| Stress, as most know, is a combination of mental and | | | | away from the noise and sights. For me, I simply go |
| physical fatigue. I pastor a Church and deal with it both | | | | somewhere quiet and read a book. No matter what |
| personally and in counseling. I even wrote a short | | | | goes on in the book, I am in a state where I'm not |
| booklet on it. Your mind and body are connected. | | | | dealing with so many sights and sounds. |
| Worry, fear, anxiety, and such things add to the body's | | | | I worry about people who are unable to enjoy |
| stress as well. A body that is rundown, exhausted, or | | | | quietness. People who have to have music playing, |
| sick can impact your mental state as well. Stress is | | | | have to have noise and sounds around them |
| unavoidable. It is part of life. We feel it any time there is | | | | constantly usually are more uptight, more nervous, and |
| pressure--pressure to perform, pressure to be | | | | more stressed. Learn to enjoy a time of quietness, of |
| somewhere, pressure to do something, pressure to be | | | | peace, where there are no or few noise. If you must |
| something. All of this is stress. | | | | have music, have something very soft with no rock |
| Stress can compound itself when our bodies can't | | | | beat, something gentle. |
| handle well the input that we receive through our | | | | And you can't discount a person's emotional state. The |
| senses. We have the basic five: smell, touch, taste, | | | | more sensitive our emotions, the more impact sensory |
| hear, and sight. When we deluge these senses with | | | | input can affect it. A parent who had a bad day at |
| outside stimuli it then impacts both our bodies and our | | | | work and comes home to loud and rambunctious |
| mental stability. | | | | children will quickly grow stressed with the noise and |
| We've all watched movies or read articles about a | | | | often react improperly. A wife having a bad marriage |
| form of torture that involves sensory overload or even | | | | will find herself unable to deal with the pressures of her |
| sensory deprivation. Ever felt chills when someone | | | | job, especially if she works in a loud environment. |
| raked their fingers down a chalkboard? Ever had | | | | I've had many people say that watching TV actually |
| multiple people talking to you at once and shouted for | | | | calms them. But my personal observations on the |
| everyone to be quiet? | | | | issue are that TV is only a temporary and often |
| Of all the sense, our hearing is the one that is most | | | | inadequate solution. Too many things are thrown at |
| susceptible to sensory overload. There are more | | | | your ears and eyes for your brain to process well. It |
| nerve endings that gather in or near the ears than | | | | doesn't reduce your stress so much as it hides it for a |
| anywhere else in the body. So when we talk of | | | | bit. |
| sensory overload, the first and most important one | | | | Another solution people turn to is music. But |
| that must be dealt with is that which we hear. The | | | | overwhelmingly loud music isn't stress relief, it is hiding. |
| second one, and one with significantly less impact, is | | | | Personal observation and years of counseling have |
| our sight. | | | | convinced me that the best music is soft background |
| These two, more than the others, impact our stress | | | | music. Something that eases the senses and emotions |
| levels. They focus the mind on it so that we can't tune | | | | not overwhelms them. Think about it, people who listen |
| things out, or set them aside, or let it pass. The intense | | | | to such loud music, do they even look relaxed? |
| focus on something that stabs at our senses will add | | | | SUGGESTIONS |
| to our levels of stress. | | | | 1. Reduce stress by finding somewhere each day |
| We live in a society where noise and images are the | | | | where you can be in an environment of calm and |
| primary means of gaining attention. You drive down | | | | peace. |
| the street and see billboards and signs. You watch TV | | | | 2. Before entering a loud environment, make sure that |
| and have images flashing rapidly at you with the often | | | | your emotions are not overly sensitive. |
| overwhelming number of sounds and noises. Movies | | | | 3. Meditate on something pleasant. I usually meditate on |
| can be stressful for people. They give children | | | | my God, my Saviour, and the Bible. I find great peace |
| nightmares, they can cause sleep deprivation. I go into | | | | and comfort from this. I shut out almost all sensory |
| people's houses and notice that the TV is on and no | | | | input and just think. It provides great strength for the |
| one is watching. They don't even realize that the | | | | day. Prayer is a wonderful tool that I use to reduce |
| images and noise is constantly on. You can say that | | | | stress and prepare for the day. |
| their senses have been overwhelmed. | | | | 4. Use your imagination more than sensory input to |
| I've even found a correlation between children | | | | stimulate your mind. We watch way too much TV and |
| diagnosed with ADD and their environment at home. | | | | don't read enough. Write, read, or think, but don't let the |
| When the house is loud, noisy, and generally in a | | | | world feed you your thoughts with sounds and images |
| clamor, children can't seem to absorb it well and often | | | | all the time. |
| end up with attention spans much less than other | | | | 5. Make your home a castle of peace. I see to it that |
| children. It is a form of stress. I've observed teenagers | | | | the home is a place where we can find peace and |
| that have to have music playing all the time, even | | | | calm. The more chaotic your house is with TV, yelling, |
| when they go to sleep, tend to be more nervous and | | | | arguing, fighting, negative sights, and tense emotions |
| stressful than others. The constant input of sound and | | | | the more stressful everyone is going to be. There is an |
| sight can be overwhelming. | | | | incredibly strong correlation between this and a child |
| Many of the techniques for reducing stress such as | | | | with ADD. |
| meditation, yoga, and so forth all put you in an | | | | Stress is unhealthy. Although we can never rid |
| environment or state of mind that is sensory deprived. | | | | ourselves completely of it, we can do a lot to control it. |
| They seek to quiet your mind and feelings, get you | | | | |