Participants: Shelley Quinn (Host), James Marcum
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000361
00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health and is not 00:04 intended to take the place of personalized 00:06 professional care. The opinions and ideas 00:09 expressed are those of the speaker. 00:11 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own 00:13 conclusions about the information presented. 00:35 Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn and welcome 00:37 to Wonderfully Made. You know, David wrote: 00:40 Oh! I praise the Lord for I am fearfully 00:43 and wonderfully made. And we are, 00:45 but there are so many things that we do 00:48 to ourselves that actually can ruin our health. 00:52 And today we're gonna be talking about 00:54 something that you're gonna want to hear about. 00:57 And this is, our topic today is stress, 01:00 and how to prevent it and, how to cope 01:02 with it, how to over come it? And we have 01:04 with us an expert, he's a cardiologist from 01:08 the Chattanooga, Tennessee Heart Institute 01:12 and his name is Dr. Jim Marcum. 01:14 Jim, thank you so much for being here today, 01:17 thank you. Now, when we get started on 01:19 this topic I know that we're gonna have an 01:21 audience that is tuned in and listening because 01:25 everyone it seems is experiencing stress in 01:28 today's world, what do you think that is? 01:31 Well, that's right well there's lots of problems 01:34 that are contributing to stress. 01:36 And you know you think about well, 01:38 what is stress? You know, where is it 01:40 around me and today getting back to your 01:42 question what's causing it? Well, our lifestyles 01:45 you know, we're running we think we have to 01:47 work harder and do more. We think we have to 01:49 stay up later at night, we think we have to 01:51 pursue the almighty dollar. You know in some 01:55 parts of the world people are scrounging right now 01:58 to stay out of wars, people are having to fight 02:01 to get the food they have, there is many 02:03 different reasons that cause stress on our body. 02:06 You know as you were saying that I just had 02:09 a thought there are people that are sitting 02:11 at home that are lonely, but maybe they've lost, 02:14 I mean they don't have that fast paced lifestyle. 02:17 Maybe there's a slown down because slowed down, 02:22 yeah, because of either their age, or maybe 02:27 an illness, but that change can cause stress too, 02:30 can't it? Yes, change can cause stress, 02:33 loss of a loved one cause stress, not being happy 02:37 at your job can cause stress, 02:39 sin in your life can cause stress. Amen, amen. 02:42 The food you eat in your life can cause stress; 02:45 the things you do and don't do can cause stress. 02:48 The list goes on and on and on and I bet you 02:52 sometimes when I talk about the subject 02:53 the people just hearing of it, they start to get 02:56 stressed from hearing about stress. 02:58 And sometimes when you hear about stress 03:00 over and over and over you start to get 03:02 stressed and I'm, I'm going to apologized 03:04 I know some people at home right now are getting 03:07 stressed about it, but this is a topic we must 03:10 talk about because stress is truly a disease. 03:13 Amen. Stress leads to disease and I'm afraid 03:16 right now we don't hear enough about it, 03:18 we don't recognize it, we don't have a game plan 03:20 in dealing with stress. That's what we want to 03:22 do today with this program is get people 03:24 a game plan to think about stress as a real disease. 03:27 Now, you are a cardiologist Jim, yes and 03:30 I would like for you to explain what that is to 03:34 our audience? Well, a cardiologist is a 03:37 doctor that's trained in Internal Medicine and 03:39 specifically they trains to deal with the 03:41 diseases of the heart and blood vessels. 03:44 What got me interested in stress? 03:46 Is that stress plays a role in so many these 03:48 chronic cardiovascular diseases, it plays a role 03:51 in high blood pressure and heart attacks, 03:53 it plays a role in people's diet. Did you know 03:55 that some people just a food they eat causes 03:58 and to have stress, but it's truly something 04:01 that is you're gonna hear a lot more 04:03 about the next few years. And I guess what 04:06 really tipped me over is my own life. 04:08 I assessed you know what's going on and 04:11 I said well why don't I feel as good as I do, 04:14 you know why can I do more, why I'm not more 04:16 sharp than I should be? Well, I looked at things 04:19 and I was having a lot of stress in my own life, 04:21 so then I really got to the basics of it. 04:23 Well, that's good and I know that I probably 04:25 need to reevaluate some things as well. 04:28 Well, Jim also has a ministry called 04:31 Heartwise Ministry, and he teaches people 04:34 how to be wise about their lifestyle choices. 