Staying Healthy Through Stress

As I sit at my computer trying to write my next article, I'm finding it hard to concentrate due to the events in New York City and Washington D.C. I had a topic all planned and ready to go, but now it just doesn't seem relevant. I live in New York and know many people who live and work in Manhattan. I also have relatives in Washington D.C. (my cousin is a physician who has been on call), so I'm a bit pre-occupied.

I just learned that a good friend of mine lost someone who was in the North Tower. She was engaged to my friend's uncle and the wedding was less than a month away. He is also one of the volunteers involved in the rescue effort.

So, given the disturbing news reports, how do I switch my focus to asthma? Well, situations like these evoke stress. Whether we are directly involved, witnessed the event, or are just traumatized by the images that are constantly repeated on nearly every television channel, it is easy for our stress levels to rise. When stress levels increase, so does the level of a hormone called cortisol, commonly known as the stress hormone. Excess levels of cortisol can result in physical symptoms or changes in your disease.

Have you ever felt butterflies in your stomach before giving a speech? Or when you are standing at the top of that 3 meter diving platform? That's cortisol. Other symptoms could include headache, nausea, lack of appetite or increased appetite. I can see these changes in my 6th grade daughter. She is having trouble sleeping at night and the first time she heard an airplane overhead (we are near the Air National Guard) she was terrified. In my son, he was very tense yesterday and lost his temper for no reason. He also had a mid-day asthma attack for the first time in months. While there is no direct link between severe stress and increased asthma symptoms, there are a few things to bear in mind.

At the simplest level, current events are distracting and disrupt our normal routine. The closer you are to the situation, the greater the effect. Are you remembering to take your medications on time? In this, the height of ragweed season in many parts of North America, are you being aware of hints that an asthma attack is imminent? When we are so easily wrapped up in this National tragedy, it is easy to forget about our own health.

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