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Dear Doctor:
I would like to be healthier,
but don’t have enough time now to do all the things I need to, much
less spend time on being healthy…Any tips?
Signed L.D.
Dear L.D.:
Someone recently reminded me, “the older we get, the less time we
have”. This aspect of time can be
viewed both from the context of time used in our day-to-day lives, but also
in relationship to the stage of life we are at. Feeling as though we don’t have enough
time either for our daily activities or our life goals can create a great
deal of stress in our lives. This
internal stress may then mean negative health consequences for us. The question is, what can
we do to lessen a stressful approach to time constraints. Read on…
Time stressors-day to day:
When something is perceived by our mind as being stressful or
dangerous, our bodies respond by activating our sympathetic nervous system
– or the “fight or flight” adaptation response. This response is age-old, and was designed
to give a short term ability to “hyper-function” in order to deal with
danger (like having immediate strength to either run away from or to fight
- a wild animal that is threatening).
With this response, your body releases adrenal hormones such as
epinephrine and cortisol to give you a burst of
more energy- to speed up your heart rate, get your circulation going and
shunt blood to your arms and legs so you can run faster or have more
strength to fight. You start
breathing faster. Your pupils open so your vision can see as much as
possible of the environment so you can deal with the danger more
effectively. (Think of the last time
you were really scared, and it would be a good illustration of what happens
when the sympathetic nervous system is in action). Bodily functions
non-essential to dealing with danger such as food digestion and the immune
system are slowed down at this time also.
Remember however, that our sympathetic nervous system can be activated
when our minds perceive danger or threat, whether it is a real
danger such as a wild animal, or the mentally perceived threat of
repercussion for instance, of not meeting a deadline on time. How many times have you found yourself
rushed, trying to get done all of the things that need to be done in your day. How much
stress has been allowed to creep in, which then activates that sympathetic
nervous response;
a response that when we stop to consider, perhaps just isn’t
really even justified. When we are
chronically “under the gun” and feel as though we are constantly pushed to
the maximum to get things accomplished in our day, our body can get “stuck”
into that sympathetic mode, and “forget” how to relax back into it’s
normally relaxed state – the parasympathetic mode. And that can mean that those stress
hormones and response set us up for negative health issues associated with
chronic stress.
Time stressors-Stages of life
If you are like most of us, we tend to get busy with the day-to-day
business of life, and feel as though we will go on forever. We forget that we have a finite amount of
time here, and that how we spend the time we have is up to us. Important moments in life; such as
births, weddings and funerals, encourage us to look at our lives and take
note that time is passing. With
these occasions, we usually recognize that time is a valuable resource and
vow to make sure we are making the most of it. These occasions can be
prompts to change, if we reflect and find that we are not accomplishing the
goals we have in life.
Options:
One suggestion regarding time management for both short and long-term approaches, may be to keep a running list of how you
spend your time for three entire days.
Just jot down on a piece of paper all of your activities, and how
much time is spent on each. Keeping
this list can be time consuming in itself, but it can be time well spent
for the information it provides. At
the end of the three days, review your list to see just how you have spent
your time.
Some areas to review from your time log:
·
Are the various areas of your life in
balance? Are rest, work and play
equally represented? Or do you need
to perhaps spend less time in one area, and more time in another for good
health?
·
Take note of where the majority of your time
is spent each day. Is the amount of
the time spent in these areas worth the benefit to you?
·
How much of your time is spent upon tasks
that perhaps don’t have much return for you? A good question to ask…in a year, will it
really matter that I spent my time on this?
·
Are you spending time on tasks that have
become habitual, but have lost meaning for you? Is it perhaps time to review the
cost/benefit ration, and perhaps spend your time on tasks that are more
meaningful or useful to you?
·
On that same note, are you spending enough time
on the things that really do matter to you?
·
Are you spending enough time with the people
who you really care about have meaning in your life?
·
How much of your time is spent on caring for
others versus caring for yourself?
Is that time balanced enough for you?
·
What makes you happy? And are you spending enough time on those
activities in your life?
·
For the big picture…are you accomplishing
what you want to with your life? A
question you might ask yourself is, “if I had only one more year to live, what
would I change about my life?”
One of the first aspects of change is to identify what it is that we
would like to change. In answering
the above questions, you may very well identify areas in your life that you
may wish to alter how much attention (and time) you spend on them. This exercise may show you the areas in
your life where time perhaps can be shifted, so you have more time for
keeping yourself even healthier and happier.
Yellowstone Naturopathic
Clinic
720 N. 30th St.
Billings, MT 59101
PHONE 406·259·5096/FAX 406·248·5655
ync@180com.net
Dispensary
406·254·9682
dispensary@yncnaturally.com
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