Module 3.10 – Comfort Level

Module 10 – Introduction

Your comfort level in a meeting or project/programme purpose situation is often in direct proportion to your knowledge, preparation, and organization. If you do not feel comfortable, if you feel stressed, it could mean that you are not as ready for the meeting as you should be, or would like to be. Stress can damage your health; your social, family, and professional relationships; your ability to work effectively.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

1. Comfort Level

Your comfort level in a meeting or project/programme purpose situation is often in direct proportion to your knowledge, preparation, and organization. If you do not feel comfortable, if you feel stressed, it could mean that you are not as ready for the meeting as you should be, or would like to be. We have already looked at knowledge, preparation, and organization. Now we’ll look at the emotional factors involved.

First, however, we have to point out that you can be too comfortable. Actors, entertainers, and professional speakers often point out that a little nervousness—some butterflies in the stomach—can be helpful by helping to keep you on your toes. Your goal is not to get rid of the butterflies, but to have them fly in formation.

Your audience, and beneficiaries, will know how comfortable or nervous you are. You will not be able to hide it, especially if you are going to be with them for any length of time.

The key, then, is not hiding how you feel in a certain situation, but in learning how to feel competent and productive in stressful situations. In other words, we have to learn how to deal with stress. That requires that we do four things:

1. Recognize and admit that we really are under stress. Denial is a major problem. Until we admit that we are stressed, we can’t do anything about it.

2. Determine what actually is causing that stress. The cause is not always obvious. It might not be speaking to a room filled with people, for example, but just one or two specific people in the room.

3. Develop a strategy for dealing with that stress.

4. Deal with it. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2. What Is Stress?

Before you can learn to deal with stress, you must first understand what it is. Stress is a reaction. If you are under stress, it is because that is how you react to the things going on around you, at work, home, in the news, and so on. Let’s look at two examples:

1. Lisa spent 45 minutes making what should have been a 10-minute drive to work and was so stressed when she got to the office she snapped at her assistant, threatened to have the janitor fired because the wastebasket wasn’t emptied, spent 15 minutes in the bathroom, and then had her first meeting of the day. It was with a potential action sponsor/beneficiary. After the first three minutes, the action sponsor/beneficiary had already decided to look for another supplier.

2. Alice had the exact same commute. When she arrived, she chatted pleasantly with her secretary, emptied her own wastebasket, and then calmly started work by closing a deal with a new action sponsor/beneficiary.

In this example, it wasn’t Lisa’s 45-minute drive that was the problem. It was her reaction to it, just as Alice’s reaction allowed her to start her day with a more positive attitude.

Your heart beats faster. You produce adrenalin. You tend to hunch up and breathe quickly and shallowly. You hyperventilate. You are nervous and irritable. You sweat. Your hands and feet get cold and clammy. Stomach clenches. Muscles tense. You might have to go to the bathroom. It’s the classic “fight or flight” response; your body is preparing to deal with danger—real or imagined—by either fighting or running away.

If you can learn to recognize and cope with stress effectively, then you can react more like Alice. If not, then your reactions will be much more like Lisa’s.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

3. What Is Stress? (Continued)

Stress isn’t always bad. It gives your reflexes that life-saving edge when you are trying to steer your way safely off the expressway after a blowout, helps you produce that extra effort when you’re working hard, and energizes you before an important appointment.

Too much stress, however, can lead to high blood pressure, and leave you nervous, irritable, unable to concentrate, frightened and a prime candidate for anxiety and panic attacks. Stress can also cause stomach and digestive problems, and lead to excessive drinking, drug use, insomnia, confusion and depression. Other negative stress effects include impotence in men and a loss of interest in sex for both men and women.

Prolonged stress weakens your immune system and can leave you open to a wide range of medical and emotional problems. Some researchers say that between 80 and 90 percent of all illnesses are actually stress related. Others say it’s a factor in all illnesses. There’s even a medical field called psychoneuroimmunology that looks at the relationships between emotions, wellness, and illness.

You cannot avoid all stress, but you can control it. You can learn to cope with stress in effective, productive ways.

