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TOPIC: Help Wanted: Stress Management Organic Education Counseling and Healing with Nature Online. Too often troubles and stress result from our leaders socializing us to obtain emotional fulfillment in excessive, expensive and irresponsible ways. Deep, renewing satisfactions that remedy this are always available, free of charge, through sensory nature-connecting activities in natural areas, backyard or backcountry. Learning and teaching these organic activities enable us to benefit from the grace balance and restorative powers of natural systems within and about us.
Project NatureConnect
Institute of Global Education Organic Psychology
Special NGO Consultant, United Nations Economic and Social Council
,,,,,,.,..,,...... OPPORTUNITY AVAILABLE: Online, grant-funded, courses, career training and degree programs that add the organic application of Ecopsychology to any field, discipline or intelligence. Alternative or holistic education jobs for sustainable personal and environmental health. Homepage
- Practical distance learning that enhances expertise and spirit in all areas of endeavor.
- Benefit from accredited university or college environment-psychology focus CEU online courses training grants and ecologically sound degree programs.
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- Reduce stress. Add the sunlight and beauty of nature's intelligent grace and restorative powers to your professional or personal life.
Out of habit, most of us suffer disorders because, from early childhood on, our leaders socialize us to believe a critical lie. Do you, or others you know, suffer from this practice? A remedy for this hurtful distortion is readily available.
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NOTE:This page offers valuable rewards to individuals who recognize four basics of Organic Psychology:
1. We are part of nature and it sustains the global life community without producing our garbage, disorders or abusiveness.
2. Natural systems pervade nature and are self-correcting. They recycle, purify and nurture wherever they flow.
3. We excessively suffer our disorders because we don't connect with nature's grace, balance and restorative powers to help us remedy our troubles.
4. We spend, on average, 98 percent of our life indoors, separated from nature. To our loss, our thinking and feeling are extremely disconnected from nature's healing ways.
THE NATURAL MANAGEMENT OF OUR STRESS EPIDEMIC AND ITS EFFECTS
An Organic Psychology Report from an Online Ph.D. Course Participant
Organic Psychology is the science of natural systems thinking and feeling. It identifies stress as a natural sense or sensitivity, #26 of the 53 natural sensitivities found throughout life systems. Stress signals that additional natural systems support is needed for something to create a more attractive relationship, one that strengthens the whole of life on Earth at the same time.
Through my studies, I experienced firsthand how direct reconnects with nature relaxed my body, mind, and spirit, thus allowing me to enhance my wellness and balance. I was impressed to realize that the nature-connecting process heals without drugs or extensive amounts of time. I was so impressed with my own experiences; I wanted to share nature's origin and healing powers with my colleagues and patients in the Community Urgent Care Department where I worked.
People today are out of touch with nature, and this creates an inner imbalance which causes further stress and anxiety in their lives. According to Howard Clinebell, PhD. (1996), "The healing impact of gardens was recognized as long ago as the glory days of ancient Egypt, when certain physicians prescribed walking in gardens as part of the treatment for some disturbed patients. Since around 1940 horticultural therapy has flowered in many places and is used with thousands of patients." Gardening and trees are such an infinitesimal part of nature. Nature is a very broad term, and can mean anything at all from the natural world, including a piece of soil, gravel, stick, leaf, flower, seed, root, etc.
Charles Cook in his book, Awakening to Nature (2001), supports the lack of nature connection when he says, "When we lived entirely as a part of nature, the rhythms of our lives and bodies were synchronized with those of the earth, as remains the case for all living things that still reside in the wild. . . What our forebears had no way of knowing is that removing ourselves from natural processes would come at a considerable cost. Although human beings are well-known for their ability to adapt to a wide range of conditions, our well-being suffers since our ways diverge too widely from nature's." Going against the natural grain stresses and unbalances us. Our minds and bodies don't function as well when we're out of sync with nature."
The structure of nature is the most beautiful and humbling system of which humans are a part, and if freedom is belonging, then belonging to nature and being a part of its massive cycles has to be celebrated as divine freedom. "Freedom is perhaps the ultimate spiritual longing of an individual human being, but freedom is only really appreciated when it falls within the parameters of a larger sense of belonging. The freedom is the wish to belong to structure in our particular way." Whyte, (2001).
Cooper (1981) writes: "...organizations and institutions can lay the foundations for better health.., but it is up to the individual to reduce his/her internal pressures or to redesign his/her lifestyle... Unless the individual takes an active part in the process of stress prevention and coping, institution or government policy changes will be of little use."
The health effects of stress in people are seen physically, mentally and emotionally. According to the American Institute of Stress, up to 90% of all health problems are related to stress. Too much stress can contribute to and agitate many health problems including heart disease, high blood
Three 10-year studies concluded that emotional stress was more predictive of death from cancer and cardiovascular disease than smoking. People who were ineffectively managing stress had a 40% higher death rate than non-stressed individuals.
