As we continue with April National Stress Awareness month, itís important to understand why the stress of todayís changing times is different and why many of the things we have tried to relieve stress donít seem to be working as well as they used to.
Itís obvious to us at the Institute of HeartMath (after twenty years of researching the physiology of stress and a leader in the field of stress management) that the majority of people in the USA have become resigned to stress as the new norm Ė an unwanted but necessary way of life.
Thatís because todayís stress is more persistent, due to the accelerating speed of life and constant change. Todayís stress is often a result of mental and emotional overload, and uncertainty about the future. Stress is our bodyís way of signaling we are out of balance and likely to make poor choices or compromise our mental, emotional or physical health.
Todayís Stress Effects
Until the turn of the millennium, stress was considered a major problem only after a life crisis. But the stress of todayís times is not a single incident type of stress that naturally follows trauma, illness, house foreclosure, work layoff, divorce, death of a loved one, or other major life event.
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