Reader's Digest - December 1998

Winter's harsh weather, shorter hours of daylight and family demands can all exacerbate feelings of stress-and even result in holiday headaches. According to Dr. Paul Rosch, president of The American Institute of Stress, one Midwestern headache clinic reported that complaints of tension and migraine headaches increased 40 percent from Thanksgiving to Christmas, compared with other six-week periods of the year.

Many physicians are now trained in techniques to relieve tension and stress. But which strategies do they themselves use? Here, top health professionals reveal their favorite stress busters. Nine in all, they are:

1. Soothe with food. When nutritional biochemist Judith Wurtman is stressed out, she does what a lot of people do this time of year: she reaches for food. But in her case, it's a healthy rice cake or two. "My research suggests that carbohydrates raise the levels of the mood-regulating brain chemical serotonin, which exerts a calming effect on the entire body," says the M.I.T. research scientist. "So symptoms of stress-such as anger, tension, irritability and inability to concentrate-are eased."
   
   Since the mood-enhancing effect of carbohydrates takes time to kick in and lasts just two to three hours, Wurtman suggests eating several mini-meals on high-stress days. But keep your total calories at the proper level.


2. Ask Three Questions. Duke University psychiatrist Redford Williams was meeting with several other doctors when the group's leader called a suggestion he made "ridiculous." Williams was livid.
   
   That's when he took the advice he gives his patients and asked himself three questions:
   
   First, Is this important? "Yes," he decided. "It's important not to have my ideas put down."
   
   He next considered, Is my reaction appropriate? Again he thought, "Yes. A judge and jury would say I had a good reason to be upset.
   
   Finally Williams asked, Is this situation changeable? A third "yes," which meant he should take action. "Excuse me," he said. "Please don't use words like 'ridiculous' to characterize my ideas." As the leader apologized, Williams's tension melted away.
   
   Williams counts himself among the 20 percent of adults whose susceptibility to anger is high enough to threaten their health. But everyone can try his approach to handling the stressors that set anger off-and it needn't be in a work environment.


3. Run from your problems. Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper, who popularized aerobics through his 1968 book by that title, handles his own stress with a daily after-work run. He knows that physical activity reduces anxiety and depression, although the specific mechanism by which exercise has this effect remains unclear.
   
   "Aerobic exercise is the best way to dissipate stress and make the transition into family time," says Cooper. But he cautions, don't let exercise itself become a stress. Even moderate activity-such as a daily 30-minute walk-can improve health and mood. "That's why I tell my patients to be sure to walk their dog every day," he says with a chuckle, "even if they don't have one."


4. Check your perspective. Driving in for a busy day as a Mayo Clinic stress management expert, psychologist Michelle Taylor saw the oil-maintenance light pop on in her minivan. She faced a nonstop schedule of patients and had to pick up her three-year-old after work. "I felt myself tense up," recalls Taylor, who then tried her quick stress busting strategy. She asked herself, Is this a matter of life or death? No. The oil could safely be changed the next week.
   
   Taylor tells patients to do only those tasks that would have serious consequences if left undone. "Will you die if you don't do the laundry?" she asks. Taking at least a half-hour a day to do something you enjoy, she notes, lets you recharge your batteries. Especially around the holidays, skip some routine chores to make time for family and friends.


5. Take a "mini." The pilot's words were terrifying: "Ladies and gentleman, please remain calm. We have aborted our descent because a warning light indicates our landing gear won't lock into place." Panicked murmurs filled the cabin, and Harvard psychologist Alice Domar squeezed her husband Dave Ostrow's hand. Staring out the window in alarm at emergency vehicles lining the runway, Domar realized they were preparing for a crash landing. Her heart began to race and her breath came in shallow gasps. Then Ostrow whispered into her ear, "Maybe now's a good time for you to teach me minis."
   
   A "mini" is Domar's term for a mini-relaxation technique" that can be done anywhere. One technique is "belly breathing," which fills the lungs completely and speeds vital oxygen to the brain. While the plane circled Logan Airport, Domar told her husband how to breathe deeply from the abdomen: "Take a deep, slow breath through your nose and feel the air move into your lower belly. Now exhale long and slow. Allow yourself to sigh as your stomach flattens. Imagine the air you inhale carries a sense of peace and calm. Imagine your exhalation removes tension."
   
   Nearby passengers were listening, and Domar encouraged them to join in. Fortunately the plane landed safely. And when the relieved passengers disembarked, they took with them a new "mini" technique to beat stress.


6. Look to the light side. On his way to the hospital where his father was about to undergo open-heart surgery, author and educator Joel Goodman shared a hotel courtesy van with the anxious relatives of several patients. The driver began telling his stressed-out passengers a few jokes. "Then he did some magic tricks that had my mother and me laughing," Goodman says. "In that five-minute ride he taught us that humor can relieve our stress."
   
   The surgery was successful, and Goodman was so moved by his experience that he researched laughter's power. "A good laugh relaxes muscles, lowers blood pressure, suppresses stress-related hormones and enhances the immune system," says Goodman, who founded "The Humor Project" in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., an organization devoted to the healing power of humor. In his workshops, he tells clients faced with something stressful to ask themselves how their favorite comedian would view the situation.


7. Go green. Spiced coffee, cocoa, winter cold medications-the holiday season is loaded with hidden sources of caffeine, a stimulant that revs up the nervous system and can make you more susceptible to stress.
   
   That's why Arizona physician Andrew Weil, author of the best-seller Spontaneous Healing, avoids caffeine. "When I want a mild stimulant, I drink green tea. It contains a caffeine-like substance called theophylline," Weil says. It also contains compounds that, some studies suggest, may lower cholesterol and have anti-cancer effects.


8. Take a timeout. A major cause of anxiety is an overloaded schedule. It's one source of stress you can ward off by preparing ahead.
   
   When cardiologist Ray Rosenman was associate chief of medicine at San Francisco's Mount Zion Hospital, he would block off half an hour a day on his schedule. "If an emergency came up, I moved patients into that slot," says Rosenman, co-author of Type A Behavior and Your Heart. "Or I used that half hour to return calls or go through my mail. You can't control everything, but you can control your schedule to create some breathing space for yourself."


9. Say a little prayer. Psychologist and medical scientist Joan Borysenko of Boulder, Colo., says many people become extremely stressed by agonizing over the past or worrying about the future. The key to lessening stress, she says, is learning how to live emotionally in the present.
   
   "It helps to have some ritual to do this," says Borysenko. For her, the most relaxing ritual is "each morning when I pray." Prayer has been shown to reduce the impact of stress hormones such as noradrenaline and adrenaline.
   
   But remember, says Borysenko, doctors can't turn on their patients' "internal healing system." That inner calm is up to you. So if you're sick of stress, heal thyself.