How to handle tension and treatment for it?

 Go on to one or more of the following exercises, working slowly, smoothly, without jerking. Start by doing them for just a few minutes a day; then work up to perhaps as long as half an hour. Seated comfortably, raise your arms slowly overhead-and let them drop suddenly. Do the same with the legs. After each drop, pause several seconds to appreciate the relaxed effect. Breathe deeply, exhale slowly. Lie on your back on the floor. 

Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Exhale slowly. Tighten all muscles in your body. Then let go. Breathe deeply, exhale slowly. Still on the floor, shrug your shoulders up to your ears-and then let them fall back. Turn your head far to the left, then to the front, and relax. Repeat to the right. Breathe deeply and exhale after each movement.

Lying on your abdomen, rest your head on your folded arms. Tighten buttock muscles, then let go. Repeat several times. If you find these exercises helpful, you may wish to consult two books written by Dr. Edmund Jacobson: Anxiety and Tension Control," which is primarily addressed to physicians, and You Must Relax,t primarily written for lay people. Many other physicians today believe that the key to relaxing tension is muscle control. 

With every type of nervous stress, they note, there is muscular expression-sometimes as obvious as drumming with the fingers, sometimes as subtle as a mere flick of the eyes. If you can develop muscular control, you can help prevent buildup of tension. For that you will need to recognize delicate sensations most people are unaware of, distinguishing the slightly different feeling of a muscle performing useful work and a muscle tensed uselessly. Then it is necessary to control the unused muscles, turning them off.

The objective is differential relaxation in which muscles in constructive use stay in use while others are relaxed fully. As an example of how to go about this, close your eyes and silently repeat to yourself the names of three states or Presidents of the United States. Though you are not speaking, notice the small, almost imperceptible tentative movements that take place in your tongue, lips, jaw, cheeks, and throat. Then see if you can relax these muscles completely. o. Jacobson, Edmund, Anxiety and Tension Control. 

Stress- Frustration treatment

COPING EFFECTIVELY MENTAL AND emotional stress cannot be eliminated from life. 

Nor does it have to be. In itself it is not harmful. It is not a disease but a normal part of life. It is not so much the amount of stress an individual is subjected to that determines whether he or she will suffer from acute anxiety or depression or psychosomatic illness as it is how the stress is perceived, understood, and handled. And there are measures we can make use of to handle stressful situations in our lives more effectively.

There can, of course, be situations that seem so overwhelming that we may need medical or other professional help if we are to cope with them. Such help, as the next chapter will show, is available. But for most situations we have resources of our own that we can learn to use successfully.

HANDLING FEELINGS OF FRUSTRATION

When we have worries and cannot do anything about them, we have feelings of frustration. Long continued, frustration can take serious physical toll. In a classic experiment demonstrating the physical effects of frustration, rats were strapped to a board-for them, a most frustrating situation. As they struggled uselessly to get out of the situation, large areas of their heart muscles disintegrated and the animals died. Obviously, the one way to have saved the rats would have been to release them. Medication might conceivably have dulled the frustration for them but not released them. Man's frustrating situations are not so obvious. 

But they can be no less exacting. And while there is often a temptation to regard them as insoluble and to dull the feelings they arouse by such means as drugs and alcohol, man's frustrating situations quite often can be solved.

There is usually something that can be done to adapt to the circumstance or to change the seeming circumstance. If, say, your job is a particularly frustrating one, must it remain so? Is the frustration irremovable? There are many cases like that of a man, a successful young executive, or so he had been, who became a victim of painful headaches and insomnia and began to have trouble with associates on the job and with family at home. 

He had recently been assigned to a responsible new position in a division of the company that was in trouble. He worked hard and yet couldn't make as much of a dent in the many problems the division faced as he thought desirable. Increasingly anxious and tense, he put pressure on the people working with him as well as on himself, to the point where he no longer had their cooperation.

He had a gnawing, ever growing fear that his superiors were dissatisfied with his work. Only when he faced up to the fact that it was this fear which was driving him and, at the same time, was frustrating him, making him act in a self-defeating fashion, could he nerve himself for a showdown with the company president. It was a productive showdown. 

Was the president dissatisfied with his work, he wanted to know. On the contrary, the president told him, he thought he had done remarkably well in a difficult situation. And, in fact, so concerned was the president over the possible loss of the young man that he insisted he take an immediate vacation and promised to assign additional personnel to help him in his work. If you feel you are faltering in your job, that you are out of your depth, it mayor may not be true. It's healthy to find out where you stand, to take action rather than suffer along. 

You may not be out of your depth at all but may have created frustration for yourself by demanding more of yourself than anybody could reasonably expect. If you are out of your depth, the chances are that this will be discovered by others sooner or later; and if you own up to it sooner, there may be something of an immediate wrench but you will save yourself much grief and may well find yourself a happier situation much sooner. 

