The Stress of Life

A while back, I read a book that blew me away, "The Stress of Life, " by Dr. Hans Selye. The author wrote about witnessing a dramatic increase in life stress, with all kinds of physical and emotional ramifications.

You're probably wondering why this premise would be so jaw dropping. We all know that stress causes all of kinds of problems. And it's obvious that people have more stress than ever before.

What shocked me was that the book was written in the l950s! This was a time before computers, cell phones, the Internet, or texts to keep you notified and working 24/7. There weren't even any credit cards to keep people in debt.

Back then, jobs were plentiful; there was almost 100 percent employment in the US. Housing was cheap, and new homes were being built all the time, for almost no money down. Studies indicated that about 95 percent of the population were optimistic about the future. And, yet, Selye was sounding the alarm about the deleterious affects of mounting stress.

If Dr. Selye could see us now! He's be astonished and horrified by the stress we endure: the long commutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic; parents exhausted from balancing home and work; and workers tied to a computer all day.

So here's the burning question: what do we do?

The doctor had many suggestions in his book, many of which are pretty obvious now. We need to take walks, get time in nature, and enjoy hobbies.

But one thing stood out for me that he said, which is that stress is cumulative. Throughout the day, we build up tension that we don't even know that we have.

Consequently, it can be hard to sleep or relax unless we have taken frequent moments during the day to unwind. Many people depend on sleep medications, edibles, Amazon shopping, and alcohol to try to destress, though these may have negative consequences.

Selye suggested taking frequent moments when we simply relax and breath. This could just be a minute or so to practice calm. And we should notice when tension builds up so we can reduce it throughout the day, and not let it accumulate.

This method may not eliminate all the stress in our lives. But given the skyrocketing emotional issues and somatic problems (that Selye was seeing 60 years ago!), we all need to find some relief.