Announcer:	The Missouri State Journal. A weekly program keeping you in touch with Missouri State University.
Emily Yeap:	The overall stress level in America peaked for the first time in a decade, according to a recent study from the American Psychological Association. Its “Stress in America: Coping with Change” survey showed that between August 2016 and January 2017, Americans’ stress level on a 10 point scale from “little or no stress” to “a great deal of stress” went up from 4.8 to 5.1. Politics was the main stressor, but others include terrorism, police violence and personal safety. I'm Emily Yeap. 
		In light of Stress Awareness Month this April, joining me today is Rhonda Lesley, director of Counseling Center at Missouri State University. She's here to help us understand stress better and combat it. 
Rhonda Lesley:	Some of the kinds of stress that are common, really one that's not very surprising is the stress of just everyday living. What we call routine stress and then another form of stress is something that's traumatic. Often these are not expected, although they can be expected. Things like catastrophes, terror, war, etc. and then major stressors brought on by situations in life like a major accident, the ending of a relationship, getting fired, just any kinds of major life events.
Emily Yeap:	What are some warning signs when a person is too stressed?
Rhonda Lesley:	Common signs include fatigue, insomnia, muscle tension, sometimes people get headaches. Sometimes people will isolate themselves socially if they're stressed out. GI problems are really common. Just feelings of irritability, depression or anxiety. Those symptoms can appear suddenly or they can come on over a long period of time and I think the kind of stress symptoms that come on over a longer period of time sometimes are harder to notice. People have an opportunity over time to adjust and the stress levels are getting higher and higher. It's almost like turning the flame up very slowly. 
Emily Yeap:	Lesley says stress that's left unchecked can affect our health and quality of life.
Rhonda Lesley:	It can cause immune function problems, high blood pressure, fatigue, muscle stiffness, GI issues. Stress is even attributed in certain kinds of heart disease, diabetes, as well as with mental health. It's attributed to anxiety disorders, depression, and many other concerns.
Emily Yeap:	Lesley offers some tips to de-stress.
Rhonda Lesley:	Some really good ways to alleviate or manage stress include really first becoming aware of the fact that you are experiencing stress. That awareness and knowledge is going to give you what you need then to take an honest look and take that first step. Taking better care of yourself. Making sure you're getting seven, eight, nine hours of sleep. Whatever you need. Eating well. Making sure you're getting some downtime and not overdoing it. If you're experiencing symptoms of stress, seeing your doctor just to get a baseline. Seeing how your health is going, get a wellness check. Practicing relaxation strategies. Things like deep diaphragmatic breathing or meditation or yoga and one of my own favorite apps now that you can get on your phone is called calm.com. 
		Making sure you're exercising and it's really important to choose the right kind of exercise, because if you decide you're going to get on an elliptical and you just hate the elliptical, it's not going to be very effective for decreasing your stress. It'll probably increase your stress, so it needs to be something that fits you. Having good social support is another important part of managing stress well. Even things like petting a dog or a cat can reduce your blood pressure and really make you feel calmer. Then, especially finding activities that bring meaning to your life. That's really been found to just make people feel really good.
Emily Yeap:	It also helps to change the way we think about stress. Lesley explains.
Rhonda Lesley:	Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist and she has a very popular Ted Talk where she addresses stress. She really brings home the point that how we react to the stress in our life determines a lot how we're affected by stress. She really suggests that whenever we feel the effects of stress, we need to rethink that as instead of, oh, my body's really hurting because of stress, we need to reframe it and say, "Wow, my heart is pounding faster and taking care of me and I'm able to perform better and I'm going to be happier because my body is functioning well under stress." We need to really change our perspective and it seems like the research indicates that's true.
Emily Yeap:	That was Rhonda Lesley, director of Counseling Center at Missouri State. I'm Emily Yeap for the Missouri State Journal.
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