Stress

chrisc@herald-mail.com Everyone gets angry. It's as ordinary an emotion as happiness, grief and frustration. But when your child spills milk all over the breakfast table, or some jerk cuts you off as you drive to work, or your spouse goes out after dinner and doesn't say when she'll be back, anger can build. Most people can keep their anger in control most of the time. But when anger builds to uncontrollable rage, a person can injure loved ones, break household items, or even lose a job or get in trouble with police.

Imagine this: You walk into a hotel room. As you open the door, you feel smooth, too-slick wood beneath your fingers. In front of you is a brown, scraggly rug. You smell cleaning chemicals in the air. Is your anxiety rising? "All your senses affect your stress level," says Kathleen Hall, founder of The Stress Institute and columnist for Pink magazine. Hall's new book, "A Life In Balance, Nourishing the Four Roots of True Happiness," talks about stress in everyday lives, and how to balance stress positively.

Feeling kind of stressed? You're not alone. Stress is an inevitable part of our modern lives. Whether you're the president of a Fortune 500 company, a kindergarten teacher or a construction worker, you have stress to deal with. But you don't have to let it get the best of you. By battling stress in your day-to-day routine, you can stop pulling your hair out and get back to living a more relaxed life.  Working out works. When stress is getting you down, you need something to kick you out of your funk.

Everything I need to know, I learned in kindergarten. Right? I thought I had it all figured out. Imagine my amazement at how much I had learned in just the past few weeks, this late in my life. For example: There is no way to cram more than 24 hours into a day Parents get really annoyed about you rolling home precisely one minute before curfew, and NEVER try to maneuver your car while yelling at your brother in the backseat. However, one of the most important lessons that I have learned is how to prioritize everything.

Whether a person is young or old, research shows having positive connections to others benefits us at home, work and in the community. Friends, acquaintances, families and colleagues help us cope with new or challenging situations. The types of support we need and that others provide, varies. The stress of day-to-day living can be decreased by having a network of people who provide aid and support in concrete ways, such as sharing carpooling responsibilities for children, exchanging child care or even watering plants while we're away from home.

Do a search on the Internet for holiday stress and you will find 20,900,000 resources at your fingertips. It's no secret that we have issues with this time of year. Why else would we need so much guidance? Out of curiosity, I looked at some of the tips. Most of them focused on: 1. Not overspending. 2. Not overeating. 3. Being physically active. 4. Getting enough rest. 5. Having realistic expectations. Those five tips were essentially restated 20,900,000 times.

I finally heard the calling of the links. Or maybe it was the phone calls my husband has gotten all summer long from friends wanting to set up tee times. Or the calls from my parents asking him if he's ready for the course they play when we go on vacation. [cont. from lifestyle ] It was time for me to face the fact that until I learned how to play, I would be the outsider. The only way to get inside the circle is to sink a dimpled ball into a circular hole with a cutesy flag sticking out of it. To lay the groundwork for this new endeavor, I signed up for lessons.

By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI / Staff Writer photo: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer EMMITSBURG, Md. - When firefighters from Emmitsburg's Vigilant Hose Co. experienced the loss of three of their volunteers last year, the Maryland Critical Incident Stress Management Team was there to lend a compassionate ear and relieve stress through counseling. The team of mental health professionals and volunteer peer counselors came to their aid again on Feb. 15, when Terry Lee Myers, 50, died fighting a fire at Mount Saint Mary's College.

trishr@herald-mail.com BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - More than 250 people came to see acupuncture and massage demonstrations and to learn about stress reduction and treatments available to promote health Saturday at the 16th annual Spa Feast at the Inn & Spa at Berkeley Springs. Jeanne Mozier, vice president of Travel Berkeley Springs and producer of Spa Feast, said there were a lot of repeat attendees this year. They also came to take advantage of the special promotions in Berkeley Springs associated with Spa Feast, Mozier said.

Have you ever been so stressed out that you just feel like screaming? I've been there. Actually, I'm kind of at that point right now. My problem is that I have so many things to do and not enough time to do them. I tend to commit myself to more things than I can handle. And then, at the last minute, I'm trying to do everything before I run out of time. Talk about some serious stressing. --cont. from lifestyle youth-- If you have a tendency to stress out, don't take on too many projects.

