Stress Beyond 50: Tools & Wisdom for a Healthier, Longer Life - Paperback

by Joan Vernikos Phd (Author)

How many of you have ever been on a Roller Coaster? Did you love it? Was it Fun? or were you terrified? One person's stress is another one's fun. Were you on a Roller Coaster in the last year? Stress at one point of your life may be fun, and fear at another. What has changed? Not the Roller Coaster! There is no such thing as Good Stress or Bad Stress. Stress is life's stimulus. It gives you your sense of fun and excitement. It's the juice that helps an actor or an athlete step on a stage or a track and perform better. It could also be a signal that your survival is in danger. You might be filled with fear, freeze in terror, try to escape and run away from the wild animal chasing you, from your teacher or boss who is chastising you. Or you may take a stand, attack, fight for your survival, whether the threat is physical or psychological. Does the stress fill you with anxiety or stimulate you to achieve or do superhuman things? For instance, to move your car after an accident, something you normally could not do. Too much or too little of anything could be stressful. Too hot or cold, starvation or overindulgence, lack of sleep, joy, sadness, worry are stimuli; all are stressful. Did you know that every time you stand up, you normally are not aware of it as stress because the response is so slight and you are used to it. But if you have let your health slip, you may feel faint and even pass out when you stand up. Learning how to keep stress manageable is the foundation of good health. The secret to good stress management is keeping stress within limits. This begins with Perception. Is it fun, is it familiar, have you experienced it before and handled it well or does it seem like a threat that triggers fear?So, what is different after 50? Both the stresses and you are different. You have 50 years of experiences and habits, good and bad, behind you. That and how you handled them forms your data base, against which every novel experience is compared. The stresses are different at different times of your life and you will consider them as mild or excessive depending on you and your past record. Decisions and responsibilities change. After age 50 the dynamics will shift in your family. Making a decision of when to retire can be a relief or stressful. How will you feel when you no longer work? What will life be like if you must become a care-giver? Most care-givers are women. How would you balance family, work and caregiving? Will the money last through retirement? Are you prepared for the loss of loved ones? With new responsibilities what are you doing to prevent the decline in your health associated with getting older? Unfortunately, getting older doesn't come with a handbook, and being older brings new and different stresses. Some women, even today, never learned how to drive or manage finances. There is no excuse for not learning while you can. Poorly managed stress will leave you feeling unsettled and worsen just about every health condition, from heart disease and diabetes to reduced mobility, chronic pain and accelerated aging. There are lots of things you can do to prepare for a happier longer life. In Stress Beyond 50 I draw on almost 60 years of research on stress. I will guide you through the common challenges of later life as you learn what to expect of stress, its upside and how to make it work for you. You will learn to use simple tools to achieve instant relief from stressful events. Do you wake up at 2am and cannot go back to sleep? You will learn to reverse the cycle of Stress - Poor Sleep - More Stress, and how you can delete most stress in your life just as you delete spam, when you realize you can do nothing about it right then. Learn to rearrange time with stress emitters who want to share their problems at 10pm. Effective coping techniques, like mindful breathing, will help you calm anxieties instantly. Use the wisdom of life's experiences to remain resilient, live longer and happier.