Stress

Dan and I are watching an interesting program on public television about stress. The research for this program was done on both humans and monkeys, and while the monkey comparisons are interesting, I am very intrigued by the human portion. For instance, stress has a very interesting (and unfortunate) effect on memory and if a woman is subjected to extreme stress during pregnancy, the baby is born with a predisposition to some of the side-effects of stress. This program also addressed the stress for those raising special-needs kids (and maybe those who work with special needs kids?!?!) and a study revealed that a mother of a special needs child essentially ages 6 years in the span of one year. Woah!

I was feeling stressed today because I am getting a cold and I had a really long day. But, I was able to find some releif from the cold with medicine and by spending my long drive time between kiddos reflecting and relaxing. Usually, I listen to the radio or my iPod while I drive, but there is something so soothing about the quiet hum of the road. Some days my job is fun and rewarding and other days I am frustrated and stressed. But I think I can keep my stress in check by using my breaks during the day to be calm and breath and empty any extra clutter from my mind. Blogging helps release some of my stress too, so I hope I am not putting it onto my readers! With that said -- May you have a stress free Wednesday!