The Stock Market, The “Bail Out”, and The crazy political situation might be causing you some stress.
I know I am a little stressed about the economy right now. Is this tinge of stress and anxiety I am feeling a bad thing?
New Anxiety Study
According to a 2008 study, published in the Journal, “Psychological Science”*, adults who experienced a bit more anxiety while potentially losing money in a financial game were better able than the low anxiety group to avoid financial loss in a separate game months later.
So anxiety does have a function!
It turns out there is a region in your brain called the anterior insula, which plays the role of predicting harm (causing anxiety) and also learning how to avoid it.
Psychologists at Stanford University scanned the anterior insula of healthy adults while they anticipated losing money. Those who had a higher activation of the insula when exposed to threat, were better able to avoid financial losses in a separate game months later.
So when people tell you to “just relax” in a situation where the logical reaction might be to be a bit stressed, you can know that you are actually learning at a deep level how to not make the same mistake twice.
The Flip Side of Anxiety
On the flip side, people whose insula reactions are too high can experience a myriad of stress related diseases. This suggests there is an optimal stress and anxiety response.
According to a 2007 report put out by the Mayo clinic**, chronic stress and anxiety can cause ill health effects such as digestive difficulties that range from stomach aches to diarrhea, anxiety, irritability, insomnia and depression.
How do You Balance The Good and The Bad Effects of Stress?
One important strategy for stress reduction that the report mentions is to be able to identify the cause of stress and determine whether it is external or internal.
Then concentrate on dealing with stressors that can be changed and let go of stressors where you have no control.
This is a big point and one that is missed with a lot of the stress and anxiety programs and CDs I see advertised on the internet. There are a myriad of programs that teach you how to relax in the moment. CDs with relaxing music, guided imagery, etc…
These are great and better than nothing. However, they don’t deal with the core issues of effectively managing stress and anxiety.
The fact is (just look at the beginning of this post) that stress in and of itself is a healthy response. It is how you deal with it that is the difference between you excelling or becoming a stress case!
Effective stress management requires that you deal with stressors head on and do not avoid these situations. This is what causes stress to compound - leading to general anxiety disorders and bad health effects.
Hypnosis and Stress
Hypnosis has a long history as an effective stress reduction technique, but when we were looking for a therapist to create a program for us, we wanted to ensure that the sessions did not just teach you how to relax, but that they also taught effective stress management behavior at a deep level.
After a long process, we found Dr. Randy Gilchrist who is both an expert in addictions and stress management, with and without hypnosis. What this means is that Dr. Gilchrist has years of experience helping people develop effective stress management strategies from all walks of life.
Based on the feedback we have been getting, the program is helping people go beyond just coping with stress. It is helping people confront stressful situations and learning to actually use stress as motivation.
This change not only makes a person more effective in just about everything they do, it has huge health benefits.
A Special Offer
Anyway - because of the economy we figure this is a good time for you to experience the program.
And for the next seven days, we are going to give you a coupon where you can get 20% off.
Just enter the coupon code, “stress” (no quotes) after you click to cart. Then you can choose the installment option and start for less than $19.
http://www.hypnosisnetwork.com/hypnosis/stress_anxiety.php
I hope you have enjoyed the information and please do comment.
*Association for Psychological Science (2008, April 5). A Little Anxiety Is Sometimes A Good Thing, Study Shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved
**Mayo Clinic (2007, October 8). Manage Long-Term Stress To Avoid Ill Health Effects.