www.StressManagementCoaching.co.uk
Response to external threat
Picked up by senses
Fight or Flight response
Release of adrenalin and cortisol
Shut down of non essential functions
Continuation of stress response after threat subsides
Physiological damage: ulcers, diabetes, heart disease,
brain damage
Shortens life span – damage of telomeres
Relationship difficulties
Addiction difficulties
Career difficulties
Economic difficulties
UK adults spend 2 hours per day worrying
45% admitted stress had affected their health
13.7 million working days lost to stress & anxiety p/a
Cost to UK business: £14 billion p/a
Presenteeism (work less productive than normal) costs
businesses 105 time more than sickness absence
Source: Aviva
High cost of living
Feeling out of shape
Mounting debt
Getting old
Job security
Relationships
Source: Benenden Health
“Patient’s emotional state is responsible for the
chemical activity in the spinal chord that signals
pain between body and brain. Positive emotion
diminishes the perception of pain, while negative
emotion keeps the floodgates open.”
Source: Melzack & Wall
“We looked at those people who were the most
persistent, most hard-working, most involved, and
achieved the most success (and often that meant the
most stress) those were the people who stayed
healthier and lived the longest. The people who said,
‘I don’t stress, I take it easy, I retire early,’ were the
people who tended to die at a younger age.”
Source: Terman & Friedman
Which ‘cause’ of stress applies to you all of the time?
My children
Being overweight
Getting old
Worried about finances
Low energy levels
Job security
My diet
Keeping the house
clean
Sex life
Deadlines
My partner
A family rift
Stress is the physical reaction to the
senses, it’s a self created response and,
as the research points to, it’s actually ‘all
in the head’.
A simple understanding of how stress is
created in the first place - the real source
of stress, is proving extremely successful
Used in:
US Penal System
Business: BAE Systems
American Military
Addiction counselling
Stress Reduction
Our thinking creates the physical effect
in the body
Understanding ‘thought’ is the key to
understanding the effects
New approach is ‘upstream’ of
traditional methods
Every thought is linked to a feeling
If you think a sad thought, you’ll feel sad
If you think a happy thought, you’ll feel
happy
If you have a stressful thought, you’ll feel
stressed
We are always in the
feeling of our thinking
Look, not at what’s being created
(stress), but at what’s doing the creating
(thought)
Understand the process
Event occurs
Recognised by senses
Processed in brain
Thought = Feeling
All living beings use 3 Principles to do this
1. We’re alive
2. We’re conscious
3. We think
Through this process, reality happens ‘for us’
INSIDE OUT
A realisation of this process leads to an insight:
“When we see that the feelings
of stress are created by us,
we’re less likely to keep it up.”
A realisation of this process leads to an insight:
“If we see that we’re the ones doing it,
not the circumstances, we’re less likely
to carry on doing it”
A realisation of this process leads to an insight:
“Like hitting yourself on the head with a frying
pan. You see you’re the one doing it, you stop.
There’s nothing for you to do, other than… stop”
1. See that you are doing the creating (via thought)
2. Realise that this is ‘just’ thinking
3. Wait for new thought
If you would like to know more about the science of
stress and how to deal with it, please contact me
damian@stressmanagementcoaching.co.uk
or call 07714 853294