“Don’t worry, be happy” goes the song. Is it so easy to deal with stress? What is stress and how does it affect our lives?
Happiness and health
By Udena R. Attygalle

Stress, as many recognise today is a major killer. It’s a silent curse, and every time we tighten up it’s at work. Modern medicine has managed to unravel many of the ways it affects our lives.

It is believed that it is not the situation per se, but what is damaging in the long run is our response to it. While it is easy to understand how the famous ‘fight or flight reaction’ is of benefit in an emergency, this mechanism itself, when sustained, has the potential to eat away at our health.

Professor D. B. Nugegoda of the Community Medicine Department at the Peradeniya Medical Faculty, who for many years has had a deep interest in this subject says that current evidence shows that stress causes a suppression of our immune system, which in turn leads to the acquiring of infections, ranging from the common cold to more serious ones.

It can even lead to major illnesses like cancers. It also affects our lipid profile adversely, and causes an increase in blood pressure and even diabetes.
Stress also increases the chance of traumatic injuries, which is a leading cause of death and disability in Sri Lanka. It is also well known that stress causes exacerbation of inflammatory disorders. There can also be a flaring up of dermatological conditions like psoriasis.

A link has also been established between stress felt by the mother and its effects on the foetus. A mother’s negative emotions during pregnancy, especially stress, increases her heart rate and blood pressure.

These changes also affect the foetus in the short term. The long term effects are an increase in the risk of low birth weight and premature births. It is startling that many of the cures to stress were practised by our ancestors long ago. Many stress-relieving techniques of today are repackaged versions of the older methods. Relaxation methods like meditation, Yoga, Tai chi, aromatherapy, massages and acupressure techniques have been in existence for a long time in the east.

“Studies have shown that positive thoughts about another person actually have a beneficial effect for both concerned, as shown by a study involving patients with heart disease, and people who unknown to the patients were thinking of them in a positive manner. This is another form of the age old Maithree Bhavana,” says Prof. Nugegoda.

Other methods include hobbies like gardening, painting, woodworking, etc. Pets too have been shown to have a beneficial effect in both preventing and controlling stress.

While good marketing has succeeded in selling us expensive video tapes and other packages, Prof Nugegoda says, “It’s all very cheap; you just have to enjoy the moment, just sit under a tree, listen to the birds chirping and feel the wet grass with your bare feet. Just take time to slow down and enjoy the moment. All these methods, manage to concentrate the mind on a pleasant sequence of events, or like Tai chi, exercise or dancing is an expression through controlled movements,” says Prof. Nugegoda.

Eastern culture was based on a lifestyle that was far removed from stress. It also shows how western culture struggles to understand the ways of the east!
Scientific research has shown that happiness can be gained without wealth or material things. A happiness index formulated by scientists showed that the levels were not that different between the Japanese and the slum dwellers of Calcutta. More revealing still, lottery winners were found to be not significantly happier than before after the initial thrill had worn off.
It is said that after meeting the basic needs, additional income does little to contribute to happiness.

“Many things that can be bought for money only provide a transient thrill. The thrill wears off soon and there is bound to be something better out there. We must slow down on the money chase lest we are forced to make a quick exit out of this world, leaving everything behind!” says Prof. Nugegoda.
Another Australian study of government workers reported that government employees working at lower levels, reported higher levels of work-related stress. Participants at more senior levels had more control over aspects of their work, greater opportunities to do interesting work and more job security, and thus fared better even though they were subject to higher job demands. Thus, it implies that control over the situation may be the more important factor for happiness rather than high wages.

Duke University showed through PET scanning in a well-known study that those with more activity in the left prefrontal cortex part of the brain were contented and happy, as opposed to those with more activity on the right side who were sad and depressed. Meditation too apparently causes this shift in activity on to the left. Studies have also shown that meditation can reduce the blocks in blood vessels, reducing the chances of heart attacks and strokes.

“Antidepressants, the favoured treatment for depression today, can only alleviate negative symptoms, but no antidepressant has the ability to make a person happy. That is the work of endorphins, the happy hormones that are secreted when you are calm, happy and relaxed,” says Prof. Nugegoda.

Far removed from science, Baz Luhrmann hit the nail on the head when he said in his popular song “Don’t worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in life are apt to be the ones that never crossed your worried mind.” Science too seems to be giving us the same message.

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