04:38 And because of this ministry we have questions 04:41 that have come in from all of around the world. 04:43 And we're gonna be reading some of those 04:45 questions that deal with stress today. 04:47 So, this first question is from Brenda in New York, 04:51 and here's what she writes. My friend Lorry 04:53 works at the desk next to mine, she says I'm 04:57 stressed out, how do you know if you're 05:00 stressed out? Oh! Brenda excellent question, 05:03 most people in fact don't know that they're 05:05 stressed out. One of the worst things you know 05:08 at work, if you're stressed at work and 05:10 don't even know it you could have this stress 05:13 disease for years and not even realize what 05:15 it's doing internally to your body. 05:17 There is a stress you know about the conscious 05:20 stress, but every input that your body gets 05:22 from anywhere. Every in put stored in your 05:26 brain in the subconscious. So, the subconscious 05:29 is working even when you're conscious doesn't 05:31 know about it and it can create physiologic 05:33 manifestations. So, your mind and your body 05:35 are so tightly connected and then all these 05:39 chemicals start to go that deal with the stress, 05:42 the stress hormones. Now, I wanna throw up 05:44 our first graphic today. These are some, 05:47 you know she ask if how do you know 05:49 when you might have stress. Well, some of the 05:51 common symptoms of stress could be are you 05:54 having headaches, do you have unexplained 05:57 chest pain, are your muscles tight, 05:59 are you having problem sleeping, do you have 06:02 acid that bubbles up from your stomach, 06:05 are you having high blood pressure, 06:07 are you having palpitations, or are you 06:09 shortness of breath? All of these Shelley 06:13 can be symptoms of stress, but I think this is 06:17 the best one that I have for the audience 06:19 in a person that I think having lots of symptoms, 06:21 you know, you go to the doctor and say, 06:23 oh! My chest hurts and I do a lot of tests 06:25 I can't find anything wrong. And I think well 06:28 maybe they have the disease of stress. 06:30 Well, one of the uniform symptoms is they 06:31 don't sleep well at night. So, I always asked people 06:35 do you sleep well at night? And if the 06:37 answer is no, you have to say well maybe 06:40 an addition to everything else they're having 06:41 some underlined stress. So, Brenda back to your 06:45 question, how do you know if you're stressed? 06:47 Well, do you have any of these symptoms and 06:49 secondly are you sleeping well at night? 06:53 Oh! It would be good one and it's interesting that 06:55 often people around us are the ones who recognize 06:58 it you know, my husband told me once, 07:00 honey I think you're over working you're 07:02 getting stressed out. And I said, 07:04 that's ridiculous, but I went to a doctor 07:06 and as I was talking to him he said, you're gonna 07:08 burn out your adrenal glands. 07:09 He said, you are going at high speed 24x7 07:13 and he said you're killing yourself. 07:15 So, I took it seriously. Okay, the second 07:19 question comes from Andrew in Australia and he says, 07:23 my job in Sydney requires travel four days a week, 07:27 I know this kind of schedule is not good for 07:29 my body, what does stress actually do to the body? 07:35 Andrew, that's a good question and I appreciate 07:37 I've had quite a few comments from Australia, 07:40 so I know the people in Australia are very 07:42 interested about their health, but stress 07:44 and I'm gonna step on a lot of toes here. 07:47 Especially that my friends the truck drivers, 07:49 I see lots of them they also go, the salesman, 07:52 the people that travel, the people that are 07:54 on the go a lot they frequently have 07:57 high levels of stress. And now, stress can come 08:00 from anywhere, it come from relationships, 08:02 it can come from pain, it can come from 08:05 you know the things we eat, the things we think 08:07 about change, loss of love ones, divorce is a 08:11 big cause of stress, job is a big cause of stress. 08:14 Not having good relationship with people, 08:16 but there's two types of stress that I want to 08:19 talk to Andrew about, one is the acute stress 08:22 you know the fighter flight. 