MY SCHOOL by Dr .Nilesh Gopal das Joshi (beginner reading books for adults .txt) 📕

that direct blood to the large muscles and the heart dilate, thereby increasing the amount of blood pumped to these parts of the body and elevating blood pressure. Endocrine Gland

When the body is stressed, the hypothalamus signals the autonomic nervous system and the pituitary gland and the process is started to produce epinephrine and cortisol, sometimes called the "stress hormones."

5.      Adrenal Glands (near kidneys)

Stress signals from the hypothalamus cause the adrenal cortex to produce cortisol and the adrenal medulla to produce epinephrine. This starts the process that gives your body the energy to run from danger.

6.      Liver

When cortisol and epinephrine are released, the liver produces more glucose, a blood sugar that would give you the energy for "fight or flight" in an emergency. For most of you, if you don't use all of that extra energy, the body is able to reabsorb the blood sugar, even if you're stressed again and again. But for some people, especially people vulnerable to Type 2 diabetes  that extra blood sugar can mean diabetes. Who's vulnerable? The obese and races more inclined to diabetes, such as Native Americans.

Studies show that if you learn how to manage stress, you can control your blood sugar level, sometimes nearly as much as with medication.

Gastrointestinal

 

Oesophagus

When you're stressed, you may eat much more or much less than you usually do. If you eat more or different foods, or increase your use of alcohol or tobacco, you can experience heartburn or acid reflux. Stress or exhaustion can also increase the severity of heartburn pain.

Stomach

When you're stressed, your brain becomes more alert to sensations in your stomach. Your stomach can react with "butterflies" or even nausea or pain. You may vomit if the stress is severe enough. And, if the stress becomes chronic, you may develop ulcers or severe stomach pain even without ulcers.

Bowel

Stress can affect digestion, and what nutrients your intestines absorb. It can also affect how fast food moves through your body. You may find that you have either diarrhoea or constipation.

Nervous System

The nervous system has several divisions: the central division involving the brain and spinal cord and the peripheral division consisting of the autonomic and somatic nervous systems. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) has a direct role in physical response to stress and is divided into the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

When the body is stressed, the SNS generates what is known as the "fight or flight" response. The body shifts all of its energy resources toward fighting off a life threat, or fleeing from an enemy. The SNS signals the adrenal glands to release hormones called adrenalin and cortisol. These hormones cause the heart to beat faster, respiration rate to increase, blood vessels in the arms and legs to dilate, digestive process to change and glucose levels (sugar energy) in the bloodstream to increase to deal with the emergency.

The SNS response is fairly sudden in order to prepare the body to respond to an emergency situation or acute stress, short term stressors. Once the crisis is over, the body usually returns to the pre-emergency, unstressed state.

Male Reproductive System

The male reproductive system is influenced by the nervous system. The parasympathetic part of the nervous system causes relaxation whereas the sympathetic part causes arousal. In the male anatomy, the autonomic nervous system, also known as the fight or flight response, produces testosterone and activates the sympathetic nervous system which creates arousal.

Stress causes the body to release the hormone cortisol, which is produced by the adrenal glands. Cortisol is important to blood pressure regulation and the normal functioning of several body systems including cardiovascular, circulatory and male reproduction. Excess amounts of cortisol can affect the normal biochemical functioning of the male reproductive system.

 

Female Reproductive System

Menstruation

Stress may affect menstruation among adolescent girls and women in several ways. For example, high levels of stress may be associated with absent or irregular menstrual cycles, more painful periods and changes in the length of cycles.

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)

Stress may make premenstrual symptoms worse or more difficult to cope with and pre-menses symptoms may be stressful for many women. These symptoms include cramping, fluid retention and bloating, negative mood (feeling irritable and "blue") and mood swings.

Menopause

As menopause approaches, hormone levels fluctuate rapidly. These changes are associated with anxiety, mood swings and feelings of distress. Thus menopause can be a stressor in and of itself. Some of the physical changes associated with menopause, especially hot flashes, can be difficult to cope with. Furthermore, emotional distress may cause the physical symptoms to be worse. For example, women who are more anxious may experience an increased number of hot flashes and/or more severe or intense hot flashes.

Sexual Desire

Women juggle personal, family, professional, financial and a broad range of other demands across their life span. Stress, distraction, fatigue, etc., may reduce sexual desire - especially when women are simultaneously caring for young children or other ill family members, coping with chronic medical problems, feeling depressed, experiencing relationship difficulties or abuse, dealing with work problems, etc. 

Cognitive Symptoms

Memory problems, inability to concentrate, poor judgement, seeing only the negative, anxious or rising thoughts, constant worrying etc affects the individual under stress

Emotional Symptoms

Depression or general unhappiness, anxiety and agitation, moodiness, irritability, or anger, feeling overwhelmed, loneliness and isolation, and other mental or emotional health problems.

Physical Symptoms

Aches and pains, diarrhea or constipation, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, rapid heart  rate, loss of sex drive,  frequent colds and flu

Behavioral Symptoms

Eating more or less, sleeping too much or too little, withdrawing from others, procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities, using alcohol or cigarette or drug to relax, nervous habits, nail biting.