A Harvard Medical School study of 1,623 heart attack survivors found that when subjects got angry during emotional conflicts, their risk of subsequent heart attacks was more than double that of those remained calm.
A 20-year study of over 1,700 older men conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that worry about social conditions; health and personal finances all significantly increased the risk of coronary disease.
Over one-half of heart disease cases are not explained by the standard risk facts, such as high cholesterol, smoking or sedentary lifestyle.
According to a Mayo Clinic study of individuals with heart disease, psychological stress was the strongest predictor of future cardiac events, such as cardiac death, cardiac arrest and heart attacks.
pressure, stroke, sleep disorders and depression.Dr. Peter Panzarinno, (2006), "Stress has driven evolutionary change (the development and natural selection of species over time). Thus, the species that adapted best to the causes of stress (stressors) have survived and evolved into the plant and animal kingdoms we now observe. Man, because of the evolution of the human brain, especially the part called the neo-cortex, is the most adaptive creature on the planet. This adaptability is largely due to the changes and stressors that we have faced and mastered."
On the negative side, stress that is mismanaged, or an over-abundance of stress which in turn causes strain, can be devastating for the person or the system. Strain is the negative effects of stress, and it may appear as fatigue, depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, irritability, over eating, risk taking, diminished functioning, medical and physical problems, insomnia, or difficulty concentrating; these are just a few of the possibilities of the negative effects of stress.
Paul J. Rosch, M.D., FACP, President of The American Institute of Stress, Clinical Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry, New York Medical College says that when we fail to counter a stress situation (flight response) the hormones and chemicals remain unreleased in the blood stream for a long period of time. It results in stress related physical symptoms such as tense muscles, unfocused anxiety, dizziness and rapid heartbeats. We all encounter various stressors (causes of stress) in everyday life, which can accumulate, if not released.
The neurochemistry of the general adaptation syndrome is now believed to be well understood, although much remains to be discovered about how this system interacts with others in the brain and elsewhere in the body. The body reacts to stressors by activating the nervous system and specific hormones. The hypothalamus signals the adrenal glands to produce more of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol and release them into the bloodstream. These hormones speed up heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, and metabolism. Blood vessels open wider to let more blood flow to large muscle groups, putting our muscles on alert. Pupils dilate to improve vision. The liver releases some of its stored glucose to increase the body's energy. And sweat is produced to cool the body. All of these physical changes prepare a person to react quickly and effectively to handle the pressure of the moment.
The release of stress hormones (like adrenalin) into the bloodstream increases the likelihood of both heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest. Studies of heart attack patients found 15 per cent to 30 per cent of those admitted to a medical centre had suffered from severe emotional stress. Blood stops circulating to the brain and as a result we get cerebral hypoxia and death follow within 10 minutes.
High levels of stress hormone can also knock the heartbeat out of its natural rhythm. This happens most often when the heart lapses into "ventricular fibrillation" and its bottom chambers start to beat at a very high speed. Ventricular fibrillation (VF) a severely abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia) that cause hypoxia (decreased oxygen) to the brain, unless treated immediately, causes death. VF is responsible for 75% to 85% of sudden deaths in persons with
heart problems.According to S. Cox and T. Cox, (1993), "The experience of stress represents a psychological state. It can result from exposure, or threat of exposure, both to the more tangible workplace hazards and to the psycho-social hazards of work."
According to McEwen, (2002) "Stress, anxiety and fear creeps into our industrialized life poisoning our minds and bodies. Fortunately, we are beginning to understand how our systems interact to ensure health, fight disease, and delay death. We are learning what happens when systems fail." Our bodies produce the "fight or flight" reaction when subjected to undue stress. Finding an appropriate and adaptable stress-survival method to alleviate work-stress as we know it is the task at hand.
"...conditions of work most adverse to workers' health are to be found in blue-collar professions and in some health care positions such as nursing.... A common and possibly decisive denominator of these work conditions is that they expose the worker to a combination of high psychological stress and physical workload and a low level of decision latitude". Levi, (1990).
Dr. Randolfi, Ph.D. (1997) in the Worksite Health Journal says, "In a national survey conducted by the North-western Life Insurance Company (1992) seven in ten American workers indicated that job stress is causing frequent health problems and has made them less productive. Among these same employees, 46 percent reported that their job was very stressful, 34 percent thought about quitting their jobs because of workplace stress, and 14 percent did leave their job because of stress."
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company estimates that an average of one million workers are absent on any given day largely due to stress disorders, Rosch & Pelletier, (1984); and a study by the American Academy of Family Physicians (1979) found job stress to be the greatest cause of poor health habits.
