COPING WITH STRESS: Less stress, better health

Stress can undermine every aspect of your health unless you manage it

jupiter imagesStress can lead to health problems such as headaches, fatigue, muscle pain, insomnia, weight loss and even chest pain. It can also worsen medical conditions such as heart disease or autoimmune diseases. Advertisement

The phrase "I'm stressed out" is becoming a common utterance as southern Nevadans maintain a fast-paced lifestyle. How one copes with this feeling of stress determines whether it is a fleeting feeling or if it impacts one's health.

According to Dr. Nouhad Damaj, who specializes in internal medicine at Horizon View Medical Center in the Centennial Hills Hospital medical offices in the northwestern valley, stress is basically the body's reaction to a situation.

"Stress is usually a body's reaction to any physical or emotional change or an environment change. Stress can be caused by a minute situation or it could be caused by a large change. ... It depends on how you handle the situations on how much stress you feel. Basically what you may experience is an increased heart rate and blood pressure. If you have uncontrolled blood pressure, this could lead to heart palpitations or a stroke. Longterm, stress can affect your cholesterol levels and your health."

IMPACT OF STRESS ON HEALTH

Stress can be attributed to myriad physical symptoms, some of which mirror the symptoms associated with serious medical conditions, according to Dr. Constantine George, who specializes in internal medicine and pediatrics at Southern Hills Hospital.

"When a patient comes in, I first ask what type of physical symptoms they are having. And then I may ask about their home environment, their work environment, about their social life to try to find out if they're experiencing a lot of stress in their daily lives," George said. "As a doctor, you want to make sure that someone doesn't have an underlying medical problem or a disease. Your doctor needs to rule out all of those things before determining that your symptoms are caused just by stress."

George categorizes stress-related symptoms into four types: Cognitive, emotional, physical and behavioral.

"The big thing that we notice with people under stress is that they have headaches or fatigue. They are lethargic, they have no energy. They just don't feel well. They feel blah," George said.

"People with stress may experience cognitive symptoms such as memory problems, poor concentration, anxiousness, being pessimistic, they can't think clearly," George said. "There are emotional symptoms, too, like feeling on edge, being short-tempered, feeling isolated, being moody.

"Some physical symptoms may include headaches, muscle pain, gastrointestinal problems, insomnia, chest pain, weight gain or weight loss and skin breakouts. Some people seem to be sick frequently such as frequent colds because their immune system is compromised," George said.

"Behavioral issues are also associated with stress, depending on the type of person that you are. When you are stressed, you may exercise a lot more, or you may sleep too much or too little. You may isolate yourself or neglect yourself. It can get worse and can attribute to depression," George said.

"Stress can exacerbate or make other medical issues worse like heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome, skin diseases, autoimmune diseases, migraines. Basically, stress can flare up many different kinds of medical conditions," George said.

DOCTORS' TIPS ON REDUCING STRESS

There is no one cure-all method in reducing stress.

"Just like medical conditions, everybody emotionally, physically and mentally can react differently in stressful situations depending on their background and how they have seen others react to similar situations. We're all humans and we are all trained differently, and that's why there is not one pill or one answer for people on how to deal with stress," George said.

"I encourage patients to take a look at how they handle situations. You should learn to be flexible meaning that you should be flexible with your ways and thinking patterns," George said. "... Exercise if you can to help get the stress out. A lot of people turn to religion or spirituality. ... You should communicate and talk about how you're feeling to help prevent a build up anger. When you are stressed out, you may talk negatively and instead you should try to put a positive spin on things. And you should be realistic ... with your expectations and not try to take on too many things at one time."

Pinpointing one's stress triggers and developing coping skills can help lessen the stress in one's life, Damaj said.

"After determining that their symptoms are caused by stress and not by an acute medical condition, I try to help patients learn how to deal with the stressful situations and how to cope with the stressful triggers themselves," Damaj said. "It's important to find out their coping skills and how they react to stressful situations. Do they overeat when they're stressed? Do they try to smoke more? Do they do a sport that they love, or do they stay home and isolate themselves? The advice given really depends on the baseline skills that they have.

"One thing that I may suggest is to keep a stress journal to write down what kind of stress they have, how they deal with it, the situations that cause it and how they react to it," Damaj said. "If someone's job is very stressful, I encourage them to make a list of what is required from them, what triggers the stress and to find ways to handle it.

"Sometimes, people need to learn how to set some realistic goals and realistic deadlines, prioritize them in a planner and to try to just deal with the priorities first and to try to plan for the other things ahead of time," Damaj said. "Sometimes it's best for someone to try to avoid confrontation and arguments and to try to stay away from people and situations that cause the stress, if you can."

As in any medical situation, receiving appropriate treatment depends on patient-doctor communication.

"It's important for patients and doctors to communicate. If I only spend five minutes with a patient, the patient won't tell me these things. It takes time to talk to learn about a patient's symptoms and to determine its causes," Damaj said.

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

Dr. Alex Bellinghausen of Better Health Chiropractic concurs that determining a patient's type and cause of stress are important in assisting patients. He considers which of two types of stress a patient may be experiencing. "Eustress" can be beneficial and keeps one active. He said "distress," which is what most people consider as stress and can wear a body down, exists in four types -- mental (emotional), physical, chemical and thermal.

"In our office, Better Health Chiropractic, we match the treatment to the patient. Therefore, a patient's medical history, a filled out health questionnaire, a physical exam, and specific indications looked for in applied kinesiology protocols ... can help with determining if adrenal dysfunction is the cause of what the patient is experiencing," Bellinghausen said.