Eileen Long-Farias, LPC, CTSPentagon Employee Referral Service

DiLorenzo TriCare Health Clinic 703-692-8917

Mark Center Employee Assistance Program571-372-5617

Objectives for TodayDevelop an understanding of stress issues in

your unique roleUnderstand the impact of stress on your body

and brainLearn about your Window of Tolerance and

your Ideal Performance StateFill your tool box with tools for managing

stressLearn about achieving your Ideal

Performance State (IPS)

Types of Stress

Eustress

General Stress

Traumatic Stress

Chronic Stress

In the eye of the beholder…

What accounts for this difference:Type and duration of stressThe person’s perceived ability to cope with itTemperament and coping styleOther stresses in the person’s lifeSupport the person is getting during stressful

times

What do you notice about yourself and others during times of stress?

The Body’s Reaction to StressCardiovascular System – heart beats faster,

raise blood pressure

Respiratory System – breathe harder and/or more rapidly (hyperventilation)

Musculoskeletal System – muscles tense up; can trigger tension headaches and migraines

Gastrointestinal System – diarrhea, constipation, change in appetite, heartburn and acid reflux

The Alarm Response

Fight

Flight

Freeze

Understanding the Emotional & Physical Reaction to Stress

The neo-cortex is the “thinking brain”

The limbic system is the “emotional brain”

Cortisol- The Stress hormone It helps regulate your body's use of protein,

carbohydrates and fat.It helps maintain blood pressure and

cardiovascular function.It stems inflammation.The body produces more in the am.In the pm, cortisol level should drop by 90%.Sleep deprivation increases cortisol levels

and therefore causes weight gain.

Impact of Cortisol on BrainWorking women tend to have elevated

cortisol levels in the pm.Men have largest increase in levels when

harassed; but returned to “normal” more quickly once stress was relieved.

Working women with children have highest stress levels.

In excess doses, it impacts the hippocampus and serotonin levels.

What’s the number one way to reduce cortisol?

Other benefits of exercise:

Other benefits of exercise:It improves blood flow to your brain

It speeds the flow of blood through your brain, moving waste products out of the brain faster.

It causes a release of endorphins into your blood stream.

The Window of Tolerance

“When demand meets capacity, we begin to make expedient choices that

get us through our days and our nights, but take a toll over time. We survive on too little sleep, wolf down

fast foods on the run, fuel up with coffee and cool down with alcohol and sleeping pills.” – Loehr and

Schwartz

Lack of Sleep and DrivingAccording to the British journal, Occupational

and Environmental Medicine“People who drive after being awake for 17 to

19 hours performed worse than those with a blood alcohol level of .05%. “

“Staying awake for 24 hours leads to a reduced hand-to-eye coordination that is similar to having a blood alcohol content of 0.1”

What expands our window?Time managementCommunicationGood support networkExerciseFun and RelaxationGood ADL’sMindful BreathingPractice mindfulness

The Power of Deep BreathingActivates the calming responsePushes oxygen to your brainReleases cortisolExpands your window of tolerance

Self SoothingReading a magazine outsideCalling a friend or family memberWatching a movieTaking a hot shower or bathDeep breathingMeditation or PrayerLaughingDrawing/CreatingMaking or listening to music

According to Loehr and Schwartz…

Stress is not the problem.

The problem is absence of disciplined, intermittent recovery

What’s needed is rituals the promote OSCILLATION

The Making of a Corporate Athlete Harvard Business Review January 2001

“Energy, not time, is the fundamental currency of high performance.”

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

The Power of Full Engagement

4 Principles of Full Engagement1. It requires drawing on all 4 sources of

energy2. We must balance energy expenditure with

intermittent energy renewal3. To build capacity, we must push beyond our

normal limits, training in the same systematic way athletes do

4. Positive energy rituals are the key to full engagement and sustained high performance

High Performance Pyramid

“The Making of a Corporate Athlete” Harvard Business Review Jan 2001J. Loehr and T. Schwartz

High Performance PyramidPhysical Capacity

Builds endurance and promotes mental and emotional recovery

Emotional CapacityCreates the internal climate that drives the Ideal

Performance State

Mental CapacityFocuses physical and emotional energy on the task at hand

Spiritual CapacityProvides a powerful source of motivation, determination

and endurance

Without the oscillation rituals:People expend too much energy without

recoveryThey become more vulnerable to:• Frustration• Anxiety • Loss of concentration• Choking under pressure

“The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine,

to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, to be unable to find

time for the sunset (or even to know the sun has set at all), to whiz through our obligations without time for a mindful breath, this has become the model of a

successful life.” - Wayne Muller

“All organisms follow life-sustaining rhythms- birds migrating, bears hibernating, squirrels gathering nuts and fish spawning, all of them at predictable intervals. So, too, human beings are guided by rhythms.”

Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

Learn to Disengage Since we have over-ridden our

natural rhythms, the challenge is to deliberately create new boundaries.

We need to intentionally carve out times to shift our attention from achievement to restoration.

“At the most practical level, our capacity to be fully engaged depends on our ability to periodically disengage.”

Loehr and Schwartz

Five Sources of Restoration- In the Workplace

Eat SomethingHydrateMove PhysicallyChange Channels MentallyChange Channels Emotionally

ResourcesThe Power of Full Engagement and “The

Making of a Corporate Athlete” Harvard Business Review Jan 2001; Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz

Don’t Panic Reid WilsonThe Relaxation & Stress Reduction WorkbookWhy Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers Robert

Sapolskywww.tarabrach.comFlow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi