Stress Management

Stress is a psychological and physiological response to external stimulant. People who are stressed over long periods tend to suffer from almost all diseases including infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. A study of telomere length (telomere is DNA at each end of a chromosome that indicates life span) in persons with the highest levels of perceived stress and depression found that they had telomeres shorter than normal persons.

In past stress management was focused on the managing the external stimulant. For example, if environment makes individuals stressful, then environmental problem or stimulant must be removed. However, over a period of time such techniques have been found to be ineffective.

Individuals’ social relationships combined with their ability to convey their thoughts to others and recognize the value of life contributes to good health. A meta-analysis of 148 studies among almost 300,000 participants concluded that participants with stronger social relationships had a 50% increased likelihood of survival compared with participants with poor social relationships. This finding remained consistent across age, sex, initial health status, and cause of death. Positive thinking and being optimistic are primary conditions to being healthy, followed by food, exercise, and having friends.

Most of the evidence-based studies about interventions for stress management have concluded that mindful meditation is the most effective intervention for stress management.

Various aspects of stress management techniques using mindfulness meditation are elaborated here