How To Manage Stress

UPDATE: Here are the text answers to that question posed below--how to manage stress.

1. Exercise
2. Creating a calmer environment
3. Humor/Laughter (that's why I make sure I visit Hoss every day)
4. Pets
5. Just get away! (Deep breathing, meditation, a hobby, reading, taking a bath)


Though sex and yoga weren't mentioned specifically, both probably fall under the "deep breathing" category.
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I blogged earlier about the tiff I had with my doctor over his treatment plan for my diabetes. His answer--as it usually is with anything--was drugs, drugs and more drugs. Meanwhile, I favored a more natural healing approach. Anyway, we had words there in the office which were probably loud and strong enough to startle the pharmaceutical sales representatives sitting in the waiting room next door.

My punishment for that uprising was to be referred to a diabetes education program. That was okay. I've already done two such courses. What's one more. But now it's over. My last class was this week. What was the upshot of my learning?

1. Drugs are good
2. Your doctor is god

Not that the four 2 1/2-hour classes were a waste of time. On the contrary, they were full of useful and fascinating information on nutrition, physiology and the effects of various medications. The nurse and the nutritionist who taught the classes did so without preaching nor using scare tactics.

Whether their message got through loud and clear to all of us is another matter. I mean, our last class was this week. By now, we should be all eating healthy, thinking healthy, living healthy. Right? So the program coordinator asks us how we plan to deal with stress, as stress can worsen the effects of diabetes.

"Have a smoke," this one middle-aged gentleman called out.

Not the answer the instructor was looking for. But rather than lecture on the evils of smoking, she commented that it was the deep breathing that smokers do when they inhale the cigarette that relaxes the smoker, rather than any drugs contained in the cigarette. So she asked for another stress reducer.

"Have a couple drinks," the same responder opined.

Again, not the right answer. The teacher explained that, though the initial dose of alcohol might have a relaxing effect, too much drinking can lead to depression, which is as bad as or worse than stress.

So, anyone out there think they have a right answer? And, no, yoga isn't one of the answers listed in the text we received.