SPECIAL FARM AND RURAL WORKING PROBLEMS affects health

SPECIAL FARM AND RURAL WORKING PROBLEMS 

Although it is commonly thought that working on a farm or in a rural area is healthier than urban work, statistics indicate that this is not so, that illness and disability have much the same incidence in both places. In some rural areas, moreover, where doctors are few and hospitals poorly equipped, residents may have more health problems than do city dwellers. 

If you live and work in a rural area, you should know the facts about certain diseases that may occur in some rural areas: brucellosis (undulant fever), tularemia, and typhoid fever, tuberculosis of bones and joints, dysentery, malaria, hookworm.

Rural living provides no particular protection against tuberculosis and, indeed, farmers need to take every precaution listed and some extra ones as well. For example, milk in cities almost invariably is pasteurized, a precaution that helps prevent tuberculosis of the glands and bones, and other diseases such as undulant fever and septic sore throat. 

Unless a farmer goes to the trouble of pasteurizing the milk from his own cow, he and his family are in danger from these diseases. Many wise farmers set an example all might well follow: they either do their own pasteurizing or buy back some of the milk they sell to dairy plants after it has been pasteurized. Home pasteurization is described elsewhere in this blogs.

Farm Accidents The accident toll among rural Americans is high. While there is less danger than in the city from traffic, this is counterbalanced by the frequency of accidents during operation of farm machinery and by other hazards.  Because the accident rate is high and medical care may not be very lose by, every farmer should have a good working knowledge of first aid, and all farm vehicles should carry first-aid kits, including instruction booklets, even small wounds need immediate treatment because of the danger of infection. 

Any animal bites should be promptly washed with soap and water and treated, and they should also be reported to a physician and the animal should be checked for rabies. Tetanus (lockjaw) organisms thrive in the intestines of horses and other grass-eating animals and are therefore found around barns and in oil fertilized by manure. This disease, which can develop as the result of any deep wound such as one produced by stepping on a nail, is a constant threat to people in rural areas.

 It can be prevented by inoculations, and everyone, from childhood on, should be protected against tetanus by much inoculations. No deep wound, however trivial it may seem, should be neglected; an immediate injection of protective serum may make the difference between life and death. Be sure to read further on tetanus elsewhere in this book.

Job related Health problems -stress-frustration-mental health

If your job brings you sufficient income but leaves you frustrated, bored, or otherwise unhappy, vocational guidance agencies may help solve the problem. 

It could be worthwhile, too, for you to have a frank talk with your physician who, knowing the importance of job satisfaction as a factor in good preventive medicine, may himself be able to help with some guidance or refer you to a psychologist or psychiatrist for help in discovering whether you should try to adjust yourself to your present job-whether there are things you can do to make a satisfying adjustment or find another.

A good job, too, should be as safe as modern technology and your own alertness, ingenuity, and awareness of potential hazards can make it. 

If you are frequently ill or have had accidents at work, it may be that you do not observe proper precautions, or it may be the result of poor conditions in your place of employment. After reading this chapter, you may be able to decide better which it is. If it is the latter-poor work conditions you can bring the fact to the attention of your employers, either directly (perhaps through a suggestion box) or through your foreman, supervisor, or union.

If this fails to produce improvement, the matter should be reported to the proper authorities, such as the department of labor in your state or the local or state health department. The fact is that while much has been done to improve occup.ulon.il safety in this country, in any year on-the-job accidents kill 10, 00,000 partially or completely disable 2,200,000 of the nation's 12 million workers. Another 5 million suffer lesser work injuries toll in pain and suffering, job-related accidents ,  $1.5 billion in lost wages and deprive industry of  $millions. This record is an improvement over residents killed nearly twice as many people in a work force half the size of todays, but it leaves much to be desired. 

What are the medicines to use in Vacations to relax your mind?

Some people never develop a tan but burn every time they stay out in the sun, and some others merely freckle. Fifteen minutes, for most people, is long enough for the first sunbath. Each day after that, exposure time can be gradually extended, perhaps by as much as 15 minutes. Time your sunbaths. Use a suntan preparation. 

Such a preparation can help guard your skin against burning, but even the best one will not provide complete protection, so watch the clock. If you want to stay in the sun without tanning or freckling, you will need a heavier preparation than the usual commercial ones.

Your druggist can make up a cold cream containing 15 to 20 percent zinc oxide, or titanium oxide, or calamine. A heavy cream of this type may be helpful for people with skin troubles that are exacerbated by sunlight, but should be used only on their own physician's recommendation. Drink plenty of water when sun tanning, to make up for fluid you lose. Even though you do not realize it, you can perspire profusely on a dry, sunny day. It's wise to replenish salt, too, by taking salt tablets or salty crackers, or tomato juice with salt added to it.

