Analyze strategies to cope with stress as part of the urban rat race

Doctor Hans Selye, pioneering endocrinologist who is praised to be the father of the modern stress theory, once mentioned “It is not stress that kills us. It is our reaction to it.” This, first of all, induces us to question our general notion that stress is a single or series of negative events that occur to us. Or that it is a behavioural response such as nail biting. However, all these are not exactly termed stress and definitely do not kill us. According to the Klinic Community Health Centre (2009), stress is any situation in which we think our skills are inadequate to manage the demands of that situation. The urban rat race shoves us into such conditions often but there are strategies, both psychological and health-related, that can aid us to cope with it.

Firstly, one of the best health-related strategies that we can employ to cope with stress is pertaining to sleep. The urban rat race emphasizes on productivity, be it academic pressure or workplace results and this can produce extreme stress. The American Psychological Association survey in 2008 discovered that 52% of adults lie awake at night because of high stress levels. In 2009, the Department of Psychology of Saint Louis University and the Clayton Sleep Institute researched on eighty-eight university undergraduates on their sleep patterns – if they attain enough sleep of seven hours or more per night and if that timing is consistent over five consecutive weekdays. Early week (Monday to Thursday) sleep was used to identify late week (Friday) perceived strain. Their conclusion revealed that consistent-sufficient sleepers reported less late week perceived strain. It becomes evident here that one has to assess the quantity of everyday numbers of hours of sleep to cope with stress. In addition, the quality of sleep, in terms of regularity of hitting that adequate number is also equally important. But of course, we must also be strike a balance and not use sleep as a form of escapism and oversleep which has detrimental effects on the body and can lead to more stress instead of eliminating it.

Secondly, exercise is another health-related strategy that we can utilize to cope with urban rat race stress. Exercise increases the production of endorphins, the brain's neurotransmitters which create a feeling of well-being. It also improves one’s mood and gives a form of meditation where concentrated focus on the physical activity leads to energy and optimism and most importantly, busts stress (The Mayo Clinic, 2010). Stress can also be viewed as a scientific concept where exercise has numerous benefits on. Telomeres are DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome which protect chromosome from deterioration. University of California San Francisco and Veterans Affairs Medical Center’s research in 2010 revealed that “chronic stress would be related to short telomere length in sedentary individuals, whereas in those who exercise, stress would not have measurable effects on telomere shortening”. Thus, exercise is an exceptionally efficient way to cope with stress, in ways where we can and cannot feel its salutary effects.

Lastly, psychological strategies such as thought-stopping (Klinic Community Health Centre, 2009) can be applied to cope with the urban rat race. Gandhi once said “A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.” Suppose one is going to start a report presentation to his boss or is waiting for a commencement of a final year paper. It is normal to have thoughts of nervousness and anxiety but too much of it causes stress levels to escalate and can weaken performance. Thought stopping firstly involves choosing that counter-productive stressful thought, concentrating on it and imaging it to happen. Next, is to suddenly, command oneself to stop and empty one’s mind of that thought. Lastly, is to substitute the thought with positive, assertive statements that are relevant to the situation. This method takes practice and time to master but its benefits are excellent because those stressful thoughts would return less and less readily which means one’s stress levels would also significantly get lower and lower.

In conclusion, unless one accepts responsibility for the role one plays in creating or maintaining it, one’s stress level will remain out of control. If we want to cope with stress, we must be ready to confront and deal with it. Blaming stress on others or outside events or assuming it to be part of our personality is unrewarding. If we are able to patiently integrate the strategies mentioned above, we will be more empowered and positive-minded to conquer the urban rat race.

Reference List

Anderson, C. (2010), The impact of sleep on dealing with daily stressors—a need for controlled laboratory evidence. Commentary on Barber, Munz, Bagsby & Powell (2009) ‘Sleep Consistency and Sufficiency: Are Both Necessary for Less Psychological Strain?’. Stress and Health, 26: 194–197. doi: 10.1002/smi.1301

Barber, L. K., Munz, D. C., Bagsby, P. G. and Powell, E. D. (2010), Sleep consistency and sufficiency: are both necessary for less psychological strain?. Stress and Health, 26: 186–193. doi: 10.1002/smi.1292

Klinic Community Health Centre. (2010). Stress & Stress Management. [Brochure].

Mayo Clinic Staff. 2010, July 23). Exercise and stress: Get moving to combat stress. Mayoclinic. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/exercise-and-stress/SR00036

Puterman E, Lin J, Blackburn E, O'Donovan A, Adler N, et al. (2010) The Power of Exercise: Buffering the Effect of Chronic Stress on Telomere Length. PLoS ONE 5(5): e10837. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010837

Reinier, B. (2011). Stress-free Living: Stress Statistics.Presenceinbusiness.com. Retrieved 23 December 2011, from http://presenceinbusiness.com/2011/08/31/stress-free-living-stress-statistics/