Americans & Stress:
Where do we go from here?
How would you describe the essence of America? Is it our
attitude of self-reliance, or maybe the resourcefulness that helped create the
wealth and stature that made us who we are today? From the pioneers that
settled from sea to shining sea, to the entrepreneurial spirit of Silicon
Valley, America is what she is because people who had a vision of what they
wanted their life to be like set out to create that life for themselves.
Why haven’t Americans
tapped into that self-reliance when facing lifestyle issues such as stress?
An
article from WebMD titled “How Does Stress Affect Health?”[1]
sums up the effects of stress. According to the article, there are two kinds of
stress, positive stress and negative stress. Positive stress invokes our body’s
built-in “fight or flight” response that alerts us to dangerous situations that
could be detrimental to our survival. Negative stress, on the other hand,
happens when we face continuous challenges without any relief or relaxation in
between. As a result, we can become overworked and “stressed-out”.
Stress that continues without relief can lead to a condition called distress
-- a negative stress reaction. Distress can lead to physical symptoms including
headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and problems
sleeping. Research suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain
symptoms or diseases.Stress also becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try and relieve their stress. Unfortunately, instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems.
The WebMD article also cites the following:
- Forty-three percent of all
adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
- Seventy-five percent to 90%
of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and
complaints.
- Stress can play a part in
problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes,
skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety.
- The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace.
Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
- The U.S spends more on health
care than any other industrialized nation in the world. Yet it remains the
unhealthiest.
While
the article from WebMD makes a good point about how detrimental ongoing
negative stress can be in our lives, we seem to be seeing a shift in how stress
is viewed in relation to an employee’s effectiveness as work. Even though there
are no laws requiring employers to provide vacation time or stress-reducing
benefits to their employees, many employers enhance their benefits packages to
entice the best employees. Recently, many employers have begun incorporating
wellness programs which focus on maintaining optimal health with hopes that a
healthy workforce will have reduced health care costs, less absenteeism, and
increased productivity. Corporate wellness programs are growing and they seem
to be reaping real benefits for the employer as well as their employees. Some
wellness programs simply provide walking trails and healthy food options on
site. Others provide an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which gives their
employees access to confidential counseling services to help them through rough
times in their life. Some employers even bring in an Occupational Health Nurse
to answer health-related questions or put employees in touch with local medical
resources.
Many
of these corporate wellness programs are also beginning to include integrated,
non-traditional medicine in their approach to empower people to lead healthier
lifestyles. One of the biggest benefits of many non-traditional approaches to
health care is the reduction of stress. Some programs use yoga, Tai Chi,
massage, reflexology, breathing techniques, and Jin Shin Jyutsu®.
These methods may seem simple on the surface, but they can create a powerful
punch by decreasing negative stress and providing the employee with a tool to
address future stressful events which can have a long-term impact on each
participant. Employees who are better able to handle those negative stress
situations tend to be more productive at work and happier at home. What a
win-win situation!
Employee
wellness is considered a potential high return-on-investment for employers due
to rising health care costs. In fact, research now suggests employers get an
average of $3.48 back in reduced health care costs and $5.82 in lower
absenteeism cost for every dollar spent on employee wellness. According to
Employee Wellness USA, a Texas-based company that creates wellness programs for
corporations all across the country, for every dollar spent on programs,
employee wellness statistics show a savings of $2.30 to $10.10[2].
- With only 60% participation,
Coca-Cola found that they saved $500 per year per employee with their
program.
- According to a 2004
Ipsos-Reid employee wellness statistics study, the main preventable causes
of employee absences are mental health (anxiety/depression), stress and a
negative relationship with a manager or supervisor.
The
goal of most corporate wellness programs is simple: to improve the health and
well-being of the company’s employees so they can deal with the negative
stressors that lead to absenteeism, rising health care costs, and decreased
productivity. When successful, these programs can:
·
Improve “Presenteeism”: Presenteeism is a
phrase coined by Professor Cary Cooper, a psychologist specializing in
organizational management in Manchester, United Kingdom. This new phenomenon
occurs when employees come to work are not as productive as usual due to
stress, depression, injury or illness[3].
·
Reduce Injuries: Healthy employees with
fewer risk factors are at a lower risk for injury than unhealthy employees with
more risk factors. Classes are a popular means of trying to prevent injury,
including exercise classes, smoking cessation courses, back-care programs and
stress-management lectures. More examples of workplace wellness
programs/courses include health education classes, subsidized use of fitness
facilities, internal policies that promote healthy behavior, and any other
activity, policy or environmental change that may affect the health of an
employee.
While there are numerous modalities available to companies
that want to improve the health and well-being of their employees, many of them
only focus on the physical or the emotional aspects of complete health.
Exercise programs have been proven to reduce the physical effects of stress on
the body, and massage and meditation focus on using the mind to reduce muscle
tension and enhance clearer thinking. Jin Shin Jytusu®, on the other
hand, incorporates the physical as well as the emotional well-being in its
practice. It has been used for centuries to allow people to heal themselves
from within, and is so incredibly versatile that it extends beyond proximity to
a gym, potential adversity to needles, side effects from medicines or herbal
remedies, or even pain so intense that any type of massage pressure would be
unbearable for the patient.
Since Jin Shin Jyutsu® is an all-natural,
drug-free option that does not use any pressure applied to the surface of the
skin, it does not interfere with traditional medical methods and can be used in
conjunction with current exercise and wellness initiatives. It also does
something that many other modalities do not – it provides the opportunity to help
one’s self, rather than depend solely on the practitioner to alleviate all
ailments. Jin Shin Jyutsu® does not require any special or expensive
equipment and can be administered anywhere, at any time. An action as simple as
sitting on your hands or holding your thumbs while watching television or
before bedtime can clear energy blockages that may be causing physical or
emotional symptoms.
In a world where people are constantly searching for easy
answers and stress is becoming a serious health risk, corporate wellness
programs are definitely a step in the right direction. Incorporating an
all-encompassing modality such as Jin Shin Jyutsu® could bring
wellness to a whole new level, increasing employee productivity, reducing
health care costs, and maybe even bringing America back to those qualities that
made her what she is – self-reliant and resourceful.
Gail Okray
was inspired by her passion for the art of Jin Shin Jyutsu® to open
Key Elements for health. Through her website, www.keyelementswi.com, Gail provides
answers to frequently asked questions about Jin Shin Jyutsu®. She
has been a Jin Shin Jyutsu® Physio-philosophy practitioner and
self-empowerment instructor since 1998. Over the years, Gail has motivated
hundreds of individuals to move toward a healthier and more vibrant life
through this ancient art. She provides weekly self-help tips on her Facebook
page, and offers several self-empowerment workshops each year. Gail loves to
work with clients of all ages - babies, young people, and adults. For more
information or to schedule an appointment, please visit www.keyelementswi.com
or call Gail at 920.366.1896.