360 ON A POSITIVE WITH DR IFEYINWA

LIVING A PHENOMENAL, HEALTHY, HAPPY AND FULFILLED LIFE.

My reputation as a stress Doctor in Nigeria is being acknowledged by more and more people. This is so because since 1991, I have been involved in teaching Stress Awareness and Management to many Nigerians. My decision to learn about Stress was based on my personal health experiences. Stress was identified as one of the major factors leading to my ill- health . .

Up till now, when I allow myself to be under intense pressure, some of the unpleasant symptoms and signs reappear. It is very important for me to manage my stress and keep it at a level where it no longer affects my health negatively. I do not remember ever attending any lecture on Stress in the university of Ibadan. Most of what I have learnt about the subject of Stress, has been after my graduation from the medical school. Knowing what I know today, I am baffled that such an important health topic is not part of the medical school curriculum. It is understandable when one realises that the medical school program is focusing on disease and disease management with drugs, radiation etc. It is not so easy relating the myriad of diseases affecting mankind to a subject matter such as Stress.

In Europe, America and Nigeria there are now several books written on stress. I have read some of them. Most seem to tackle one aspect of stress or the other. Eg. Work stress, parental stress, effects of stress on health and performance, and financial stress. This is not the correct way to address the stress problem. Stress management must be tackled from the holistic perspective. It must be addressed in ralation to each individual’s total social existence.

Most people when asked to define stress, usually refer to the negative side of stress.

They fail to realize that stress is infact good. It is a gift from God to enable us react quickly to situations and challenges in our environment. The negative effects of stress on my health motivated me to learn more about stress especially from the stand point of practical knowledge that people can use immediately to help them cope better with stress . In 1995, we founded the Nigerian institute of stress with Prof. Tolani Asuni as the founding president of the board of Trustees. The institute is not as active as it was few years ago but this is one project that I am committed to reviving because I believe that stress is a silent killer and we must reduce the morbidity and mortality rates of Nigerians through stress Awareness and Management.

Many people fail to realize that stress Management is a great tool for personal development and they do not realize how important stress management is to their spiritual, emotional and physical well being. Apart from not having enough knowledge in this topic, even the limited information we have is not usually utilized for our benefit. Why don’t we? We do not because we just like to talk and talk. Talking gives us Instant pleasure and the false belief that we are at least doing something.

Taking action gives us pain. The pain of creating the time to do what we know will lead to a more positive destiny. We are also very resistant to change. We focus too much on our desire to achieve and acquire material things. We are too competitive. We must get that businesses, that political post, that job at whatever cost, even at the detriment of our integrity, our principles and our well-being. All these inconsistencies in our lives are due to inferior evaluations. Many of us are stressed out and in that state, the ability to think properly is compromised. Superior evaluations lead to Superior outcomes. Learning how to cope with stress will enable us evaluate Situations better and evlove solutions that will be long term and deal with the underlying problems in our lives especially our economic and political problems. People that want to be our political, business, spiritual leaders must strive to live balanced lives so that they can make empowering decisions that will affect positively the lives of millions of Nigerians.

Stress management, I believe is an imperative for the leaders and the led. A happy healthy and fulfilled man will more readily care about people than an unhappy person who is looking for a quick fix like amassing illegal wealth and seeking undie recognition to fill the gap of adeep seated emptiness and lack of self esteem. Part of self improvement is learning how to put things into practice. We have had our share of seminarsa and workshops. I believe it is time to act. Action is what is lacking and consistent action. Is what is needed. We must all learn strategies for constantly improving all aspects of our life. We can improve our health, wellbeing, a d decision making process by learning stress management.

Everyday, human beings are involved in simple to complex social interactions either at work, within the family or societal setting. These interactions bring different forms of stress, some good and some bad. Some urgly and unless you are equipped with the awareness, knowledge and skills to manage stress so that it becomes your ally in achieving your goals and aspirations in life, you will have lived a life of a failure.

WHAT IS STRESS?:

Stress is defined in so many ways but to put it simple, it is a reaction by the body to any stimulus be it physical, psychological or otherwise. Most people when asked to define stress, usually refer to it’s bad side. For instance, being under too much pressure. What they fail to realize is that stress can also be a pleasant and stimulating experience. Infact good stress, which is termed Eustress, is exciting, stimulating, and motivates us to be more creative, increasing our productivity and facilitating our achievements of goals and aspirations. Although this sort of stress is a normal part of our lives, prolonged bouts of stress without adequate relaxation can lead to bad stress called DISTRESS. For example, frustration, boredom , poor performance, headache, frequent colds, malaria are symptoms of distress. This ultimately will lead to ugly stress which may cause health problems like Ulcers, heart attack, anxiety, depression and hypertension. Sometimes stress can lead to exhaustion and even death.

The simplest way to define stress that I learnt from the book “BE STRESS WISE”, states that:“Stress can therefore be defined as a state we experience when there is a mismatch between perceived demands and perceived ability to cope.

It is the balance between how we view demands and how we think we can cope with these demands that determines whether we feel no stress, distress or eustressed.”

Stress affects us all. It exists in so many areas of our lives that we often take it for granted. Today studies have sent shown that at least three quarters of those who visit their doctors have stress related complaints and many doctors now consider that almost all illnesses and diseases are stress related in some way. Unfortunately,doctors often do not have the time because of high patient doctor ratio to talk through stress related disorders with their patients in order to get to the root of the matter. For example many forms of anxiety, depression and hypertension are treated with pills and medicines which whilst necessary and helpful in the short term,cannot solve the underlying problem.

When we are faced with increasing number of demands, either due to work, family, or societal commitments, we need to make an appraisal about our ability to cope with these various demands. If we think we cannot cope, we begin to feel distressed and this unpleasant feeling of distress begins to affect our coping ability and a vicious circle sets in. The magic in learning how to manage the stress in our lives is to continue to increase our coping abilities as it is very likely that being very busy people, our demands will continue increasing. My emphasis on teaching stress management skills is in the area of developing coping skills so that one is always at an advantage.

One of the first coping skills to acquire is to be aware of the stress- concept. Almost everyone that has attended my stress management workshop agrees that gaining an awareness and understanding of the stress response is an important and necessary step in the bid to deal effectively with stress. You need to learn about the biology of the stress response if you are to understand and appreciate how to recognize the signs and symptoms of stress, how stress can lead to health problems and affect performance.

THE STRESS RESPONSE

Our response to any stress stimuli is actually primarily based on our perception of the stress. If we continuously view the challenges in our lives, as overwhelming, we will easily feel stressed out. If however we view our problems as normal events of life, we will be in a better mental and emotional state to cope with the problems, in which case, our stress level will be manageable. As the philosopher Epictetus said “Men are disturbed not by things but by their view of things”.

Since our reaction to events is dependent ultimately on our perception, we must try to manage our thoughts and perceptions so that we are always feeling overwhelmed. What you think is what you are. Stress management is therefore an individual phenomenon and each person must take personal responsibility to manage the stress in their life. All that is needed is the awareness and strategy to do so.

This will be continued in the next weeks . Until then be positive , prayerful and keep safe . Coronavirus pandemic is real.

Dr Ifeyinwa Nwakwesi - Stress , cell - revitalization, integrative medicine and Cani specialist