{"id":17760,"date":"2022-04-20T00:56:58","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T00:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=17760"},"modified":"2022-04-19T19:49:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T19:49:29","slug":"17760","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/20\/17760\/","title":{"rendered":"Stress Happens: Keep Calm and\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><em>BY MARY KAY FOLEY, PT, CHTP\/I, GCFP, St. Luke\u2019s Clinic \u2013 Rehab<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\">Y<\/span><span class=\"s1\">ou can\u2019t stop stress; it\u2019s a natural part of life. Stress can actually derive from positive events, such as a new job, moving or marriage as well from difficult events, such as illness, loss of a loved one or juggling multiple responsibilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">Stress has been a normal biological reaction to threats, real or perceived. Reactions tend to be \u201cfight, flight or freeze.\u201d Your brain releases hormones to fuel your capacity to respond.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>When the threat passes, the body is intended to return to a normal state. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">The pressures in today\u2019s world often lead many to operate in a constant state of stress which, over time, can lead to serious health consequences. We were not meant to, and do not have to, live in a perpetual state of high anxiety.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">Fortunately, there are many tools we can develop to deal with and manage stress. What counts is how you react to stress\u2014by reducing it when you can, and building resiliency to recover from stress when it can\u2019t be avoided. The first step is monitoring your stress levels and making it an ongoing goal to practice stress relief.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>You can take steps to be less stressed:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s2\">Focus on the present moment instead of past events or future worries.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Relax your mind by writing things down.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Slow down, scale back, and do something you enjoy.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Practice gratitude every day by identifying something that gives you joy or that you\u2019re thankful for. <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Build and strengthen your relationships to ensure you feel supported.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Take a break from your electronic devices and enjoy nature.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Ease stress in\u2026<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>5 minutes<\/b>: Listen to music, relax, slow your breathing. There are apps and\/or playlists that can aid in relaxation and even with quieting your mind to help fall asleep.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Breathing exercises: Try these 3 options to increase depth of breathing and to slow pace of respirations: Place hands palm up on thighs while seated in a comfortable chair, 1) take 3 conscious breaths, 2) try breathing in sync with slow opening and closing of one or both hands, 3) exaggerated exhale. There\u2019s an app for that too: Pranayama<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>15 minutes:<\/b> Meditate, stretch, pray.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\">Meditation resources:<br \/>\n<\/span>Calm: one-minute meditation: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=F7PxEy5IyV4<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-family: Verdana, BlinkMacSystemFont, -apple-system, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;\">Headspace: Let go of stress: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=c1Ndym-IsQg<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p5\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>60 minutes: <\/b>Take a yoga, tai chi, or qi gong class. Take a walk, or get a massage. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">Remember to maintain a healthy lifestyle to help manage stress \u2014 eat a healthy diet, exercise regularly and get enough sleep. Having a healthy lifestyle will help you manage periods of high stress.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">Talk to your primary care physician or call St. Luke\u2019s Center for Community Health, (208) 727-8733, if you think you might have symptoms of a mental health condition. The staff will take the time to understand your needs and let you know what resources are available. Download Get Help! a mental health resource guide for the Wood River Valley, www.stlukesonline.org\/gethelp. Available in English and Spanish.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><span class=\"s1\"><b><i>It\u2019s your life<br \/>\n<\/i><\/b><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><b><i>We help you live it<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BY MARY KAY FOLEY, PT, CHTP\/I, GCFP, St. Luke\u2019s Clinic \u2013 Rehab You can\u2019t stop stress; it\u2019s a natural part of life. Stress can actually derive from positive events, such as a new job, moving or marriage as well from difficult events, such as illness, loss of a loved one or juggling multiple responsibilities. Stress [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,40],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17760","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sponsored","8":"category-st-lukes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17760"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17800,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17760\/revisions\/17800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}