Alfonso Ruiz isn't sure how his mother did it. As a single mother, she would see her three boys off to school, work as many as three jobs, have dinner on the table, oversee homework and see them off to bed. Then, as they drifted off to sleep, she would hit the books. “She was the little engine that could. She just managed to keep on going,” Ruiz said. Susan Ruiz, 55, of Hagerstown, stayed home with her four children when they were young. But when she divorced in 2000, she needed to find a way to support her family.

A free community seminar, "Reduce Stress for a Healthy Heart," will be from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21, at the Wilson College Brooks Science Complex Auditorium, 1015 Philadelphia Avenue, Chambersburg. Dr. Arshad Safi, interventional cardiologist with Summit Cardiology, and Dr. Satyajit Mukherjee, psychiatrist with Summit Behavioral Health, will provide information about the link between heart health and stress levels and tips for a healthy heart. Light refreshments will be available.

Stress management isn't a quick fix you use only in emergencies. Rather, it's a set of tools you can use to deal with the big and little issues that arise every day. Making a commitment to practice stress prevention strategies will pay off over time. Stress is more likely to rear its ugly head if you're not taking care of yourself.  Take time for yourself. Just 10 to 20 minutes of quiet reflection might bring relief from chronic stress as well as increase your tolerance to it. Use the time to listen to music, relax and try to think of pleasant things.

Daily Steps to Less Stress is a six-week lifestyle improvement program that helps participants recognize stress and its origins and provides tools and techniques to combat daily stress. They will understand how to incorporate stress management techniques into daily life. This classroom-based, group program is led by a Highmark-trained behavioral health specialist. The program offers a variety of information, from how stress affects physical health and emotions to how one interacts with the world and others around them.

The department of Spiritual Care Services of Meritus Medical Center recently hosted a conference for local clergy and lay leaders titled “Answering the Call - Losing the Connection: Clergy Stress, Burnout and Self-Care.” The daylong conference was held at Robinwood Professional Center, Newman Auditorium  and featured the Rev. Fred Lehr as keynote speaker. Lehr is the founder and manager of Renewal Ministries, a ministry of training and consulting for church systems with special emphasis on conflict management and healthy congregations.

When Kathleen Luzier first went to the Appalachian Trail to prepare for the JFK 50 Mile, she didn't like it. The rocky and difficult terrain spooked her. Luzier, 44, who was the first Washington County resident to cross the finish line of the ultramarathon in 2011, has grown to like the trail. These days, she talks about its beauty. “You are in peace, even with 1,000 runners,” Luzier said. “It's maybe the closest to God you can be on this Earth.” The Boonsboro mother of three will be back on the trail Saturday hoping to improve on last year's performance, when she finished her first attempt at the race in just less than 9 hours.

How many days left until Christmas? If that question made you flinch or think a panicked “yikes,” you are not alone, just ask around. But Gretchen Rubin, who is author of the New York Times bestselling book, “The Happiness Project,” said it doesn't have to be that way. The cause of holiday stress for many people, she said, is “trying to get too much done in too short a time.” “For me,” Rubin said in an email, “it helps to...

John Lannan pitched 5 2-3 shutout innings in his first start since replacing Stephen Strasburg in Washington's starting rotation, and the Nationals lowered their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to six with a 2-0 win over the punchless New York Mets on Wednesday night. Ryan Zimmerman homered in the fourth off rookie Matt Harvey (3-5) and Ian Desmond connected off Jon Rauch in the eighth, helping the NL East leaders complete a three-game sweep and close in on the capital's first postseason baseball berth since the original Washington Senators in 1933.

More than 60 people stood outside Meritus Medical Center on Monday for the first National Rally for Change, bringing attention to the need for informed birth choices and humanity in American maternity care. “Our goal is to help new families get the information they need,” said Jen Sincevich, a member of the leadership board of Hagerstown Regional Childbirth Resources, which paired with ImprovingBirth.org to host the rally at the intersection of Robinwood Drive and Medical Campus Road.

It's not a typical 9-to-5 job. Instead, it's one that encompasses life-threatening injuries and illnesses, families who need comfort during difficult times, tight schedules, long hours, high expectations, sirens and emergencies. Each day can bring new stresses, accompanied by migraines, difficulty sleeping and changes in attitudes and behavior. Hospitals are busy, demanding places and Meritus Health Medical Center is no exception. But for a few minutes each day, employees can surrender their beepers, iPhones, laptops and stethoscopes and walk into a world of tranquility.