TAKE A BREATH! : Stress Consequences and Management

Objectives:

• Understand the different consequences of short term and long term stress
• Understand the risks from long term stress
• Recognize the early warning signs of stress
• Learn a new technique for management of long term stress

What could be the short term benefits of stress? Small amounts and for short periods of time stress can mobilize us to action. Some stress can be healthy to keep us alert and occupied. In this workshop however, we will focus on the symptoms of stress that can indicate the need for an action that can decrease the stress response: An early warning system for our bodies and our lives. This workshop will explore the stress response and the physical consequences. We live in stressful turbulent times, living at an accelerated pace, with layoffs and troublesome economic news looming every day. How are we responding to this stress and what does this response do to our bodies? The latter half of the workshop will be spent exploring several new techniques for management of the stress response. One of these techniques will be the Herbert Benson, M.D. Relaxation Response.