International Lifestyle Magazine Issue 54 | Page 68

S t r e s s M a n a g e m e n t & H o l i s t i c We l l - B e i n g

BETTER BALANCE
THAN BURNOUT
by Ingo Michehl, M.Ed.
Counseling Psychologist, Stress Management Trainer, Coach
Founder: BalanceIbiza.com

W

ORK-RELATED MENTAL DISORDERS IN AUSTRALIA
APRIL 2006 Worldwide there has been an increase in workrelated mental disorders, affecting all industries and professions.
In Australia, the cost of workers compensation claims for stressrelated mental disorders is estimated at $200 million every year.
A similar trend is evident in Europe where the most commonly
reported, work-related health problems are musculoskeletal,
depression and burnout syndromes.
The major causative mechanism
of work-related mental disorders
recorded in the National Data Set
is mental stress.
According to the above government
study stress was expensive 8
years ago. It is more so today,
where the total world-wide costs
of stress-related health problems
and their economic consequences
are estimated in the billions. In
Japan there is even a new word for
the drastically increasing stressrelated deaths: Karoshi. Since our
health is our greatest asset - how
do we protect it?
When stress is defined as
the effect of stressors on our
system, stress management is
the development of short and
long term strategies to reduce
stressors and improve our coping
mechanisms and resiliency to
stress. While short term strategies
include stress reduction measures
such as breathing techniques (e.g.
Take a deep breath into your belly.
Notice the pause. Exhale. - There
may be the impulse to yawn. Allow
it. Let go and trust in the flow. -)
and the use of humor, long term
strategies involve incorporating
regular stress-relieving activities
such as exercise, meditation (a
great tool is The Rain Meditation

www.internationallifestylemagazine.com

- Centerpointe.com), yoga (e.g.
Tony HortonÔs Yoga X or P90X)
and having fun, as well as
improving communication and
problem solving skills.
Stress in itself is not necessarily
negative. In terms of evolutionary
development, it is a force that has
caused animals as well as humans
to develop greater adaptability to
changing environments, alerting
them through their ‘fight or flight’
response and the associated
release of the ‘stress hormone’
adrenalin to respond more quickly
and efficiently to their environment
and to develop greater resiliency
such as the Heterozygote Sichel
Cell Anemia - an immunity to
malaria in areas of high exposure
to this infection. A certain amount
and form of stress such as exercise
and mental challenge is actually
healthy. The endocrinologist Hans
Selye, in an article published 1975,
distinguished between eustress
and distress, defining distress
as prolonged, excessive stress
that an individual is unable to
adapt to and responds negatively
to with anxiety, withdrawal and
depression, whereas eustress
enhances physical or mental
function through strength training
or challenging work.