08:25 Someone's threatening you know to, to kill you, 08:28 okay you're gonna get your muscles up and 08:29 you're gonna battle with them, and you're gonna 08:31 battle and battle that's the good type of stress, 08:34 that's a kind of stress you want. 08:36 But in chronic stress your body is doing that 08:38 all the time. One of the hormones that your body 08:41 makes is called epinephrine or adrenaline. 08:44 And this is the hormone that does all sorts of 08:46 things in your body. For instance, it constricts 08:49 blood vessels; it gets the body ready to fight 08:52 so all your muscles, all throughout the body 08:54 get tense, 'cause you're ready to fight a battle. 08:56 Yeah. You mobilize your food from different places 09:00 'cause you're getting ready to fight, 09:01 you're not you know, you're gonna get the food, 09:02 so that acid is in the stomach just churning 09:05 'cause you're ready to digest whatever 09:06 energy you can. Your immune system, 09:09 we don't need an immune system in this course 09:11 and we're gonna move our body 09:12 energies in order to fight. Your mind, 09:15 it gets it's just racing a millions times a minute. 09:17 Your heart starts to speed up okay, your, 09:21 the muscles around your eyes tight 'cause 09:23 you're getting ready to try the thing yourself 09:25 to stay alive. Another hormone that goes up is 09:28 called cortisol and this helps you know, 09:31 in our food process, it helps you know, 09:34 the sugars in our body and things of that nature. 09:36 Well, this hormone also changes, when these 09:39 changes occur chronically, chronically not acutely, 09:42 but over the long term your body can't deal with it. 09:45 Lets stop there for just a moment. Yeah. 09:46 Because those are words not everyone is 09:48 familiar with. Okay. But when you're talking 09:50 about the acute stress reaction that means 09:53 when it just it happens rapidly, it's a sudden 09:56 on slot of this and if it, if you require that 10:00 fight or flight that's good, but if this is 10:04 something that you are living in this condition 10:06 chronically means that if it's a chronic condition 10:09 it's ongoing and then you are wearing your 10:14 body out because there's all of these chemical 10:17 changes going on in your brain and in your body 10:20 and you may not be aware of that, but you're 10:22 really killing yourself, that's right, with stress. 10:25 And that's why I call this disease; this is really 10:27 a disease because clearly your chemical makeup 10:30 is dramatically changed from this chronic stress. 10:33 I think of a patient that I had not too long ago 10:37 and get back to Andrew's question. 10:39 He was a truck driver, he didn't sleep well 10:42 at night, he ate poor foods, he was having 10:45 some relationship problems, he had lost a 10:47 loved one with this chronic stress just 10:49 drove him crazy. His chemicals all change in 10:53 body, his blood pressure went up, he had acid 10:55 and indigestion. And, and finally when he was 10:57 able to realize he had this and worked through 11:00 this stress one step at a time his symptom 11:03 started to improve, 'cause this is a terrible 11:05 disease that we have. And so, Andrew what does 11:09 stress actually do in the body? Well, it changes 11:12 your entire chemical makeup. Not only the 11:14 chemicals that fight acute stress, but the way 11:16 you think. Have you ever been under stressful 11:18 situation? Your brain just doesn't, it works 11:20 differently it's not as logical, it's doing things 11:23 drastic things to stay alive, it's not thinking 11:26 that logical pathway that you would get in 11:28 non-stressful situation. So, you overreact 11:31 that point. Yes usually, usually good. Okay. 11:34 Well, let's go onto Marlene's question. 11:36 And Marlene is from Ohio, and she writes I know 11:39 I'm under stress, there are too many things 11:42 going on in my life to list them all, 11:45 what should I do to combat the stress? 11:49 Well, Marlene the first thing that you've done 11:51 is recognized that you have stress, and that's 11:54 very important, and the second thing that you've 11:56 done that is so good is you're seeking help. 11:59 Many people that are under stress first they 12:03 might admit they have it, but then they won't do 12:05 anything to change what's going on in their lives. 12:08 They say, oh! My job is too demanding, 12:10 I'm working two and three jobs. I'm doing 12:13 this, I'm doing that. I'm staying up at night, 12:15 but they're not willing to make a change. 