We will look at several ways to control stress later. Some, such as medication, are expensive and can have dangerous side effects, including addiction. Other ways include exercise, meditation, and behavior modification.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

4. You Can’t Really Separate Work and Home Stress

Since stress is the way you react to a situation, that reaction and the physiological, psychological and emotional results of that reaction stay with you no matter where you are, at home or work.

Even if the “stress” in your life is strictly personal—marital problems, conflicts with the kids, a noisy neighbor, leaky roof, whatever—that stress will also influence the way you work, and even the way you act at work.

It’s the same if all your “stress” is work-related—worried about a promotion, a report, conflicts with a supervisor, and so on. You’ll carry that stress home.

The simple fact, however, is that people who tend to get stressed because of work also tend to get stressed because of their life away from work. Stress is a reaction to a given situation and most of us tend to react to the world around us the same way whether we are doing that reacting at home, work, shopping, on vacation, or in traffic.

As a result, when you learn how to deal with stress you should apply those techniques to all the situations in your life that cause you stress.

Separating the psychological, physiological, and emotional results from “home” stress and “work” stress is about as practical and realistic as declaring that there is a difference between a “work cold” and a “home cold.” If you catch a cold at home from one of your children, you can’t just leave it there and not be affected by it when you go to work. What you can do is take care of your cold, just as you can learn how to take care of your stress.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

5. What Causes Stress?

There have been numerous studies over the years by specialists around the world looking at what the most common “stressors” are; those events, actions, or situations that normally cause stress.

The following is an amalgam of a number of different stress lists, in order of importance. You cannot “decide” to rank all “home” stress situations either above or below “work” stress situations. We are human beings, not computers. We cannot change our “programming”—the instructions that tell us what to do in specific situations—just by inserting a new disk.

Death of a spouse
Divorce or marital separation
Money problems
Work problems
Death of close family member or friend
Personal injury or illness
Marriage
Fired at work
Change to different line of work
project/programme purpose readjustment

As you can see, stress comes from life itself. We cannot isolate either the causes or the cures. What we can do is to first understand what is causing stress in our lives then acknowledge what effects it can have on us before we can even begin to cope with our stress. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

7. The High Cost of Stress (Continued)

Stress is more powerful than diet in influencing cholesterol levels. Several studies, including one of medical students around exam time and another of accountants during tax season, have shown significant increases in cholesterol levels during stressful events when there was little change in diet.
High levels of stress suppress the immune system. In a study where 400 people were intentionally exposed to common-cold viruses, those who scored highest on a test of stressful life events were more than twice as likely to develop colds after exposure than people who scored lowest.
Severe stress can increase the risk of a stroke more than high blood pressure. In a study of 556 WWII veterans, the stroke rate for those who had been prisoners of war was 8 times higher than those who had not.
Those already suffering from high levels of atherosclerotic plaque/coronary heart disease will experience even more constriction of blood vessels when under stress—an average of 24 percent. Healthy vessels can handle the stress, but the damaged ones have lost their capacity to adapt.
Epinephrine, released by adrenal glands in response to stress, triggers blood platelets (the cells responsible for repairing blood vessels) to secrete large amounts of a substance called ATP. In large amounts, ATP can trigger a heart attack or stroke by causing blood vessels to rapidly narrow, thus cutting off the blood flow.

Remember that stress is our reaction to a given situation, not the situation itself. We need to learn to cope with our reactions to stress, not to try to change the situations that cause us stress.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

8. Combating Stress

Melissa St�ppler, M.D. is a physician, researcher, and writer who specializes in stress. A consultant in molecular diagnostic pathology, she suggests eight steps, taken from one of her articles on the topic at http://stress.about.com/mbiopage.htm as actions you can take as soon as you feel stress starting to creep into your life and the way you react to life.

