In this modern era, we have never had it better. We have cars to get around, washing machines, microwaves, freezers, health care, etc. We’ve never had it so good? If this is so, then how is it that stress is on the up?
It is down to the world we live in – we care just not designed to live in it! In our natural habitat we might get chased by a wild animal, we might have to run for our lives. This obviously causes some degree of stress. However most of this is “burnt off” as we do something about it – run!
Now imagine you are sat in a huge traffic lane and you haven’t moved for ten minutes, and you are late for work. This is obviously a stressful situation. In fact you may find that in this situation you may suffer from more stress than when running for your life! Strange but true. Why? Because there is nothing you can do about it. The rules of modern life dictate that you must sit and wait. You may experience urges to tell people to get out of the way, crash your way through traffic, or get out of the car and walk (or run!). However you cannot, and must repress all of this. That feeling of helplessness builds into more and more stress.
In a typical day we may experience this type of situation several times. We have to wait in a long queue, hold for a call centre, get out of bed when you’re really tired, work when you do not feel like it, etc. In our natural habitat who knows how long it will be until a wild animal chases us!
Also we are designed to worry for our lives. Millions of years of evolution has taught us that it is a dangerous world, and we must be careful at all times. We walk out of the door fearing that a predator may try and eat us!
It is no wonder there is a lot of stress in the world today. Stress can cause a lot of symptoms such as IBS, poor skin, sleeplessness, as well as increase our tendency to overeat, smoke, etc. Stress can make us snappy and irritable with our friends and family, and can render us far less effective at work.
However help is at hand. Hypnotherapy is great for helping deal with stress, as it effectively turns down the chattering conscious mind, and accesses the more still, calming subconscious mind, giving us a much needed break. It can also help us by giving some coping strategies.
By Jon Rhodes
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