12:17 And they're thinking that, you're in and you're out, 12:19 they're gonna feel great, but sooner or later 12:21 this stress is gonna take up for you. 12:23 Now, I want to talk about the way people 12:26 do deal with stress, 'cause there's different 12:27 types of ways people do. And now, everyone 12:30 has stress and you're dealing with it one way 12:32 or the other Shelley. Right. I mean you just 12:34 can't ignore it, but let's, let's throw up a 12:36 graphic, about in what ways some people 12:38 deal with stress? And see, if people in the 12:40 audience might do some of these mechanisms 12:44 in order. One is eating, do you know anyone 12:47 that eats when they're stressed out? I know, 12:49 a lot of people do. Okay, overworking, some people 12:52 just work more-and-more when they're stress, 12:53 and some people do the opposite, they say, 12:55 well I'm not gonna work at all, I'm just gonna 12:56 lay at home in bed and do nothing. 12:59 Some people were turn to drugs such as alcohol, 13:02 cigarettes, caffeine and cocaine. 13:05 Some people take medications for stress; 13:08 they'd rather take a chronic medicine like 13:10 Valium and Benzo. I know some people the way 13:12 they deal with stress is they spend money. 13:14 You know, they run up the credit card debt. 13:16 And you hate to blame every you know, 13:18 spending money on stress, but it could be 13:20 a symptom of stress. People have to deal with 13:23 stress in some way the other. When you have 13:25 stress in your life you just, you just sound say, 13:28 I've stress and not deal with it. Now, you've to 13:29 look at yourself honestly and say, well if when I 13:33 have stress how am I dealing with my stress? 13:36 And you know it occurred to me as we're 13:37 going through this list that every one of those 13:40 things, if you're eating because you're stressed 13:42 it makes you more stressed. Right. 13:44 Because you're, you start gaining weight or 13:46 you're having these problems, if you're out 13:48 spending money and running up your credit 13:50 card because you're stressed and when those 13:52 bills come in you're more stressed. And certainly, 13:55 if you're dealing or if you're using some kind 13:57 of a drug to help you or caffeine or stimulator 14:00 or something like that, it ends up 14:02 making the problem worse, doesn't it? 14:04 It does, but most people nowadays, when you 14:07 think about it they are dealing with stress 14:09 in maladaptive ways. They're literally 14:11 destroying the bodies that God wonderfully 14:14 made for them. And that's why when you 14:16 think about stress getting back to the good 14:18 ways of dealing with stress. You know, 14:21 we have to focus on I think biblical ways in 14:24 dealing with the stress. You know, casting our 14:26 burdens on someone else, not trying to take 14:29 everyone's burdens. Let's show the graphic 14:31 about some of the, the good ways to cope 14:33 with stress. One, this is I think the only true 14:38 way to deal with chronic stress is an active 14:41 spiritual life. Amen. You have to cast your 14:44 burdens on your Lord. Amen. If you look 14:47 the way when Christ dealt with stress, 14:49 He went to His Father in prayer over-and-over. 14:52 That's the way He dealt with stress. He prayed, 14:54 He cast His burdens, He got them off Him. 14:57 So, you have to have an active spiritual life 14:59 to deal with stress. Another thing that helps 15:02 stress immensely is exercise, 'cause exercise 15:05 increases all of the hormones that help 15:08 fight stress. Proper nutrition is another very, 15:12 very important way to deal with chronic stress. 15:15 And it only make sense and, if you put good 15:17 gas in your car. Right. The car is only 15:19 gonna run better. Now, we see examples of 15:22 this biblically throughout all times, 15:24 if you think back to Daniel and his friends 15:26 of another reason we have to also recognize 15:29 that we have stress and those are some of the 15:31 things that we need to talk about. 15:33 Another thing that's very important is getting 15:35 appropriate rest, getting away, changing a scenery, 15:39 getting your mind away from all those things, 15:41 letting your minds recharge are all important 15:44 things in dealing with chronic stress. 15:46 Now, let's for a few seconds talk about 15:48 some things. You bet. Anyone jump out that 15:50 you that see way of, productive 15:51 way of dealing with stress? 