StressStop Blog

Job Stress: Finding The Job That Has The Right Amount Of Stress For You

Thu,17 May 2012 00:00:00

A couple of weeks ago I met a British Airlines flight attendant while we were riding stationary bikes at the gym in the hotel where we were both staying. She had arrived from London about six o'clock the night before and told me she would be leaving on an 11-hour flight back to London later that same day. While she was telling me this, I couldn't help but think of the studies I had recently seen about the negative effects of short layovers on the brain and memory in flight attendants. Short layovers affect memory in flight attendants. Everyone copes with stress differently, so, when I asked if her job was stressful, I wasn't too surprised when she told me she wasn't fazed by the quick turnarounds at all. "My last job as a school teacher," she explained, "was way more stressful than this job." This positive attitude reminded me that a lot of the stress we experience on the job is psychological and involves negative thinking, worry and over-reacting to criticism. As the result, job stress is often best dealt with by using psychological techniques like maintaining a positive perspective. She was quick to let go of the stress in her current career by highlighting the positive differences between her current job and her former job.

Stress, Multitasking and Attention Span

Wed,25 Apr 2012 00:00:00

I've never been a fan of multitasking from a stress management perspective and as the result of reading an interesting article in Scientific American Mind Magazine on multitasking a few weeks ago, I've decided that my feeling about multitasking have been confirmed. "Effective multitasking is a myth. So, too, is the idea that members of the 'multitasking generation,' who grew up with video games, smart phones and e-readers, can somehow concentrate on several things at once. In fact, research indicates that frequent multitaskers are often the worst at it."

How Dr. David Hunnicutt, President of WELCOA, left me speechless. (Or, why I wrote a book about Stress.)

Fri,13 Apr 2012 00:00:00

I first met David Hunnicutt, the President of WELCOA at the American Journal of Health Promotion Conference in Hilton Head South Carolina. Dr. Hunnicutt was giving the keynote address and I was really impressed by it. I happened to bump into him the next day, and I introduced myself, told him a little about what I did, and I told him how much I liked his speech. A year later when I ran into him again at another conference, he surprised me by saying that he remembered meeting me the year before and that he planned on stopping by my booth the next day.

Stress, High School, Tics and Secondary Stress Response

Mon,19 Mar 2012 00:00:00

I've been following the story of the high school girls in LeRoy, NY, a town outside of Rochester, where as many as 18 students, all at the same school, have developed tics (in this case, involuntary arm movements) that are so severe some of the girls have been out of school for months. I've resisted commenting on this story until now because 1. It's already a media circus and 2. It was so obvious to me that these kids were suffering from a stress-related condition and not some mysterious underground toxin.

Are You Stress Sensitive?

Wed,08 Feb 2012 00:00:00

Do you ever wonder if stress affects you more than the average person? Are you easily annoyed or frustrated by minor inconveniences?

Tend and Befriend Meets Fight or Flight

Mon,23 Jan 2012 00:00:00

When I was growing up my parents constantly stressed the importance of going to college. That idea was pretty much drilled into my head from the day I started kindergarten. "You're not going to get into a good college with grades like that, Jimmy!" My mother would always say, even on some of my earliest report cards. So you can imagine the stress I put them under when, approximately eleven years later, it looked like I wasn't even going to graduate from high school.

Stress free Travel and Vacations with Teenagers

Fri,16 Sep 2011 00:00:00

Traveling with teenagers across Europe can be stressful, but it can be rewarding too. My niece got married last summer in England and I decided to turn her invitation into a 17-day epic European vacation for the whole family. I have two daughters, 14 and 17 who traveled with us the whole time and a 21 year old son, who joined us in London and traveled with us for the last week. Our European vacation included stops in Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris and London. We had an incredible time but there were plenty of challenges too.

A Stress Management Seminar Taught by a Cat

Mon,11 Jul 2011 00:00:00

I'm learning a lot about stress management by watching my cat. Whenever he sees me he stretches out in the most luxurious way and purrs appreciatively when I bend down to pet him. He NEVER eats when he's not hungry and he ALWAYS sleeps whenever he's the least bit tired.

Ten Tips for Stress Free Travel

Fri,01 Jul 2011 00:00:00

Last summer, my niece invited us to her wedding in the tiny town of Bradninch, England which is about three hours south of London in the county of Devon. I decided to turn this wedding invitation into an epic 17-day family vacation with stops in Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris, London and of course, Bradninch. It was an amazing vacation, but a real logistical challenge which included one 12-hour period where we woke up in a Paris hotel, took a high-speed train that morning from Paris to London, met up with my 21 year old son in downtown London, rented a car an hour later and drove out to Bradninch (on the left hand side of the road) in Friday rush hour traffic!

Addicted to Busy-ness

Tue,21 Jun 2011 00:00:00

Many people wish they had more time - "If only there were more hours in a day, I could do it all." Actually, as it turns out, time is not the culprit when it comes to bringing more balance to your life. A survey of 800 graduates from Wharton School of Business revealed that the psychological conflicts that arise from thinking about work when at home and thinking about home when at work are more of an issue than lack of time.

