LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — At one point or another most people experience stress which the World Health Organization defines as a state of worry or mental tension and how the body responds to that.
Stress can happen regardless of age, sex, or ethnicity. According to the American Institute of Stress Statistics:
- Around 33% of people report feeling extreme stress
- 77% of people experience stress that affects their physical health
- 73% of people have stress that impacts their mental health
- 48% of people have trouble sleeping because of stress
Manoj Sharma is a professor and chair of the Social and Behavioral Health Department at UNLV and said stress can impact a person’s quality of life and life expectancy. It can also cause anxiety, anger, rising blood pressure, ulcers, migraines, and chronic effects such as insomnia, depression, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and cause strokes.
That’s why it’s so important to find ways to relieve stress. Sharma has published 14 books on mental health and management tools.
Stress management can be broken up into a couple of parts such as emotion-focused coping like meditation, hobbies, and exercise. And then there is problem-focused coping which includes efforts to modify or remove the sources of stress.
Sharma’s book covers rational emotive therapy and introspection meditation and he gives lots of tips including breathing exercises. He also recommends daily meditation and doing it for 25 to 30 minutes daily to start.
April is National Stress Awareness Month. The National Institute of Mental Health reports more than one in five adults lives with mental illness.