 

YOGA AND STRESS MANAGEMENT

 

 

                       In today's era of globalization where there is a lot of competition, innovation and change, executives in all organizations cannot avoid tension, stress and anxiety in their day-to-day work. Only hardworking, disciplined, punctual and mentally alert executives can survive the work pressures and strike a balance between work life and personal life. They are exposed to stress and tension for long periods which may manifest in the form of many ailments like hypertension, high/low blood pressure, insomnia, depression, backaches, migraine, spondylitis, etc. This in turn results in overall decrease in the executive’s efficiency and productivity; consequently, there is a deterioration of human capital in the organization. Yoga is the answer for healing stress among working men and women. This all-in-one formula acts as a soothing agent for the burned-out Indian corporate and is fast growing on the popularity charts. It serves as reviver of mind, body and soul. The techniques of yoga comprise of physical postures (asanas), breath expansion and enhancement (pranayama), relaxation and meditation techniques (dhyaan), coupled with philosophy of simple and natural lifestyle management. It enhances energy of the person and develops a positive attitude. It has been attested by many as a complete all-in-one holistic formula for stress management.

 

   Some of the benefits through yoga for stress management include:

Unification of body, mind and spirit

Our mind will be United through a combination of strengthening exercises, deep breathing and relaxation techniques.

Better sleep

As with any form of exercise, you will be able to sleep better by practicing yoga. This will allow you to wake up with both your body and your mind feeling more refreshed.

Healing powers

Decreasing your stress levels, increasing positive blood flow, providing better support for your immune system, you are enabling your body to be better equipped to heal itself.

Weight loss

The yoga postures  helps to  develop and tone the muscles throughout your entire body.

More energy

Yoga postures  improve the oxygen in your blood flow resulting a calming effect on your mind.

Better concentration

Yoga postures and relaxing are for both your body and your mind . less stress and enhanced blood flow will help with concentration, focus and clarity.

Resilience

In conjunction with heading powers and more energy, the consistent practice yoga helps to build strength and resilience.

Empowerment

Yoga gives you the feeling of empowerment because it allows you to decipher the real from the imaginary, stress is sometimes caused by incorrect perceived scenario and circumstances.

Relaxation response

The meditation that is involved with yoga creates the alpha waves which in turn lead to the relaxation response. Whenever this psychological response occurs, you breath slower, your heart rate will be lowered and your blood pressure will normalize.

MEDITATION

We come across various types of people in the society, and their reactions, responses, behavior, attitudes and approaches are different from each other. The reason for the abnormal behavior of mankind is due to the lack of control over the mind, lack of thinking power, lack of awareness and lack of unity. Hence, there is a need to develop human mind so that we can develop peace and harmony among all the people of the society. The meditation or Dhyana serves as a powerful weapon to eliminate all such unpleasant things in the society and helps to live peacefully and happily.

The values of meditation that we hear from various religious leaders and organizations claim that meditation provides concentration of mind, health and happiness. The basic concept of meditation is to control the mind. When the mind is controlled, one can restrain from bad thinking and it helps to control the soul. When the body and mind are controlled, one can attain the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, that is the highest stage of meditation (Dhyana). In this stage one can realize truth and perfection.

The Several Benefits of Meditation

Meditation helps to annihilate the mind and helps to provide liveliness to the body and mind. The restlessness of mind gives scope for mental agitation, anxiety and anger. The systematic practice of meditation helps to reduce anxiety, fear and anger. Controlling of mind reduces the depression of mind. We come across many young students and youths who have high ambitions in their life, get depressed when their ambitions are not materialized. In such events they will become psychologically disturbed and lose all hopes in their lives. By controlling the mind through meditation, one can get rid of such depression. Meditation provides systematic thinking and judging capacity and helps to develop the personality of the individual. The practice of meditation helps to reduce all tensions and provides sensitivity of mind to think and judge properly in tough situations. Meditation helps to provide concentration, which ultimately increases the memory power of the mind. We have seen many students who have shown dull performance in their academic pursuits. In such cases, meditation provides mental effectiveness and application of intelligence. From various medical studies it is found that mental stress and anxiety is the main cause of deteriorating health. Nowadays, the common health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, bronchial asthma, nervous disorders and many other diseases are aggravated by stress. Systematic practice of meditation and control of mind can reduce these problems gradually. Psychological disorders which are quite common among all types of people, more particularly women are entangled with several stresses and strains. Because of such stress and strain we are witnessing high rate of suicide in youth. This is due to lack of control over the mind. The practice of meditation helps to deter all the depression and provides self-confidence to face the tough situation. We have seen an increasing number of alcoholics and drug addicts everywhere. This is mainly due to lack of control over the mind. When the person who gets depressed wants to opt for instant pleasure in order to forget depression and mental tension, they start consuming alcohol, drugs, smoking etc. Meditation not only helps to provide control of the mind, but also helps to resist from such bad habits. Relaxation is the main concept of meditation. The systematic and continuous practice of meditation helps to provide mental and physical peace so that one can experience utmost relaxation.