By Linda Tate, Communications Director, Northwest Osteopathic Medical Foundation
Life in the fast lane…surely make you lose your mind ( for any Eagles fans). You know when you are feeling it. Your neck tenses up, you get irritated by the little things, you yell at the TV, you sulk, you may eat more, drink more, smoke more. And what’s up with other people’s driving skills lately? Right?
A lot of our stress comes from poor choices (probably shouldn’t have taken out that last credit card), poor habits, (probably could’ve done with less cupcakes), and baseline trauma from childhood, adulthood, or being an elder heart.
We forget that there is another class of stress…environmental. The lights in the office are too bright, the air outside is too polluted, the train is blaring it’s horn just as the phone rings at your office, the traffic on your commute is overwhelmingly slow, it’s cloudy and depressing outside. You feel me, I know you do. Environmental stress doesn’t get talked about enough. I’m not sure it gets talked about at all.
These are things we have little to no control over, and they can stress us out. That low humming coming from who knows where at the grocery store, or the cold you feel in the freezer aisle. Your friend who never stops talking and dang it if she doesn’t work in the cubicle next to you at work. Your neighbor who allows her cat to go outside to use the litter box, except that litter box is your carefully tended garden. The dog who gets walked every day and just loves to drop his treasure on your lawn…while his owner pretends he didn’t see it happen.
Environmental stress. If you were to sit down and write down everything that makes your shoulders touch your ears, you’d be shocked at the length of the list. In fact, right now, I bet you need to relax your shoulders, stop touching your tongue to the roof of your mouth, and unclench that jaw, right?
Well, I have great news. It’s a proven scientific fact that taking a vacation every six months can help with this level of stress. Don’t ask me to cite my sources, as I have none.
One doesn’t have to leave one’s home to call it a vacation. It can just as easily be a staycation! Doing nothing but whatever it is you want to do for an entire week…bliss.
On that note, David and Linda Tate will be out of the office from November 5th through the 9th. You are reading this blog because it was pre-scheduled to come to you while we were gone (isn’t that just nifty?).
Our environmental stress load has reached its limit, and we will be doing the only thing we can do, which is nothing.
We will see you on the flip side. Until then, be good to yourself and each other…Oh, and watch this video…this guy knows what he’s talking about! He’s a doctor and he does have evidence-based sources.
This blog should not be considered to be medical advice. Your personal health is best discussed one-on-one with your personal physician. Rather, this blog is intended to highlight the distinctive philosophy and practice of osteopathic medicine as expressed by the author and does not necessarily represent the opinion of the Northwest Osteopathic Medical Foundation, or other Osteopathic physicians. The information and opinions are solely those of the author. For more information, go to www.nwosteo.org.