April Showers Bring May Flowers . . . and Stress Awareness Month

     April showers may bring May flowers, but it also marks Stress Awareness Month.  According to the official website, Stress Awareness Month dates back to April of 1992.  The primary mission is to enhance public awareness on a national level  about the causes, signs, and symptoms of stress as a precursor to many chronic diseases/illnesses (2014).  A recent article in Alternative Medicine magazine sites statistics from the American Institute of Stress.  This organization states that "60 to 90 percent of adults are at risk for a stress-related disease, and 75 to 90 percent of visits to the doctor are related to stress in some way" (April, 2014).

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     To honor Stress Awareness Month, I ask each of you, my readers, to revisit earlier posts on this blog to refresh your memory about the stress (response), and more importantly the relaxation response.  Alternative Magazine lists the following signs/symptoms that may be indicative of stress (2014):

·        anxiety

·        back pain

·        insomnia

·        headaches

·        fatigue

     In my next post, we will discuss sleep, stress, insomnia and a plan to take back those lost hours.   Until then,  review and relax.

 

Yours in Health,

 

Tim

 

References

Stress Awareness Month (2014).  Official Site.  Retrieved from http://stressawarenessmonth.com/ on 4/11/2014.

Swenson, A. (2014, April). When Insomnia Strikes: The connection between stress and sleep, and how to beat it. Alternative Medicine, p. 58.