Celia Guro is ready to talk about stress.
Guro, director of counseling for the College of Osteopathic Medicine, was a participant in the Healthy U program called “Managing Stress and Balancing Your Life,” which ran on Tuesdays from Oct. 8-22.
“It really deals with the day to day issues,” Guro said. “It’s a process, the program helps with that.”
Through the program, Guro said she has realized stress is a major issue in American culture - and has found out she is not alone.
The lunch time session began with instructor John McPhail describing his pressure cooker analogy.
McPhail says most people deny they are feeling stressed, instead of recognizing the problem and finding a way to reduce it. By forcing those emotions down, a person becomes a pressure cooker waiting to explode.
Those that relieve stress by angrily exploding also do not help themselves deal with the problem, he said.
Instead, McPhail also said people need to realize stress is a choice, and overeating when stressed can pose serious health risks.
“We use food to calm ourselves down,” he said. But, he said, people need to ask themselves, “am I really hungry?”
He said another trap people fall into when stressed is speeding in their cars and forgetting to wear a seatbelt.
But one of the largest concerns the group voiced was problems of bringing stress back home.
McPhail said people need to have down time in between work and home, such as listening to relaxing music or taking a longer way home.
“Allow yourself some buffer,” he said.
He advised people to participate in physical activity such as a taking 10-minute walk or work on a hobby. “Something they do just for themselves,” he said.
McPhail also recognized people spend most of their day “putting out brush fires,” at work, instead of completing the important projects that need to be done.
The group also learned different breathing exercises that can work to quickly alleviate stress. With practice, he said, the exercises will work effectively.
“Try to do the best you can in the time period you’re allotted,” he said.
