Raise your hand if you feel that your level of stress has increased during the past few years.

I see a lot of hands in the air.  My guess is that those of you that didn’t raise your hand (at least mentally) are in denial.

Stress is a part of everyone’s life.

Most of the people I talk to tell me that their experience of stress is steadily increasing.

It seems that everyone is encountering greater stress at work as our economy and government regulations requires constant, never-ending adjustments within the business environment.

Uncertainty about the future inhibits long term commitments in business.  Therefore, workplaces are in a constant state of flux, always adapting to changes.

Our view of our world is becoming more negative as well.  More Americans have a dimmer view of our current status and future than at any time in the recent past.  This negativity is a cause of stress.

Most people report that they sleep less than they used to or that their sleep is often interrupted or fitful.  Lack of quality sleep increases stress.

In general, our food is less nutritious than ever before.  It is becoming more difficult to persistently obtain healthy food on a regular basis. Convenience foods are not even close to nutritious.  Most restaurant items are poor choices.  Even trying to prepare healthy food at home is a challenge.

If you owned a ten million dollar thoroughbred race horse, would you make the same choice for its food that you make for your own? (Many people would make better choices for their house pet that they do for themselves.)

Entertainment has sunken to new depths of depravity in recent years.  This type of content feeds out brains just as readily as uplifting material would.  As the old saying goes, garbage-in, garbage-out.  Constantly feeding our brains negativity increases stress.

Sedentary lifestyles increase stress.  Any form of exercise helps reduce the load that stress places on our bodies and minds.  In particular, exercise that requires heavy breathing and laughter helps us reduce the impact of stress.

Stress plays a significant negative role in our health.  People that must endure negative stress age faster and are more susceptible to chronic illnesses.  Research has also shown that people that are subject to ongoing stress have more accidental injuries and suffer more emotional turmoil.

After reading this far you may have the idea that reducing your exposure to stress or learning to manage stress more successfully may be one of the most beneficial things you could do to improve your health.  You would be correct if that is your conclusion.

There are certainly things that you and I will be exposed to in life that we really cannot change.  Weather patterns and political events, for example, are beyond our immediate control.

However, many people fail to recognize the amount of control they may have over other aspects of their lives.

You cannot control your employer.  However there are usually steps a person can take to make their work environment less stressful. Examples of this would require a different column, but the simple steps of changing ones attitude and choosing to rise above the gossip and scuttlebutt at work can help a lot. 

Instead of daily focusing on the negative aspects of a job, choosing to focus on the positive and adopting a grateful perspective will immediately reduce the internal stress that accumulates each day at work.

Next week this column will focus on other steps a person can take to positively change their sleep habits and improve nutrition to increase your internal stress resistance.