If you are called upon to help a person badly burned by the sun, don't hesitate about calling a doctor. Extensive, large blisters always need medical attention; there is danger of infection. In mild cases where the skin turns red, use a dusting powder containing equal parts of zinc oxide, boric acid, and talcum. For moderately bad burns, where the skin is red and slightly swollen, apply wet dressings of gauze dipped in a solution of aluminum acetate, 1 part in 500 parts of water. Another soothing dressing is made by soaking gauze in cold white mineral oil.

After the swelling goes down, replace the dressings with a soothing cream containing cold cream, 88 parts; methyl salicylate, 10 parts; and benzocaine, 2 parts. Any druggist will make these preparations for you. Being Wise about the Water It's essential today to make certain any body of water in which you are going to swim is not polluted. A clear blue lake or silver brook may be contaminated by germs capable of causing typhoid fever or dysentery. 

A swimming pool may be too crowded or its water changed too infrequently to protect you against many diseases. The local health department will know about the safety of pools and bathing beaches in its territory. Feel free to check with it. Don't venture into the water immediately after meals or when over- heated or tired from other activities. Always come out before you become tired or chilled. 

HOBBIES AND OTHER RECREATION as relaxation tecniques

HOBBIES AND OTHER RECREATION

Recreation-refreshment of the strength and spirit after toil-is an extremely broad term. It covers physical activities which can be as vigorous as one likes, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, quiet activities Relaxation. It covers solitary activities and group activities. 

It covers. Cultural activities which can be considered creative and, for a while; it also covers activities that some may consider trivial that any activity which provides recreation cannot be dismissed as a utility. It is a common observation among physicians that patients who have developed hobbies and learned to enjoy recreational activities build to be healthier as well as happier.

And there is nothing trivial about that, ideally, each individual should have an indoor hobby and an outdoor one, both capable of providing genuine satisfaction. Some people prefer 10 change hobbies every year or two and even to relate their indoor and outdoor activities-so that, for example, one year archery may be the outdoor hobby and Indian art the indoor diversion, the next year the combination may be sailing and ship models. 

Others prefer to be casual, about choosing and staying with their hobbies. Hobbies need not be expensive. Some, such as gardening and refinishing old furniture, may be, in fact, more than pay for themselves.

In selecting hobbies, look for those you will really enjoy. Don't be like a businessman who, years ago, because his doctor had advised taking up a hobby, began to collect stamps. Dutifully he kept on collecting them though for him it was a bore. It took many years for him to realize that what he really wanted to do was to paint and that he had been mistaken in thinking that painting would be no suitable hobby for a man in his position.

Today he belongs, with great enjoyment, to a growing group of amateur "Sunday artists." Pick your hobby without regard to what others like or dislike, without regard to what may be fashionable or to what may seem to have some kind of "status." It should be something you like and want to do, something interesting, satisfying, relaxing for you. 

It is worth noting here that adult education is increasingly popular. It provides for some people opportunity to complete degree requirements. For others, it offers opportunities for learning about hobbies and even for acquiring new knowledge or skill for its own sake, as a hobby in itself.

Newspapers and magazines are full of advertisements and notices of adult education courses in colleges and universities. Your local public school board may also offer adult evening courses, ranging from arts and crafts to languages, current events, science, philosophy, and psychology. One of them is almost certain to appeal to you. 

Importance of rest and relaxation

A better understanding of the importance of rest and relaxation has been made possible by advances in neurophysiology providing new in- sights into what happens in the central nervous system. Investigators have been able to establish-by actually picking out the structures in animals and stimulating them with electric currents-that there are structures which have a damping or inhibitory effect and are in fatigue, and there are other structures which make up a system. 

If we sum up the vast amount of Neuro-physiological research, we fit this picture: An individual's mood-his ability to perform-at the given time depends on the degree of activity of the two systems. Inhibitory system dominates, the individual is in a state of fatigue; in the activating system dominates; he is ready to step up performance. This concept of fatigue helps to explain many symptoms otherwise difficult to understand.

All of us know, for example, that a feeling of tiredness can often disappear immediately if something unexpected happens or if a piece of intelligence or train of thought produces an emotional change. In such cases, the activating system is being stimulated. But if the surroundings are monotonous, if we are bored by what we are doing, the pitch of the activating system is lowered and the inhibitory system is in the ascendancy. 

And it is this that explains the fatigue that ran occurs in monotonous situations even when there is no stress. Monotony, by definition, is a wearisome sameness, a lack of change in the variety. And whatever the work we do, it can be considered monotonous work if it goes on without pause or change of pace.

We all are aware of the need for a good night's sleep, but too few of us recognize the need for rest and relaxation during the day. Many of us businessmen, professional people, and others-who not only work hard but are under heavy stress could live more comfortably without sacrificing efficiency-indeed, with increased efficiency-and probably live longer if we managed to take breaks during the day and take them without guilty consciences.