WELLNESS
Strategies to reduce stress
Why it is important to create healthy
By Dr. Eno Nsima-Obot
We all have priorities, but are they really healthy? In today’ s fast paced society we have such a need to stay constantly connected to our gadgets and social media, that we have lost the ability to establish healthy priorities and boundaries. Before I begin, here’ s a quick tool to assess where you are right now: Take a look at the list of priorities below. Now think about where you are right NOW in your life. Not how you wish things were but your priorities right this minute. Using numbers 1-4, where do you currently rank the following areas in your life?( For instance family-1 friends-4 self-3 etc. Note you cannot rank more than one area with the same number)
• Family
• Spouse
• Self
• Work( include hobbies)
• Friends
The Oxygen Mask Story If you recall when you board a plane, one of the instructions given by the flight attendant before take off is the following:‘ In event of a sudden loss of pressure, oxygen masks will fall from the panel in front of you. Please secure your mask first before turning to assist others with you.’
As a frequent traveler I’ ve heard that message dozens of times, as I’ m sure many of you have. I even began to block out those instructions. Until I gave birth to my daughter some twenty plus years ago. The first time I flew on a plane with her I listened absent-mindedly to the now familiar instructions. I mulled over the thought of having my oxygen mask on before I turned to assist her. Then I thought to myself almost in horror, What kind of mother would do that?
Impossible, there was no way that I would put my oxygen mask on before I placed a mask on my baby girl. I mean as an adult, I reasoned that I had more breathing reserve than my baby girl. So I promised myself that if that were ever to happen, I’ d change the rules. I would place my little girl’ s mask on first.
Can you relate to my thought process? Do you think that way at times?
How often do we go around‘ changing the rules’ until stress begins to take a toll on our health and wellbeing? So let’ s revisit the‘ oxygen mask’ issue. Let me explain from a physiologic standpoint why it is very important to first secure your mask- no matter what.
At high altitudes, the amount of oxygen in the air is reduced. So there is less oxygen to breathe into our lungs. When there is not enough oxygen supply to the brain, it cannot function properly. So initially a person becomes disoriented, then confused and then finally slips into a coma. Once in a coma, the brain suffers from permanent damage.
Now let’ s take a look at the air cabin as a metaphor for what goes on in our lives every day. Just like on the airplane, a sudden loss in cabin pressure happens frequently throughout the day in our lives. From the demands of our schedules, to running errands to the demands of our jobs to our children’ s after school activities … The list goes on and on.
Just like a lack of oxygen supply to the brain, these frequent fluctuations in our life events can produce stress. Stress affects our wellbeing.
Our wellbeing is the foundation of who we are in the world. The stronger our sense of wellbeing, the more effectively we are able to function in our lives. And we also suffer less from stress. We become efficient we are in our families, our work, our communities and ultimately the world. It is all interconnected and has a ripple effect.
So where did you place‘ self’ on the list of priorities? Are you making yourself your number one priority? Or are other things competing for that spot?
Some of us fear that when we place ourselves as priority number one, we may get labeled as selfish, or uncaring. In fact we fear that people may begin to gossip about us and cast us in an unfavorable light.
But it is important to make ourselves UNAPOLOGETICALLY our number one priority. If we do not take care of ourselves and make our wellbeing number one is that we eventually burn out. Now burn out looks like different things in different people. It also depends on whether the cause of burnout is related to work or personal life. Here are some symptoms of burnout:
• Getting angry easily
24 invests. ng- MARCH / APRIL 2017