QUESTION: How does stress affect my health? Stressful events best
dealt with as
challenging,
not threateningANSWER: When we are under stress, whether from physical causes (e.g., an injury), chemical influences (like too much alcohol), or emotional reasons (kids fighting), we release certain chemicals and hormones into our bodies that increase our heart rate, blood sugar level, metabolism, blood pressure, respiratory rate and muscle tension.
Continuous resistance can make a person feel like they're under "constant pressure." This pressure in turn may have negative consequences.
Whatever the source of stress, your body's reaction could result in any number of physical and/or emotional (psychological) symptoms. Lingering anger may lead to headaches, ongoing frustration to muscle aches, and resentment, which is anger turned inward, may cause digestive problems.
Whereas continuous distrust or suspicion may increase blood pressure, depression often leads to overeating or starving behaviors, and constant worry can result in insomnia and/or anxiety attacks. If stress persists over time, it may exhaust the immune, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive and endocrine systems and lead to long-term health problems. These include coronary artery disease, high blood pressure and stroke.
Chronic stress is a major risk factor for obesity, which in turn is a risk factor for the diseases just mentioned plus type II diabetes, gallbladder disease, and some cancers.
Since in most cases at least, we cannot eliminate all stress from our lives, we must focus on developing strategies to deal differently with stressful events. An important first step is to understand you have a choice in how you react to a situation. You can view a stressful event in two ways: as threatening -- which more often than not leads to fear, anger, anxiety, or any of a number of exhaustive feelings -- or as challenging -- which more often than not leads to a calm, centered and determined state of mind.
What stress management skills you choose and how you develop them is purely individual. But once you're on the path which enables you to respond to stressful events as a challenge (positive), and not as a threat (negative), you'll feel physically, mentally and emotionally a lot healthier.
Here are some proven ways to reduce daily stress:
Q: Is tennis an aerobic activity?Regular exercise.
A: Tennis does not meet the criteria to be considered an aerobic activity. Even when the ball is kept in play for extended rallies, you do not keep the game going for enough time at a stretch for it to be ranked with running, cycling, rowing, step aerobics, etc. Tennis is simply too stop-and-go to be a very good aerobic activity. However, if you're an advanced player, both the degree of effort, and the hour or more it takes to play a match, can stimulate improved cardiovascular function.
Generally, tennis is not an activity that burns fat. Tennis players do burn sugar calories, and any sugar burned off in activity does not get stored in the body as fat.
Tennis is a good form of exercise. It develops balance, improves coordination, and can be fun.
Stephenie Karony is a certified health and fitness instructor, a personal trainer and the author of "Body Shaping with Free Weights." Send questions to her at P.O. Box 262, Wailuku HI. Her column appears on Wednesdays.
Stephenie Karony is a certified health
and fitness instructor, a personal trainer and the author of
"Body Shaping with Free Weights." Send questions to her at
P.O. Box 262, Wailuku Hi. Her column appears on Wednesdays.