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Tag Archive for: stress

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Summer Can be Stressful: Reduce Stress with These Top Tips

As Canadians, we are well-known for making the most of our short summer months! We often fill them with day trips, weekends away, and vacations with family or friends. However,  this summer fun can also bring on “summer stress” with all of the errand running, planning, organization and co-ordination that’s required to make that summer fun possible. Everyone sees and defines “stress” differently, but whether you recognize these additional demands as being “stressful” or not, they certainly weigh on our minds and add to the mental list of things we need to accomplish and manage in our days.

So what can Occupational Therapy do to help? Stress management is one area where Occupational Therapists can make suggestions that are helpful.  These suggestions can help you to get the most fun from your summer, while preventing and managing the inevitable summer stress. Below you will find some general examples of the kinds of Occupational Therapy strategies that can help you limit and manage your summer stressors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Programming Note:

Summer vacation is here and we will be taking a break from our regular schedule.  We will be posting some of our popular seasonal blogs just once a week throughout the summer but will resume our regular three weekly posts in September, filled with new and exciting content including our popular O-Tip of Week series.

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Can you “Catch” Stress Like you Catch a Cold?

The short answer… yes!  Science has proven that stress is contagious and that basically, being around people who are stressed can change your brain in the same way.  Learn the details of this incredibly interesting study in the following care of The National Post.

The National Post:  Your stress can actually change your partner’s brain, study suggests

Learn more about the effects of stress and ways to manage it from our popular post, How Stress is Affecting Your Health.

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O-Tip of the Week: Gain Control Over Stress or It Will Control You

Our O-Tip of the week series we will be providing valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living. 

For the month of February, Heart Month, our O-Tip series will feature Heart Smart Life Hacks.

In 2013, Statistics Canada reported that 6.6 million Canadians (ages 15 and older) reported that most days were ‘quite a bit’ or ‘extremely stressful’.  That is a lot of stress.  Stress can negatively affect many aspects of your physical and emotional health including your heart.  Learn more about the connection between stress and heart disease in the following care of the American Heart Association.

For the sake of your heart, and overall health, it’s time to take control of your stress!   Start by identifying WHAT specifically is causing the stress and from there you can work to develop healthy coping strategies.  

Try our free printable Stress Management Worksheet as a guide.

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Top 10 Tips for a Stress-Free Holiday Season

December is, legitimately, the most stressful month of the year. Shopping and presents, food preparation, cards, socializing, crowds, different schedules and routines, decorations, spending, pressure to buy the right thing for the right person – and not forgetting anyone.

I wanted to offer some practical suggestions to reduce stress and help you enjoy the holiday season this year.  Here are Julie’s TOP 10 TIPS based on my own experiences as a busy mom, but also as an occupational therapist who often helps people to break down tasks into more manageable, and less stressful chunks:

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Overcome Emotional Eating

March is Nutrition Month and to celebrate our Food for Thought series will focus on some of the main factors that influence what we eat. Stress is an often overlooked piece of our health, yet it can be very damaging as it effects our bodies both physically and mentally. Specifically related to food, many often “stress eat” as they turn to food as a coping mechanism.  The following from The Dietitians of Canada discusses how to overcome emotional eating and suggests some healthy alternatives.

The Dietitians of Canada Fact Sheet:  Eating and Stress– Help! I eat when I’m stressed!

If you’re struggling with stress take a look at our article, How Stress is Affecting Your Health, for additional assistance.

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The Link Between Stress and Heart Disease

Stress can negatively affect many aspects of your physical and emotional health including your heart.  In recent years, more attention has been paid to reducing stress to help prevent heart disease.  The following from Forbes Magazine discusses two new studies that have uncovered more information about the connection between stress and heart disease.  Read the article to learn more and check out our post, How Stress is Affecting Your Health, for solutions to reduce stress.

Forbes:  The Link Between Stress And Heart Disease May Lie In The Brain

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Holiday Season Survival Guide

December is, legitimately, the most stressful month of the year. Shopping and presents, food preparation, cards, socializing, crowds, different schedules and routines, decorations, spending, pressure to buy the right thing for the right person – and not forgetting anyone.

Instead of harping on all the reasons I struggle this time of year, I am going to be productive and offer some practical suggestions for people that also have issues getting through to January. Here are Julie’s TOP 10 TIPS based on my own experiences as a busy mom, but also as an occupational therapist who often helps people to break down tasks into more manageable, and less stressful chunks:

holiday-survival-guide

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Stress Management Tool

In our post from earlier this week, How Stress is Affecting Your Health, we discussed an important and often overlooked piece of the health puzzle:  stress.  Though some stress is natural and can actually be helpful, when too much stress begins to affect you on a daily basis it can become damaging to your health.

Use our following FREE printable worksheet to help you identify stressors, your reactions and to come up with solutions to help you cope.

stress-management-worksheet

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more helpful tools for children and adults please visit our Printable Resources Page.

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How Stress is Affecting Your Health

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

We know that exercise, sleep and healthy eating are the three most prominent predictors of health.  But in exploring my own health issues of recent, I was reminded of another important key to this puzzle:  stress.  So, I put together my own simple health formula:

Eat well + exercise + sleep – stress = health.

Complicated, I know, but the impact of stress cannot be overemphasized:

In 2013, Statistics Canada reported that 23.0% (6.6 million) of Canadians aged 15 and older reported that most days were ‘quite a bit’ or ‘extremely stressful’, unchanged from 2012.  Females report slightly more stress than males, at 24.6%, to 21.3%, respectively.  That is a lot of stress.

While we know that some stress is good (“eustress”) and causes us to “up our game” and become better, stronger or more resilient, most is bad (“distress”) and can lead to a multitude of health problems including headaches, stomach issues, blood pressure increases, heart problems, diet and sleep disorders.  Further, often stress can resort to poor coping through alcohol and drugs, leading to even bigger issues (WebMD).

Honestly, I get it.  Stress is everywhere.  I feel stress as a mom, as a wife, as a daughter, as an in-law, as a sister, as an entrepreneur, a health professional, business partner, boss, pet-owner, neighbor, friend and honestly a human-being (did Trump really get elected?).  Managing this stress to the point of having a suitable deductible from my health equation is an important priority. 

So how does occupational therapy help?  Well, knowing that stress is a predictor of health, and that it is hard to rehabilitate people who are acutely and chronically stressed, focusing on stress-reducing strategies is one of the key foundations of helping people to function better.  Of course, the nature of the stress-reducing strategy will depend on the person, and how they rate and identify their main stressors.  However, typically occupational therapists help people to manage stress both actively and passively. 

Actively, we want people to identify their stress, work to reduce or eliminate this if possible, and start aligning their time with stress-reducing activities.  Meditation, relaxation exercises, deep breathing, scheduled breaks at work, exercise (even if mild), improved sleep, and changing roles at home or work can start moving stress along the continuum from problematic to manageable.

Passively, there are ways to avoid stress once the triggers are identified.  Proper planning of activities and events, avoidance of stressful situations or people, learning to say “no”, setting boundaries, and having a routine that does not allow stress to move in and start sleeping on your couch can prove helpful.

Ironically, exercise, sleep and eating well work to reduce stress as well, so if you can heavily weight the first half of my untested equation, you can still move things into the health stratosphere.  Parents need to remember too that kids also feel stress (school, sports, worries about this or that) so monitoring their stress is also important because they may lack the skills to identify or manage this themselves.  Play, games, sports, free time, adequate sleep, not taking school too seriously, and creative non-tech outlets are other strategies to help kids (and adults) de-stress and add deposits into their healthy bank account.