| Stress is an inevitable part of life and the ways we respond can either improve or harm our quality of life. Intensive research in the 1950s, 60s and 70s established links between stress and illness, but it is difficult to generalize when ten people are apt to react to the same stressors in ten different ways, and in fact, one individual may react quite differently to the same stressors at different times. More recent studies indicate that there are certain cognitive, social, spiritual and emotional factors that contribute to or detract from good health in the face of stress. |
 |
In “The Stress Management Handbook,” author Lori Leyden-Rubenstein, Ph. D., details some of the factors that protect us from the ill effects of stress:
- Stress hardiness. This term was coined by researcher Suzanne Kobasa in 1979. In a study of middle- to upper-level executives, she found that a strong sense of alienation, powerlessness, and resistance to change were common characteristics of those who became sick under stress. Those who remained healthy under similar stressors exhibited the “stress hardy” traits of feeling a sense of involvement and meaning in life, a view of change and stressors as opportunities, and a sense of control over his or her life. Kobasa’s later studies pinpointed stronger predictors. Executives who exercised regularly and reported having strong social supports had less than an eight percent chance of becoming sick, compared to 93 percent of the executives who did not have these same attributes.
- Control. Many studies focusing on the issue of control versus helplessness indicate that a sense of control may well boost the immune system. A study of nursing home residents involved two groups – one that was given a certain amount of control in their daily lives, such as selecting their daily activities and menus, and another group not given these choices. After 18 months, the “control” group were measured as happier, more active, and more physically healthy. Other research established a link between occupational control and heart disease; those with little or no control over the demands of their jobs were much more likely to develop heart disease than those who experienced control over the demands of their jobs. Interestingly, the jobs ranking highest for the incidence of heart disease were bus drivers, air traffic controllers and secretaries.
- Optimism. Not to be confused with denial, optimism faces bad events and views them to be temporary, and does not allow the bad event to overshadow the positive aspects of life. The 35-year Harvard Study of Adult Development Project found that men who scored high on optimism were healthier later in life than those who scored low. After researcher Martin Seligman tested the optimism levels of a group of men and women, blood tests confirmed that the optimists had significantly better immune activity than the pessimists.
- Emotive expression. Research on the relationship between emotive expression and the development of illness is ongoing. One study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, explored the different reactions in women with breast cancer. Survival rates were significantly different. 75 percent of the women who reacted with a determination to educate themselves and fight the disease were alive five years later, as opposed to only 35 percent who reacted indifferently or gave up entirely.
- Social Support. A lack of social support has long been linked with lowered immune functioning and illness. From 1989 to 1999 Dr. David Spiegel studied the effects of group support on women with advanced breast cancer. Those who participated in group support meetings lived an average of 18 months longer than those who did not. Dr. Spiegel has said that he believes that the effectiveness of group support far exceed that of any medical treatment available at that time.
- Spirituality. While difficult to measure scientifically, many researchers believe in the importance of spirituality to good health. In his book, “Reversing Heart Disease,” Dr. Dean Ornish and his colleagues found that relaxation training in heart patients resulted in a high measure on test scores of spirituality, i.e. the presence of an energy, a force, a Divine power that was beyond them. In comparison with the patients who did not participate in the training, these patients experienced far greater medical benefits.
Many of the traits that encourage resistance to the ill effects of stress do not come naturally. We are who we are because of every influence and experience we have encountered in life. But many people have learned to change illness-friendly responses to stress through relaxation and meditation, improved nutrition and exercise, support groups and cognitive therapy.
|