When you look at the impact that stress can have on your mental and emotional wellness, it can be quite a scary realisation. Doctors have now begun to realise that stress can have a very serious effect on your physical wellbeing, and can lead to many other health problems.
In fact, many top medical professionals now consider that stress is a primary cause of heart disease, headaches, back pain, stroke and diabetes. There is even recent research which documents a link between stress and cancer. Studies have found that those who suffer from stress are more likely to develop recurring cancer, and those who have lower stress levels are more likely to beat cancer and for it not to come back.
Reducing stress, however, can be easier said than done. With busy lives that involve looking after families, keeping a house and earning money, stress reduction is often a last priority. Fortunately, there is an easy way to reduce stress to some extent, and this is called taking a ‘team approach’ to stress.
When we think of ourselves as individuals, our problems can become larger in our head, making it difficult to see how we are ever going to get over them. If instead we perceive ourselves as part of a team, problems can seem more easily managed. Being part of a team, however, means learning to ask for help when it is needed. Moreover, you need to learn to not only ask for help but to expect help, and to take the pressure off yourself to do everything on your own.
If you think about the way a sporting team works, for example, each person has their role on the field, be that to score the goals, defend the ball from the opposition and so on. A single player would not be successful as they are unable to be everywhere and do all the roles at the same time. Now take that thought and apply it to your own life – is your stress being caused by you expecting yourself to be all over the ‘playing field’ and fulfilling all the roles yourself? If the answer is yes, you need to work out who your other team members could be and start asking them to take on some responsibility.
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