Stress Awareness and Management for Active Adults

Mental health professionals have long recognized the relationship between anxiety and depression, and physical conditions including heart disease, insomnia, digestive problems, and difficulties fighting infection.

Since 1992, April has been designated Stress Awareness Month in both the United States and the United Kingdom, to help individuals recognize and combat stress in order to live healthier lives.

Stress occurs when you react to a situation as if you are in immediate danger: your heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose levels increase in response to the “danger,” providing you with the tools to run away from the situation. Or, that’s what the body was designed to do, at least. In modern society, day-to-day stress often arises from non-life threatening situations like traffic, an argument, or worrying about a friend or family member.

Because our modern stress situations rarely require us to run from a lion or climb from a burning building, the physical responses don’t have any place to go, so they build up in our bodies. Over time, stress-response build-up can cause headaches, depression, or digestive upset, or more severe problems such as heart attacks, stroke, or diabetes.

Experts agree that one of the key factors to managing stress is recognizing when and in what ways our bodies react to it.

Early signs of stress include:

•      headaches

•      rapid heartbeat

•      sweating

•      changes in sleep patterns

•      decreased energy

•      chronic pain

•      illness or infection

•      changes in appetite and problems with digestion

Once you recognize your stress symptoms, you can incorporate one or more tools to help you manage your stress and alleviate problems:

•      increase your physical activity

•      get more sleep

•      quit or minimize your intake of caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine

•      incorporate meditation or yoga into your daily routine

•      keep a journal to help you recognize stress triggers

•      talk to a friend or loved one

•      learn to say “no,” and to delegate tasks to others, whenever possible

Our mission at Windsong is to provide homes and communities where Active Adults can focus on improving their Quality of Life, which includes participating in life-enrichment activities, spending time with family members, forging new friendships, and reducing stress.

So simply by purchasing your home in a Windsong community means you’ve taken the first step toward eliminating the stress that threatens your health and happiness.

Welcome to Windsong – Where Life’s A Breeze!