15:53 Well, I know that my only way really of 15:56 dealing with stress at the time is just turning 15:59 my eyes on the Lord, I need to do some more, 16:01 I need do exercise more, I definitely need to 16:04 just get away with a change of scenery, 16:06 change you know, rest more. The interesting 16:10 thing about being in ministry is that 16:13 often on the Sabbath. Oh! Yeah. 16:15 Which is the rest day I'm ministering, so it's 16:19 not and I love doing it, but that doesn't mean 16:22 it ends up being really restful for me because 16:25 there's a lot preparation time that goes in and 16:27 then you spend maybe four to six hours 16:30 speaking, it's not necessarily a day of rest. 16:32 Right. So, I can say a lot of things 16:34 I need to change. Well, you know 16:36 I agree so much with that day of rest. 16:39 You know, and God knew when He setup, 16:41 setup this world that it was gonna be stressful. 16:45 Right. You know, and God work six days 16:47 and He literally took a day off for rest 16:50 not only spiritual, spiritual rest, 16:53 but a physical rest. We could rejuvenate 16:56 our body. Now you know, you might say, 16:58 well if I'm not truly spiritual and physically 17:01 resting on that day, can I really have the 17:04 blessings of that day? I don't know it's something 17:06 to think about. Well, I do know that as far as 17:10 the priest ministering in the temple I know 17:12 I'm not breaking the Sabbath. Yes, right. 17:13 But it is something that I do realize that from 17:16 time-to-time I think about because I am 17:19 ministering on that day I should maybe take 17:21 another day off too, but there is a lot of things 17:24 that people are not doing because we are 17:27 caught up in this high tech fast paced society 17:33 and it seems to me that I don't know about you, 17:36 you may not be old enough to remember, 17:38 but I can remember when federal express and 17:41 UPS first came out and you could get something 17:45 somewhere overnight, we thought it was amazing. 17:48 And then the fax came out Jim and it first 17:51 it was like oh! We could send a document like that. 17:54 And it was so astonishing, but within just months of 17:57 getting your fax, pretty soon you're sitting 17:59 there and you're drumming you know, 18:01 I thought to myself jut drumming my fingers. 18:03 Yeah. On the counter waiting for something 18:06 because we want it now and we're getting to 18:09 aware we expect such immediate results 18:12 that we're stressed when we don't have them. 18:15 Yeah, well you know in me as far as my personal 18:18 life goes the one that, that I thought its 18:20 help me more than I thought it would be, 18:22 it would be just the process of getting away. 18:24 Yeah. You know, moving from your environment 18:26 that you're in everyday, day in and day out 18:29 and getting away whether that be you know, 18:31 just sitting alone somewhere taking a 18:34 trip of vacation. In fact, one of the ways 18:37 I treat chronic stress. You know, in addition 18:40 to the biblical ways and in addition to resting 18:42 is I tell somebody I say, Shelley you're really 18:45 stressed. And if we don't do something now 18:47 it's gonna get worst. Well, why I'm suggesting? 18:49 Is Wednesday afternoon that you take off from, 18:53 from 1 O'clock to 5 O'clock that your time, 18:57 you can do whatever you want; 18:58 no one can get to you. Now, if you chose to 18:59 work it's your choice, if you wanna lay down, 19:02 it's your choice, if you wanna read a book, 19:04 if you wanna write those are all of your choices. 19:06 And what I think this does is let your subconscious 19:09 know that no matter how hard it gets 19:12 during the week, I may have a release valve. 19:14 I have something to look forward to and I can 19:16 sort of rejuvenate my brain batteries in order 19:19 to make it to the next time which probably 19:22 is gonna be a Sabbath, when I can sort of 19:23 rejuvenate myself again. I think that getting 19:26 away mentally and knowing that that vacation is 19:29 there has helped me more than 19:31 anything in dealing with chronic stress. 19:33 You know, I was thinking there was a 19:35 young lady that I was ministering to that 19:38 she was a young mother of three, Homeschooling 19:40 all three children. 'Cause she was with 19:42 her children 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 19:46 And I gave her the advice that you gave her, 19:49 and she said, oh! But I feel like I would be a 19:51 horrible mother if I took an afternoon off 19:53 for myself. And I told her I said, 19:55 the worse mothers are those who do not spend 19:57 enough time with their children, or those who 19:59 spent too much time with your children because 20:01 you do need that break. Right. I know she loved 20:04 her, her babies, but it's something that to 20:08 constantly have that much demand on you personally 20:12 where you never have a second for 20:13 yourself that really causes a lot of stress. 