Stress Management

Isn't stress just a part of life?

Yes, to some degree stress will always be a part of everyday living. But, it can become a big problem when the level of stress or the frequency of stress in our lives increases to the point where it affects our behavior and/or actions in a negative way, possibly leading to very serious health consequences.

Every individual has a different threshold for how much stress they can handle in their lives before they become negatively impacted emotionally and/or physically. The first step is recognizing when we are feeling overly stressed or under a great deal of pressure.

Some people might not even be aware that they are presently in a very stressful situation or time in their life. Or, they might recognize the stress but believe the right thing to do is just "grin & bear it" or "man up" or some other common macho stereotype that they have been shown or taught. In either case, wittingly or unwittingly, they play a dangerous game in which they can wind up putting themselves and their love ones at emotional and/or physical risk. Many now believe that stress may play a large part in making us more susceptible to contracting different types of illnesses. Recent studies have speculated that as many as 2 out of every 3 people seeking medical attention has some form of stress occurring in their life at the very same time.

Stress Recognition

There are two separate types of stress: internal and external. External stress can often end up creating internal stress.

External Stressors

Examples of possible External Stressors (not in order of severity) include:

  • Loved one/family member/friend develops a serious illness
  • Loved one/family member/friend has died
  • Loved one/spouse is cheating on you
  • Divorce
  • Long term relationship ends
  • Loss of job
  • Prospect of losing your job
  • Working under difficult conditions (deadlines/bad morale, employee behavioral problems)
  • Difficult boss
  • School/educational problems with your child
  • School testing/exams

External stressors are real, not imagined, incidents that unfortunately occur in everyone's life at one time or another. Alpha Behavioral Care stress management techniques combined with our state-of-the-art neurofeedback training help people respond to these stressors both internally and externally which works best when.

Internal Stressors

Internal stressors are the emotional and/or physical symptoms that can result from internalizing our external stress ineffectively without the aid of stress management or other accepted forms of stress relief therapy.

Examples of possible Internal Stressors (not in order of severity) include:

  • Feeling anxious
  • Frightened
  • Scared
  • Worried
  • Moody
  • Irritable
  • Preoccupied
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Forgetfulness
  • Teeth grinding
  • Acne
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Affected speech
  • Accident proneness
  • Loss of appetite
  • Emotional eating (overeating or binge eating)
  • Stomach problems
  • IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)
  • Headaches
  • Migraines
  • Muscle pain (especially in neck & lower back)
  • Lowered immunity resulting in an increased susceptibility to illness.

The most recent findings have linked chronic stress sufferers with an increased level of cortisol (which is believed to increase abdominal fat) in their bloodstream. Heart attack and strokes victims have many times been shown to exhibit unhealthy levels of stomach fat that can raise their bad cholesterol (LDL) levels. These elevated levels are considered to be possible warning signs for future heart related problems.