WESTERN SOCIETY – Losing The Battle Against Stress

Dr Archibald D. Hart, believes that in this age of advancement in medicine and neuroscience, we are losing the battle against stress.  Modern society has advanced rapidly and we now cram more and more tasks into our daily routines. But is it for the better?

HOW THE TIMES HAVE CHANGED

“…Gone is the leisurely, slow paced way of life that once existed.  We no longer have much time for our contemplation-or more important-time to allow our bodies to relax so that the restoration and healing can take place.  In past times, without electricity, evenings were calm and unstimulated, allowing the adrenaline system to “switch off.” But today there is hardly a moment when we are not bombarded with stimuli-form the moment we wake up, until, exhausted we switch off late-night television.  The toll of our fast-paced lives takes our adrenal systems are quite frightening- and mostly unrecognised.

In bible times, oil was expensive.  When the sun went down, the day stopped for everyone.  Night-time was for resting and this allowed adequate recovery for people’s bodies.  This, coupled with plenty of physical outlets, ensured that stress was not the threat to health and happiness that it is today. (True, people died young in Bible times because of disease and poor sanitary conditions, but they didn’t die from stress disease….”

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT TODAY

Dr Hart states, “We are entering an extraordinary new age in medicine and the health sciences.  On the other hand, we are making remarkable progress in curing illnesses and prolonging life.  On the other hand, we are losing the battle against a very simple but elusive problem – stress.   Decide medical science’s enormous strides in treating illnesses, the problems caused b stress are becoming more prevalent and difficult to treat.  The time is rapidly approaching, if it hasn’t already arrived, when we will be dying less and less from infectious or invasive diseases-but more often from the ravaging effects of too much stress.  And stress disease is different from most forms of illnesses-we bring it on ourselves!”

He goes onto say, “It’s not that we don’t know stress is a problem! Our predicament is that we don’t really understand the nature of stress or how it does its damage. Therefore, We don’t know how to prevent that damage. And stress disease, for the most part can be avoided.”

Dr Hart points out, that, “At the very core of the stress problem is our Western, 20^th century lifestyle.  Of course, parts of the East are just as stress-ridden, but I am focusing on our unique approach to life and the stress it causes… “

He also says, “…The bottom line is that our priorities are all unbalanced. Our super time consciousness, the pace of life in general, and the prevalence of “Hurry Sickness” are all detrimental to our well-being.  Most of us need to relax more, learn how to unwind, and stop and smell the roses occasionally -all important protections against the damage stress can cause…”

Sources:

Permission Attained by Dr Archibald D. Hart
CRED: Archibald Hart, M.Sc., Ph.D., FPPR., Senior Professor of Psychology and Dean Emeritus, Graduate School of Psychology, Fuller Seminary.
Dr Archibald D. Hart, author of ‘The Hidden Link Between Adrenaline and Stress,’

Image courtesy of: www.freedigitalphotos.net/Naypong

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