20:16 That, that's a good point, I think the mothers 20:18 at home they deserve to have this. 20:21 Another point I wanted to touch on here 20:23 is nutrition. Nutrition is a treatment for 20:26 chronic stress and if you think about go, 20:29 go look at home tonight at some of the packages 20:31 you have and look at all the chemicals that are 20:33 in the packages, all the preservatives, all the 20:35 things that you put in there that you can't even 20:37 say tonight Glutaraldehyde or ethylene you know, 20:41 I saw ethylene glycol the other day, on a big 20:45 Frank can, but all these chemicals God did not 20:48 make to put in our body. You know these are not 20:51 you know they weren't in the Garden of Eden 20:53 giving us these chemicals to take. 20:54 We don't know how they affect our chemical 20:56 nature in the body. And everyone that I 20:58 told to try to get off process and extra foods 21:02 with these preservative and they have felt 21:04 better because they're eating more natural diets, 21:07 our body is able to handle these chemicals 21:10 it doesn't it helps the whole chemical balance. 21:13 And I doesn't want, one thing I want, another 21:15 thing I want to push people through is 21:17 getting adequate nutrition, especially water. 21:19 You know what you just said it just occur to me, 21:21 there are some things that we do eat that 21:24 stress our body, and if it stresses 21:26 our body it's gonna stress your mind. 21:28 You know what used to stress me is 21:30 I probably shouldn't tell on myself, but I used to 21:32 love to eat Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. 21:35 And that stress me out and they were so 21:37 delicious and it was like, I could not eat just 21:40 one of them and that was what stressed me. 21:42 I would eat one and it would taste so good 21:44 I want to eat another one, and want to eat 21:46 another one. So, I was just better off 21:47 replacing that habit with a good habit and this is 21:51 stress from just not even one that just 21:53 drove me crazy. So, I'm just, 21:54 I just have to stay way from Krispy Kremes. 21:55 Alright, and you watched children in a 21:57 birthday party and some of they, if they eat, 21:59 have eaten too many sweets and you see the 22:00 stress factors on their body. Yeah. You know, 22:03 sugars in it. You know, one thing I didn't notice 22:06 on your list is coping with stress. 22:08 Now, for me music can either cause stress or 22:12 it can alleviate my stress. Yeah. I'm very, 22:16 I'm noise sensitive. So noise, if I have too 22:19 many conflicting noises around me it makes 22:23 me that's the time when I feel the most stressed. 22:27 And so, either I want it to be totally quiet or 22:30 I want something soft, something simple not 22:34 complicated in the line of music. 22:36 So, music can if it's too jive, or too much beat 22:42 it can make me feel stressed, but if it's 22:44 something slow and nice acoustical guitar 22:47 or piano solo or something that 22:49 can make me feel real calm. You know there 22:50 couple other, you know the list goes on 22:52 and I think each individual has to you know 22:54 sort of decide what treats themselves, 22:56 but I had a lot of people tell me that heat 23:00 that helps them, helps their, their treatments 23:02 of stress. Whether that be heat from 23:04 you know a water pool, some people like 23:06 massage you know as a way of relaxing 23:09 the muscles, but that's another way that some 23:12 people are dealing with some other stress 23:13 you know, your muscles are tight all the time, 23:15 if you can just sort of relax them all the time 23:17 that sort of that feeling that you get, 23:19 there's lots of you know, good positive ways, 23:22 but most people aren't thinking about ways 23:24 to actively treat stress on a 23:26 daily basis, they just let it happen. 23:28 You know this the song "Sweet Hour of Prayer," 23:34 "Sweet Hour of Prayer." Oh! What needless 23:36 toils we bare because we don't take him to 23:39 the Lord and prayer. That for me prayer 23:43 is one of the greatest distressors because 23:46 when I can go to God and just pray earnestly 23:50 and, and really focus my eyes on the problem 23:53 solver rather than on the problem, 23:54 exactly, it really changes. Well, and that's, 23:57 that's the biggest solution to stress, and 23:59 that's why I don't see how people that don't have 24:01 a relationship with Christ can deal with stress. 