Watch for the next instance in which you find yourself becoming annoyed or angry at something trivial or unimportant, then practice letting go; make a conscious choice not to become angry or upset. Do not allow yourself to waste thought and energy where it isn’t deserved. Effective anger management is a tried-and-true stress reducer.
Breathe slowly and deeply. Before reacting to the next stressful occurrence, take three deep breaths and release them slowly. If you have a few minutes, try out a relaxation technique such as meditation or guided imagery.
Whenever you feel overwhelmed by stress, speak more slowly. You’ll find that you think more clearly and react more reasonably to stressful situations. Stressed people tend to speak fast and breathlessly; by slowing down your speech you’ll also appear less anxious and more in control of any situation.
Jump start an effective time management strategy. Choose one simple thing you have been putting off (e.g. returning a phone call, making a doctor’s appointment) and do it immediately. Just taking care of one nagging responsibility can be energizing and can improve your attitude.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

9. Combating Stress (Continued)

Get outdoors for a brief break. Our grandparents were right about the healing power of fresh air. Don’t be deterred by foul weather or a full schedule. Even five minutes on a balcony or terrace can be rejuvenating. A 10-minute walk can do even more by helping you work off some of the adrenaline that stress has pumped into your system.
Drink plenty of water and eat small, nutritious snacks. Hunger and dehydration, even before you’re aware of them, can provoke aggressiveness and exacerbate feelings of anxiety and stress.
Do a quick posture check. Hold your head and shoulders upright and avoid stooping or slumping. Bad posture can lead to muscle tension, pain, and increased stress. If you’re stuck at a desk most of the day, avoid repetitive strain injuries and sore muscles by making sure your workstation reflects good ergonomic design principles.
Plan something rewarding for the end of your stressful day, even if only a relaxing bath or half an hour with a good book. Put aside work, housekeeping or family concerns for a brief period before bedtime and allow yourself to fully relax. Don’t spend this time planning tomorrow’s schedule or doing chores you didn’t get around to during the day. Remember that you need time to recharge and energize yourself; you’ll be much better prepared to face another stressful day.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

10. Take a Deep Breath

We have already seen how deep breathing can help reduce stress. Let’s take a closer look at exactly why, and at how to do it properly. Deep breathing is the one stress-busting tool you can always use in any situation.

There are two ways to breathe, from the chest and from the diaphragm.

Most people are chest breathers, especially when stressed. When you breathe from the chest, only your chest expands. Your breathing is shallow. It doesn’t fill your lungs. Your body is not getting enough oxygen. This can lead to fatigue and anxiety, and add to the stress you are already feeling. It’s a vicious cycle. Stress causes shallow breathing. Shallow breathing increases stress.

Diaphragm, or abdominal, breathing, is from the stomach. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Slowly. Feel the air come in and go out. Your stomach and chest expands as you fill your lungs with air. It gives your body and brain all the oxygen they need. Because you are getting enough oxygen you don’t have to breathe as often. This means you can slow down your breathing. When your breathing slows your body slows. You relax, and when you relax, you ease your stress.

You can enhance the process by deep breathing while listening to soothing sounds or music, getting a massage, using aromatherapy or anything else that relaxes you. Deep breathing is also a starting point for yoga and meditation, two other safe and simple ways to combat stress.

Deep breathing is one stress buster you can use anytime anywhere; at home, at work, while riding or driving, even while standing in line. Relief is only a breath away—a very deep one from the diaphragm.~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Assignments

Matching the Columns

1. Practice letting go	A. Those events, actions, or situations that normally cause stress.
2. Deep breathing	B. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by stress.
3. Most common stressors	C. Making a conscious choice not to become angry or upset.
4. Drink plenty of water and eat nutritious snacks.	D. Hunger and dehydration can provoke aggressiveness and exacerbate feelings of anxiety and stress.
5. Stress	E. Helps reduce stress.
6. Speak more slowly	F. Can damage your health and relationships.

Answers: (1-C, 2-E, 3-A, 4-D, 5-F, 6-B)

Multiple Choice

1. Severe stress can increase the risk of

a. A stroke

b. High blood pressure

c. Coronary heart disease

d. All of the above

2. Stress is more powerful than _______ in influencing cholesterol levels.

a. Diet

b. Love

c. Work

d. None of the above

3. Stress is linked to

a. Heart attacks

b. Asthma

c. A decrease in immune system

d. All of the above

4. _______ percent of adults report high job stress nearly every day.

