How do you handle negitive stress?

The science of Stress:

We have ample knowledge of what negative stress (NS) does to us.  Well, those of us who live with MS for more or less than than half a decade are aware of it.  In 2018, Researchers finally proved what we knew.  Awesome.  But what good is knowledge and facts without knowing how to avoid NS?  Do we just sit at home and avoid it?  Is that even a good idea?  Experts such as health authorities say "No" very loudly.

What is Stress?

Stress is your body's way of responding to any kind of demand. It can be caused by both good and bad experiences. When people feel stressed by something going on around them, their bodies react by releasing chemicals into the blood.  There is positive stress.  That gets infants from crawling to walking.  Learning new ways to overcome barriers.  Improvements in life.  Success in goals affecting lives including your own and family.  Those affect our disease in positive ways.  Negative stressors like arguments, angry thoughts, actions, pain are the things that do damage to those of us in all autoimmune diseases.

How to reduce stress in your life

This post would be useless without telling you how to avoid that stress.  Fact is though, you can never avoid negative stress.  You can only change it to positive stress.  But how do you do that?  There are many ways to learn "Stress Management".  The most basic way is to recognize internal negative thoughts and change them to reflect positive.  One way to do this is to force your face into the shape of a smile and hold it 10 seconds.  Try it now.  I'll count for you.  10----9----8----7----6----5----4----3----2----1.  Breath in slowly and deep, exhale just as slow.  How do you feel now?  Try it as soon as you open your eyes. This is known as the "10 second smile" exercise.  I guarantee your day will go better when you start in a good mood.  Go for a walk, but be prepared for the weather and environment you walk in.  You could even try yoga.  There is some poses for chair bound individuals and is so simple to do at home with no real expensive training or specialized equipment.  Some other activities are listed below the video posted

Mindfulness to relieve negative stress

This is a powerful way of calming your thoughts to reduce NS   Simply put, it involves sitting or lying in a quiet comfortable space, closing your eyes, breathing deeply and steadily not too fast and not thinking of anything except sensations in your body occurring during the exercise.  Be aware of your body and try to block harsh sounds distracting thoughts and interruptions.  There are free courses offered in this exercise, I will encourage you to learn and practice it often.  if you live in the region covered by the Northern Regional Chapter of the MS Society of Canada, (much of British Columbia outside the Lower mainland east of Victoria but includes Haida Gwaii and the Yukon Territory) there is a "Regional Self Help Support Group" that meets electronically or by telephone on the 4th Friday of each month.  Contact the Chapter to learn more.  Sign up for their "Messenger" newsletter sent out once a month to be aware of all MS activities affecting our MS'ed up part of the world.  We live here with a huge percent of Canada's large MS population.  The Northern Regional Support meetings are facilitated by an instructor in Mindfulness.  We also have a very active Self Help group in Prince George, as do many communities throughout the region and caregivers are as welcome as people diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, just like the face to face groups in our communities

Social activity to combat stress

Social activity is great to combat negative stress.  If your community has no "live" self help group, perhaps you can start one.  For a number of years, I facilitated a group of one here.  If you would rather, join a walk group at a local mall or park or just call a buddy and set up a walk.  Find new friends on a  public transit bus. Almost all communities have some very diverse social groups and activities, many are free and all are welcome.  You will enjoy yourself if you let yourself feel free.  Accept that some NS must be ongoing, particularly grief.  It helps keep memories alive and knowledge that death is only hard on the surviving contacts.  Truly enjoy life and smile lots to overcome NS, even if grief.  Practice that "10 second smile" (described above) now.

Ending stress and this post

Simply said, Stress will never end.  This post must though.  Practice changing it all to Positive Stress.  Smile at strangers, it is incredibly therapeutic and self empowering when they smile back.  Start each day with a smile.  Laugh more often.  Praise, don't criticize.  Practice good hygiene and always find the silver lining to every situation, take value in experiences good or bad.  Try to relax at all times, and live well.  Till next post, practice smiling!

Did you enjoy this post about Stress?

Consider donating to the Prince George MS Walk through our Self Help Group's "Walk Team".  You may join there and help us inspire your contacts by raising money collectively, or simply donate to a member of the team securely with all our thanks.  10% of that donation and other monies collected by the team gets returned to the Prince George Multiple Sclerosis Self Help Group to share through the community unrestricted from MS Society restrictions and obligations.