24:04 In the way Christ dealt with stressed, 24:06 every time he had a stressful situation, 24:09 what did He do? He went to His Father. 24:11 He went to His Father. So, that's the true answer 24:12 to that. Amen, okay well I'm glad Marlene that you 24:16 wrote this question in. This one comes to us 24:19 from J.R. in Oklahoma and he writes, I recently 24:23 got divorced and lost my job in a matter of 24:26 three months. Bless your heart J.R., 24:28 I saw my doctor and he put me on a nerve pill. 24:34 I must admit I feel "chilled." How do you 24:39 feel about nerve pills? Whoa! Now, would you 24:43 say nerve pills he's probably talking 24:45 about a tranquilizer? Yeah, he was probably 24:46 talking about Xanax, or Valium, or Ativan or 24:50 those many ones that are out there. 24:53 I think the true treatment of any disease 24:55 is getting at the core of it. Okay and what they 24:58 have not done is got at the core. And people 25:01 they just give a pill right away, now some people 25:04 truly do have chemical imbalances, okay true. 25:08 Some people really do need it, and some people 25:10 have anxiety disorders and stress disorders, 25:13 but I would say that's probably the minority. 25:17 The majority of people that I think deal with 25:20 chronic stress has a type of stress that it needs 25:22 to be treated in the, in the way we just 25:24 talked about. Find good coping 25:26 mechanisms distress. And I like to refer people 25:29 back I said, listen let's not jump to a medication, 25:32 okay let's take step back, find out what's 25:36 causing your stress? For instance, if it's 25:37 stressful to drive to work a certain way, 25:40 well maybe you should change the way you go 25:41 to work, if it's, if someone, a colleague at 25:44 work is just irritating you all the time. 25:47 Well, maybe you should move round that 25:49 colleague, if you are prayer life and your 25:51 religeous life it's not what it should be. 25:53 Well, maybe you should resolve some of those 25:55 conflicts. Right. If you know, you do all those 25:57 other things you can first and then after 26:00 every other thing is exalted, exhausted then 26:02 I would say, well do I really have a chemical 26:05 imbalance or have I change my chemicals enough. 26:07 And I wanna mention this study, they did a 26:09 study recently and they compared people 26:12 that who are under chronic stress and 26:14 specifically depression. And they compared them 26:17 to those that took medication, okay and 26:19 took medication for one year and they're also 26:22 compared those that did lifestyle changes and at 26:24 one year they grated the amount of depression 26:27 and stress they had. And the people that had 26:29 lifestyle changes were just as happy with their 26:32 overall level of satisfaction and they 26:34 dealt with the cause and the people that 26:36 took medications. And there certainly are 26:39 cases that there are some people, yes, 26:43 who have depression, who if such a chemical, 26:46 strong chemical imbalance that they 26:47 have to take that medication and we don't 26:49 want to give you the idea if you're one of those 26:53 people that there's anything wrong with that 26:55 as long as you're trying the lifestyle 26:56 things as well. This is in addition. 26:58 This is in addition, right so. Well, we have 27:02 got so many stress factors that are contributing 27:07 to our society and it's not just the United States, 27:11 Japan, Africa, India around the world. 27:16 You know, we look at ourselves and think we're 27:20 the ones with the problems, but some of 27:22 our problems are not those basic life 27:24 threatening issues. I think about the Middle East, 27:27 can you imagine having the stress of just 27:29 going to work and? A mother, I just think about 27:31 a mother with the children, yeah, 27:32 was that's going on over there. 27:34 But, but it's truly a worldwide problem and 27:36 it's, it's something that we need to be aware of. 27:39 And the things that I want the audience 27:42 worldwide to look at today and these are things 27:44 that I want to just leave, just two points that I 27:47 want you to take home is number one recognize 27:50 stress, if you don't get anything out recognize it, 27:53 if you're under stress. And two, develop a 27:56 game plan to deal with your stress and get 27:58 some help. Amen, well I hope you've enjoyed 28:02 our program today with Dr. Jim Marcum and if you 28:05 have stress in your life and hit your knees 28:07 and pray, turn all of your burdens 28:10 over to the Lord. Amen, thank you. |
Revised 2014-12-17