a. 50

b. 75

c. 30

d. 5

5. Stress can come from

a. Money problems

b. Death of a loved one

c. Marriage

d. All of the above

6. If stress in your life is strictly personal, then it will also influence your ________.

a. Neighbors

b. Work

c. Marriage

d. None of the above

7. Stress can be controlled by

a. Medication

b. Exercise

c. Meditation

d. All of the above

8. When you are under stress, you may have all of the following, except

a. Produce adrenalin

b. Hyperventilate

c. Work productively

d. Stomach clenches

Summary

As we have seen, your comfort level in a meeting or project/programme purpose situation is often in direct proportion to your knowledge, preparation, and organization. If you do not feel comfortable, if you feel stressed, it could mean that you are not as ready for the meeting as you should be, or would like to be. Stress can damage your health; your social, family, and professional relationships; and your ability to work effectively. However, there are ways to deal with stress.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Test

1. ______ Your audience and beneficiaries can never really tell how you comfortable or nervous you may be. FALSE

2. ______ We should all learn how to feel comfortable and deal with stress. TRUE

3. ______ Stress is a reaction to the things around you at work, home and in the world. TRUE

4. ______ When you are under stress, your body reacts with certain physiological changes that prepare it to deal with danger – real or imagined. TRUE

5. ______ There are not any solutions to control stress. FALSE

6. ______ Severe stress can increase the risk of a stroke more than high blood pressure. TRUE

7. ______ Diet is more powerful than stress in influencing cholesterol levels. FALSE

8. ______ USD $100 million a year is lost to sector of activity in the United States alone from stress-related ailments. FALSE

9. ______ The most common stressor are those events, actions or situations that normally cause stress. TRUE

10.______ If stress comes from a personal issue in your life, it will not influence the way you work or act at work. FALSE

Answers:

1. F – They know how comfortable of nervous you are.

2. T

3. T

4. T

5. F – Medication, exercise, meditation, and behavior modification can control stress.

6. T

7. F – Stress is more powerful than diet.

8. F – USD $200 billion

9. T

10. F – It will influence you at work.

Bibliography

Cartwright, S., & Cooper, C. (1997). Managing workplace stress. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Flach, F. (ed.). (1989). Stress and its management. New York: Norton.

Murphy, L., & Schoenborn, T. (eds.) (1987). Stress management in work settings. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Glossary

Stress – Is the way your body reacts to a situation. It can lead to how you react to the things going on around you – at work, home, in the news, etc. It is both a positive and negative condition as it helps you produce an extra effort, and at the same time, it can lead to various medical and behavioral problems.

Common stressors – Those events, actions, or situations that normally cause stress. It can be the death of a loved one, divorced or marital problems, money and/or work problems, personal injury or illness, and marriage.

Deep Breathing – Comes from your diaphragm as your chest and stomach expands and fills your lungs with air. Music, massages, and aromatherapy can all help in the deep breathing process.

Comfort level – Is in direct proportion to your knowledge, preparation and organization. Not reaching this level may mean that you are not prepared or organized as you should be.

Learning Objectives

� Your comfort level in a meeting or project/programme purpose situation is often in direct proportion to your knowledge, preparation, and organization. If you do not feel comfortable, but you feel stressed, it could mean that you are not as ready for the meeting as you should be or would like to be.

� Stress can damage your health; your social, family, and professional relationships; and your ability to work effectively. But there are ways to deal with stress.

Q&A

1. What are four things that are required before being able to deal with stress?

Before we can deal with stress, we must recognize and admit that we really are under stress. We must also determine what actually is causing the stress because the cause is not always obvious. Then we can develop a strategy for dealing with that stress, and finally, deal with it.

2. How can stress be a positive condition?

Stress gives your reflexes that life-saving edge when you are trying to deal with a difficult situation. It helps you produce that extra effort when you are working hard and pumps you up before an important appointment.

3. What can too much stress do to your body?

Too much stress can lead to high blood pressure and leave you nervous, irritable, unable to concentrate, frightened and a prime candidate for anxiety and panic attacks. It can also cause stomach and digestive problems, and lead to excessive drinking, drugs, insomnia, confusion and depression. Stress weakens the immune system and leave you open to a wide range of medical and emotional problems. It can even lead to impotency in men and a loss of interest in sex for both men and women.

End of Module