Peter G. Hanson M.D.

Stress is not always bad for your health.  However, the choices we make in response to our stresses can be disastrous.  For example, when times are stressful, smokers smoke more, drinkers drink more, and drug abusers want more drugs.  Even within the field of medical pratice, doctors are responding to their patient’s complaints of stress with ever more prescriptions for anxiety, depression and insomnia.   Whole industries in hotels and spas have been built on the principle of throwing money at your stresses; come for a week of detox, or a day of massages and facials, and all will be well.  Assuming you don’t run out of money.

But there are many things one can do to fight stress that are free of side-effects, and fit within most budgets: 

1. Excercise; No need to join an expensive club, just get off at the wrong bus stop, or park your car farther from your work.  Take the stairs always, and if you are in a huge office tower, at least get off at the wrong floor to get a few flights in.  If you don’t have a dog, borrow one.  Or if not, just go for a couple of brisk 20 minute walks a week.  These activities are free, and they get your brain to focus on something different, which acts as a mental “recess” away from the desk.

2. Add water, don’t stir: the Romans knew the value of the spa, as a great relief between conquering European countries.  Nothing soothes like hot water after a tough day of pillaging.  In modern homes and apartments, you can reproduce the spa for free; use your bathtub.  Most people use the tub as the bottom half of the shower, but not for soaking.  To be sure, a shower is more time-efficient for washing, but it offers no more stress-relief than hosing yourself off in a phone booth.  So plug your tub, then add deep hot water, lavender salts, candle light, soft music, and a do-not-disturb sign on the door.  And turn off your phone.  Try to carve out this as a regular ritual before bedtime, and it will be like taking a trip to an expensive spa, for free!

3. Diet: In times of stress, people often reach for “comfort” foods.  Bad name, and a bad choice.  These foods are rich in white sugar, and/or white flour, and are hugely inflammatory to every cell in your body.  At a time when your body is already under attack, you should eat the best foods; organic, which means nothing more than real food.  No artificial chemicals, hormones, pesticides, etc.  Also, eat slowly.  The only way to win at a pie-eating contest is to eat FAST.  That way you can cram more food into your stomach before it realizes you are completely full.  Thin people usually eat slowly.  Hence the relative lack of obesity in the days when people sat down to a “dinner HOUR”.  Fast food usually becomes fat.  So slow down, set the table,  make the meal look presentable, and don’t eat straight out of the pizza box.  Your food will have a chance to digest properly, and your body will thank you.  Also you can throw out those antacids and constipation medications. 

Peter G. Hanson, M.D. is the author of the international bestseller “The Joy of Stress”.

For more information about his acupuncture practice in Denver visit www.peterhansonmd.com.