Despondently, this trend is not ceasing, since America's consumption of drugs to counter stress has increased considerably. Dr. Colbert, (2005) articulates, "We have a stress epidemic in our nation. Seventy five (75) to ninety (90) percent of all visits to a primary care physician's office are related to stress disorders, and Americans are consuming five billion tranquilizers, five billion barbiturates, three billion amphetamines, and sixteen tons of aspirin every year. Much of this medicine is being taken to help alleviate stress or the resulting headaches and pain associated with stress. Sadly, our children are not immune to stress. Overall, stress can affect everyone and it continues to affect many people, from children to older adults. Sadly, our children are not immune to stress.
The American Academy of Paediatrics estimated in the year 2000 that one in five children in the United States had psychosocial problems related to stress - this was up from one in fourteen children in 1979. The stress that face individuals when they are children, graduates into a higher level of stress when they become adults. Hence there seems to be no end to stressful lives.
Dr. Vivette Glover, perinatal psycho- biologist, who headed a study linking obstetrics, pediatrics, psychology and psychiatry, revealed that "We found two possible mechanisms by which maternal stress during pregnancy could affect the development of the baby. One is if the mother is very anxious or stressed while she's pregnant, there's reduced blood flow to the baby through the uterine arteries, the main source of blood and nutrition for the baby, and this could explain why the baby doesn't grow as well and also set up a secondary stress response in the fetus. Second, we have shown that if the mother has high levels of cortisol, the main stress hormone, so does the fetus. It seems that enough cortisol crosses the placenta from the mother to the fetus to actually affect fetal levels. If the mother is stressed, her cortisol goes up, so does the cortisol level in the fetus. This in turn could well affect the development of the brain and the future stress responses of the baby." Glover Ph.D. (2006)
According to a World Health Organization report, "About 50% of the entire working population is unhappy in their jobs and as many as 90% may be spending much of their time and energy in work that brings them no closer to their goals in life. About seventy-five percent (75%) of those who consult psychiatrists are experiencing problems that can be traced to a lack of job satisfaction." Levi, (1990).
According to the writers of a Life Positive Web article, Stress and Aging, "Medically, it has been established that chronic symptoms of anxiety and stress can crumble our body's immune system. Irrespective of the nature of the causes of stress - real or perceived - our subconscious mind reacts with the same body response by releasing stress hormones equal to the degree of our fear, worry or sense of threat. It brings about changes in the body's biochemical state with extra epinephrine and other adrenal steroids such as hydrocortisone in the bloodstream."
The release of stress hormones (like adrenalin) into the bloodstream increases the likelihood of both heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest. Studies of heart attack patients found 15 percent to 30 percent of those admitted to a medical centre had suffered from severe emotional stress.
According to Manning, Curtis, and Mc Millen (1999), "In 1993 the World Health Organization spoke out on its number-one health concern for the industrialized world over the current decade. The issue had nothing to do with acute disease such as AIDS, infectious disease, cancer, or pollution. Instead, a chronic non-medical problem - stress - was the organization's primary health concern for the 1990s. A 1983 survey found that 28 percent of Americans felt under great stress either almost every day or several days a week. Less than a decade later, the Baxter Survey of American Health Habits indicated that the percentage had risen to 33 percent. More and more people are living with high stress every day."
Unresolved stress also induces increased palpitation and blood pressure in the body with mental manifestations such as anger, fear, worry or aggression. In short, stress creates anomalies in our body's homeostasis. When the extra chemicals in our bloodstream don't get used up or the stress situation persists, it makes our body prone to mental and physical illnesses
Psychology Today journal has an article by Robert Epstein, Ph.D., who documented, "that close to 90% of visits to primary care physicians are for stress-related problems. As many as 750,000 Americans attempt suicide each year, often because of unmanageable stress. Stress tears our minds and bodies apart." This paints a picture of a nation crying out for help. Epstein, (1997).
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Chalmers, David J. (1996). The Conscious Mind: in search of a Fundamental Theory (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Oxford University Press.
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Online reading: useful online articles and activities
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Einstein's World
Well Mind, Well Earth
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"Human behavior is rooted most deeply in nature's intentions and desire. The rhythms of nature underlie all of human interaction: religious traditions, economic systems, cultural and political organization. When these human forms betray the natural psychic pulse, people and societies get sick, nature is exploited and entire species are threatened."
-Stephen Aizenstat
In industrial society our excessively nature-separated lives mold us to betray the natural psychic pulse. We learn to block from our thinking over 98 percent of the wise sensory callings and fulfillments we normally receive from natural systems and their eons of experience. Our subconscious hurt and frustration from the severed disconnection of these senses underlies our greatest troubles.-Michael J. Cohen
Benefit from learning to repair the natural psychic pulse within and around us. Add the sensory ecoscience of Organic Psychology to your life and livelihood.
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