance to explain. Focus is exacerbated by stress; it leads to an obsessive-like focus on our workload. This type of focus only increases our stress as we dwell on the issues, which then become a serious hindrance to moving beyond the pressurizing cycle of stress. We focus on the need to complete the task at hand more than how to actually complete and task without overlooking important issues. Fort Minor sums it up nicely for me in ‘Back Home’ with the lyrics, “focus is overrated, ‘cause you see every blemish and mistake and can’t change it.” Just something to think about next time you feel that knot of panic in your stomach to accomplish something then realize you have a tremendous urge to vacuum the entire house instead of working on the essentials. Escaping the stress – by cleaning or listening to some angry Linkin' Park - is always easier then confronting it.
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