Why Stress Makes Us Fat

Tue,14 Jun 2011 00:00:00

Whenever I lecture about the detrimental health effects of stress, and especially its effects on weight gain, I start off my seminars by asking the following three questions:

Wilderness Therapy

Tue,07 Jun 2011 00:00:00

I learned about Open Sky Wilderness Therapy at a Behavioral Medicine (NICABM) conference last December in Hilton Head, SC. You can listen to the Assistant Clinical Director for Open Sky, Dr. Paul Case* on our Meet the Author Series this week. Open Sky is a treatment program for teenagers and young adults that uses "the transformational power of nature" to strengthen relationships, foster growth, cultivate awareness and develop overall health and wellness. This program works with these young people on a wide variety of issues, including substance abuse, depression, ADHD, anxiety, grief and loss, family problems, school problems, and low self-esteem. From what I've seen of it, it sounds like a great program. This blog was submitted by their PR director Jill Hutcheson.

Self-Compassion with Dr. Kristin Neff

Wed,01 Jun 2011 00:00:00

Our guest this week is Dr. Kristin Neff, author of the book, Self-Compassion. Dr. Neff got her Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley and is currently a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, at the University of Texas at Austin. I found out about her work while reading an article in the science section of the New York Times. I was immediately struck by how something as simple as being kind to yourself could have such powerful implications for alleviating pain and suffering.

Stress and Humor with Loretta LaRoche

Tue,24 May 2011 00:00:00

Our guest this week is PBS star, author and humorist Loretta LaRoche. Believe it or not, Loretta does live (and taped) stand-up comedy about stress management. Her 1-hour PBS specials have raised millions of dollars for PBS stations across the country. She is the author of four books including Relax You May Only Have a Few Minutes Left, Lighten Up! and Juicy Living Juicy Aging. Loretta sees the humor in every stressful event that happens. All it takes is a little perspective. As Loretta likes to say; "You are a joke but you just don't get it."

Neuroplasticity, Mindsight and Dr. Daniel Siegel

Tue,17 May 2011 00:00:00

This week's guest is Daniel Siegel, M.D., a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the author of several best-selling books including The Mindful Brain and Mindsight. Mindsight, which will be the focus of this week's discussion, is a fascinating book which integrates the latest in brain science, mindfulness and cognitive psychology. Dr. Siegel really understands the workings of the brain: both as a solo act and in connection with others. As I've heard him explain it: "our mirror neurons allow us to feel someone else's pain literally, so that the pain we feel inside - is exactly the same pain that the other person feels. This forms the basis for empathy." And it in turn helps us understand the concept of MINDSIGHT which I would define as self-awareness and other-person-awareness combined into one.

Belleruth and Guided Imagery

Tue,10 May 2011 00:00:00

I first heard about guided imagery in the early 1980s when I saw a film about cancer research pioneer, Dr. O. Carl Simonton. He was taking a chemotherapy patient through a guided imagery exercise. It seemed a little bizarre to me back then, that a patient's thoughts and visions could somehow help her heal, but apparently it did, and this early work was precedent-setting.

Stress and Insomnia

Tue,03 May 2011 00:00:00

Millions of people suffer from insomnia. Are you one of them? Maybe you're a person who has trouble falling asleep. You feel tired at bedtime, but for some reason, the minute you turn out the light, you suddenly find yourself lying there, wide awake. Or maybe you're a person who has trouble staying asleep. You fall asleep easily, but two to four hours later, you wake up like a shot in the middle of the night and spend the next few hours just staring at your clock. Or maybe you're a person who wakes up too early or who just doesn't feel rested after a full night's sleep and you don't know why.

Ron Siegel on Mindfulness

Tue,26 Apr 2011 00:00:00

Five years ago I was asked by the U.S. Army to put on a mindfulness presentation at their national health conference in Albuquerque, NM. I knew very little about this subject at the time, so I politely declined. For some reason, that Army Representative (who had heard me speak on stress management at a Navy health conference) wasn't going to give up that easily and persuaded me to do it.

Dr. Katz and Emotional Eating

Wed,20 Apr 2011 00:00:00

I'm writing a blog entry for every speaker in the Meet the Author's Webinar Series. This week's guest is David L. Katz, M.D. I first met Dr. Katz when we worked together on a five part video series on Stress Management several years ago.

Dr. Joan Borysenko and Resilience

Tue,12 Apr 2011 00:00:00

This week we are going to be talking to Dr. Joan Borysenko, about her new book on resilience entitled: It's Not the End of the World: Developing Resilience in Times of Change. Joan is the author many books including The NY Times Bestseller, Minding the Body, Mending the Mind and more recently Your Soul's Compass. Joan got her Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School and soon after that helped to start the prestigious Mind Body Clinic in Boston, with Dr. Hebert Benson.