A healthy mind means a healthy life

It’s about this time every year that footballers and the many millions of Australians who follow the sport as spectators, feel the excitement and stress of the grand finals.

Of course in football, as in most other games, there is only one winner; so there will be many disappointed fans. Even if you support the team that finishes on top, there is often an emotional let down after the event. There is nothing unusual about that; those feelings are quite normal. We all have these emotional highs and lows, times of elation and times of disappointment.

It’s also normal to feel anxious now and again. We’ve all had that experience of butterflies in our stomach maybe before an exam or a job interview. Anxiety is actually a normal and reasonable response to danger or stress; it’s an emotion that triggers our body’s nervous system to be able to make quick and, hopefully, correct decisions.

We certainly don’t need to be reminded about stress, but perhaps we do need to be reminded about how best to manage it. And this is one of the messages to come from National Mental Health Week, October 5-11.

Each year, National Mental Health Week helps to promote good mental health and aims to raise public awareness of mental health issues. In 2003 the focus is on the “adult years”, those of us in the 18-65 age group when the stresses of work and family life can sometimes seem unbearable.

There have been many explanations offered as to why we experience excessive stress. Some studies suggest that we inherit the tendency to feel more stress. Other studies describe stress as a response that is learned over a lifetime. In any event, people who experience high levels of stress tend to hold beliefs which make them feel threatened, ultra vigilant and out of control.

There is no doubt too much stress can be a health hazard; so the first important step in stress management involves being aware of when our stress levels become unhealthy. Once stress overload is recognised, there is a range of stress management skills available to address the problem.

If you feel tense or “stressed out” almost all the time, and anxiety is affecting your everyday activities, then you might just benefit from the top 10 tips as part of Stress Less Day, Wednesday October 8.

Take our Prime Minister’s advice: go for a walk, or a bike ride; delegate some of your work; schedule in some quiet time for yourself; relax with a good book or a movie; take regular tea breaks; catch up with friends or family; accept a compliment and give one back; cook yourself a healthy meal; book your next holiday; and don’t take life too seriously.
Your pharmacist can help too. There is a series of mental health information cards available from pharmacies around Australia as part of the Pharmaceutical Society’s Self Care Program. Developed with the assistance of the Department of Veterans Affairs, they cover a number of topics such as Anxiety, Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Whether you have been on the winning or losing side this football season, it’s important to be able to manage those tense times during and after the game.

And throughout life – not just sporting life – there’ll be plenty of stressful situations for us to cope with. Just how we cope will determine how healthy we stay. For a little extra help on how to stress less, ask your pharmacy By Mail Pharmacist for the fact card titled Anxiety. There are also useful cards on subjects such as Relaxation Techniques and Sleeping Problems.