If you are one of the millions of stressed-out Americans, there's good news. People can learn to manage stress. Start with these tips:
Keep a positive attitude.
Accept that there are events that you cannot control.
Be assertive instead of aggressive. "Assert" your feelings, opinions, or beliefs instead of becoming angry, defensive, or passive.
Learn and practice relaxation techniques..
Exercise regularly. Your body can fight stress better when it is fit.
Eat healthy, well-balanced meals.
Get enough rest and sleep. Your body needs time to recover from stressful events.
Don't rely on alcohol or drugs to reduce stress.
Seek out social support.
Learn to manage your time more effectively.
Information provided by Jerome F. Kiffer, MA, Department of Health Psychology and Applied Psychophysiology, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Psychosom Med 2002 Sep-Oct;64(5):803-9
Moderating effects of coping on the relationship between stress and the development of new brain lesions in multiple sclerosis.
Mohr DC, Goodkin DE, Nelson S, Cox D, Weiner M.
University of California, San Francisco, CA.
OBJECTIVE: Many patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) report that stress can trigger disease exacerbations. Considerable research has supported a relationship between stress and both clinical exacerbation and the development of new brain lesions. However, these relationships are not always consistent either within patients or across patients, suggesting the presence of moderators. This study examined the hypothesis that coping moderates the subsequent relationship between stress and the development of new brain lesions in MS. METHODS: Thirty-six patients (mean age = 44.4; 22 women, 14 men) with relapsing forms of MS were assessed once every 4 weeks for 28-100 weeks. New brain lesions were identified using monthly Gd+ MRI. Stress was measured within 24 hours before MRI using a modified version of the Social Readjustment Rating Scale that assessed Conflict and Disruption in Routine. Coping was measured at baseline using the Coping with Health Injuries and Problems questionnaire, which produces four scales: distraction, instrumental, palliative, and emotional preoccupation. Data were analyzed using mixed effects logistic regression to account for within-subject correlations. Analyses were lagged such that stress assessments predicted new Gd+ MRI brain lesions 8 weeks later. RESULTS: As reported previously, stress was significantly related to the development of new Gd+ brain lesions 8 weeks later (OR = 1.62, p =.009). Greater use of distraction was found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between stress and new Gd+ lesions (OR = 0.69, p =.037) such that greater use of distraction was associated with a decreased relationship between stress and new Gd+ lesions. Increased instrumental coping was marginally associated with a decreased relationship between stress and new Gd+ lesions (OR = 0.77, p =.081), while increased emotional preoccupation was marginally associated with an increased relationship between stress and new Gd+ lesions (OR = 1.46, p =.088). There was no significant moderating effect for palliative coping (p =.27) and no significant main effects for any coping variables and the subsequent development of new Gd+ brain lesions (p values >.21). CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide modest support for the hypothesis that coping can moderate the relationship between stress and the MS disease activity. Several limitations in this study are discussed. While these findings suggest areas of potentially fruitful research, readers are cautioned that these are preliminary results; inferences regarding the clinical importance of these findings are premature.
