Stress Reduction

Time Out: Stress Reduction Helps

Many women with PMS are troubled by feelings of grating anxiety before their periods. The hectic pace of our lives can make it difficult to find time to relax and unwind, which is why it's important to set a regular time to slow down, especially before your period. Relaxation or meditation can not only help PMS symptoms, it's great for your overall health and well-being.

The Relaxation Response

Relaxation lets you tap into your own personal mind-body connection, by activating an inborn physiological response in your body. You may not know how to relax, but your body does - you just need to learn how to do it.

Researchers call it the ''relaxation response,'' and it's much more than a leisure activity or self-indulgence. The relaxation response is vital to your health, something you can use every day to help reverse the damaging physical effects of stress.

The Stress Response

When we refer to stress - ''I'm really stressed out,'' or ''She's under a lot of stress'' - we're actually talking about too much stress. In reality, stress is a normal and essential part of everyday life.

The stress response, also called the ''fight or flight response,'' is a specific biochemical reaction in the body that occurs ''anytime you have to adapt to change,'' says Martha Davis, Ph.D., a psychologist with Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Santa Clara, Calif., and coauthor of The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook.

''Most people acknowledge that they're stressed and that stress is a force in their lives,'' Dr. Davis says, but ''it takes them a while to realize how powerful the mind-body connection is and that, indeed, the mind can create physical illness.''

Reacting To Stress

Events that cause stress can be positive (getting a promotion, having a baby) or negative (a death, an injury, bad weather). These events can be major, minor, real, or imagined. The body's reaction to them is the same. When we experience a stressful event, our brains stimulate our nervous systems, which make our adrenal glands release hormones (corticoids) into the bloodstream. These hormones ''arouse'' us physically: our heart rate, blood pressure, and blood volume increase, sending blood to our larger muscles so we can fight or flee the situation. We perspire, and our hands and feet get cold. The corticoids also make our blood clot faster, suppress our immune system, and increase the circulation of cholesterols in our blood, among other things.

After a stressful event, we relax and all these processes return to normal. But if we don't relax - if we stay aroused to some degree from chronic stress - our stress response can make us ill. Research documents show chronic stress can cause ulcers, bowel problems, sleep disorders, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, irregular menstrual cycles, and impaired immune systems.

Check With Your Healthcare Provider

If you experience physical symptoms or illnesses, don't assume they're ''just stress.'' Always have your healthcare provider check them out, to eliminate possible physiological causes.