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1978-2008 - 30 Year Retrospective on Our World and Stress
Have you noticed that our lives are more stressful than 30 years ago? If you can even answer this question, chances are good that you are a member of a huge demographic group known as the "Baby Boomers" and because of this membership, you are a driving force in our society. "Baby Boomers" are a demographic trend of people born after World War II in 1946 and before 1965. This group of people has driven major changes in our society including: use of disposable diapers, jars of baby food, Disneyland/Mickey Mouse Club/TV, Ford Mustangs in the 1960's, minivans in the 1980's, Woman's liberation, Women in the workforce, Lexus/Acura's, computer use, pagers, cell phones, e-mail, the "Information Age," the "Greening" movement, "youthful aging," "active retirement," liposuction-facelifts-botox, 500 channels of TV, real estate booms and busts, stock booms and busts, sales of anti-oxidants, increases in costs of medical treatment, recreational drug use, sushi's popularity, wine consumption outside France and Italy, recreational travel as sardines in time challenged (late,) unhealthy airplanes, major sporting events (Superbowl, March Madness, Tiger Woods' Golf, Pay for View events, and the "X Games"), rock concert tours, action movies with special effects, and the Wars over Oil.
Since the opening of the Stress Education Center in 1978, there has been a huge increase in identified and diagnosed stress related symptoms. Many symptoms such as: insomnia, panic/anxiety, headaches, sexual dysfunction, GI complaints, high blood pressure, substance abuse/addictions, heart disease, depression, obesity, some chronic pain complaints, and even immune system dysfunction have all been linked to increased stress in our society. But why are we more stressed out now than ever before in human history? The answer may lie in the trends driven by the "Baby Boomers" and this group's preference to the high paced expectations of our new technologies. Remember, we have some very primitive genetic coding that must attempt to keep pace with exploding modern technologies. For example, as a child growing up in the 1950's, I watched my working parents come home from work by 5:15 PM, sit for ½ an hour in the "living room" to discuss their day, smoke their cigarettes, and drink their cocktails, all before having a "family dinner" together. This is how they managed their stress in the 1950's before we found out that smoking and alcohol was bad for us and that there was no time for sitting, chatting, and de-briefing about the day. Sure we had alcoholism, lung cancer, and exploding television coverage of the "cold war" but then there were full ashtrays on the desks of your doctor as you discussed your latest vaccination schedules. People would stay home for one week of the two week vacations to sit around their house and just rest up. People were not responding to their pagers, cell phones, faxes, e-mails, or generally "plugged" in 24/7 as we are today.
It is interesting to note that in 1978, the birth of the new "Information Age" was on the verge of exploding on our North American society. Personal computers were being developed. Media coverage of the world was putting international conflicts on our TV's during our dinner hour. Scientific and technology developments were driving our economy and putting pressure on our relationships. The Middle East was becoming powerful by controlling oil production and their instabilities based on Muslim vs Western beliefs and philosophies. Parents were being pressured to monitor and control their children's schedules and educational development more than in past generations while divorce was changing "traditional family" definitions. Natural resources were discovered to be running out. Nuclear power was exploding but uncertain. Gasoline shortages were experienced. American education was beginning to fall in prestige and effectiveness. Asian economies were exploding. PTSD (Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder) was defined and psychoneuroimmunology was developed to explore the possible connection between mind/emotion and health. In 1978, people were still paying for their health care rather than waiting for their insurance companies to cover any and all health care procedures. Health care procedures were still almost affordable. AIDS was not yet medically discovered.
In comparison in 2008, the "Information Age" with it's new technologies is more fully in control of our lives. We are more "plugged in" 24/7 than ever before. People drive their cars distracted by cell phone conversations. People talk, out loud, about private considerations as they walk down the street with their cell phones plugged into their ears. (It is no longer the "village idiots" who seem to be talking to themselves as they move down the sidewalks of our cities.) Telephones ring and disturb us in restaurants, church, movies, doctor's offices, school, airports, elevators, and while shopping. People go on vacation and still communicate with their jobs daily. We watch TV news programs and see the "Talking Heads," while text flies by on the bottom of the screen that is not related to the news story being discussed. Graphics also appear on the screen to the right of the "Talking Head" and we wonder why the "News" is so stressful. We have "imbedded reporters" on the front lines showing distant wars on our TV's in our family rooms and then wonder whether TV has desensitized our children to violence.
At work, we experience constant change. 8 hour work days are a thing of the past. Many of us are doing the work of 2 or 3 people to help keep our jobs, and "downsizing" from taking our positions. We have: software changes every quarter, hardware changes, policy changes, procedure changes, downsizing, international business communications/meetings, retention problems, leadership challenges, hiring problems, management development challenges for technical people who do not have training in management, communication challenges, multi-tasking, multi-national conglomerates micro managing local workplaces, international telemarketing (from India, China, wherever), and longer commute times. We have copy machines that are too complicated for anyone but some mechanical engineers to work. We have e-mail and instantaneous demands for more information. We have the expectations placed on us that we can perform in this high tech world and produce 3 times the amount of work, because we are being paid 2 times as much as workers were a generation ago. People want more "quality of life" at work and in their lives. Workers want "flex-time" schedules, "job sharing," and want to work from home through "telecommuting." Work environments are scrutinized as never before for the environmental challenges that effect physical and mental health. Retention of key personnel has become a key issue for many organizations and "quality of life" issues rank equal or higher than compensation in many companies with retention concerns.
Our primitive survival response mechanisms have not evolved to keep pace with the advancements in technology .... So.... We are feeling more stressed/pressured now than ever before in the history of mankind. One of the most significant coping skills for the increased stress has become the increased use of denial, also known as the "stick your head in the sand" response to stress. We are so overwhelmed that we do not have time to practice stress management or to even have the self-awareness regarding this epidemic. We are robbed of our quality of life. Our productivity can be reduced. Our short term and long term health can be compromised, and yet we still look for a "quick fix" that does not require time or effort for coping with stress. The pharmaceuticals that we request from our physicians do not solve the problems and often have side-effects, if they work at all. More children are being diagnosed, at earlier ages, with stress related physical and emotional symptoms. We are living longer and demanding better health even as we age. Despite our labor saving devices and appliances, we seem to be working longer and harder. Most working families require two incomes to support the chosen lifestyles that our "expectations" and societal role models encourage. Our children are having to raise themselves more than before because their parents are busy working or are distracted by their 24/7 attachments to their careers.
These are not just developments and issues for the United States and Western countries. Asian economies are exploding as is their requirements for increases in energy and technologies. Eastern Europe is entirely different than it was in 1978. World climate changes affect all inhabitants of the world. Food shortages are starting to be felt in many countries. Wars and conflicts in "Third World" countries have repercussions in other economies. Cultures are changing faster than ever before in human history. Communication and world trade has made our lives more global and has caused business and trade to be conducted on a 24 hour daily cycle. The race is on and only people who dwell in denial can not see the broad impacts of modern day changes. The world is a smaller and drawn together by business in ways that have never happen before.
We must be aware of the impact of these changes upon our health and well being. Awareness is half the battle. The other half of this battle is to develop better coping strategies that we can practice as individuals to enable us to withstand the pace of change and to keep up with rapidly moving trends. Our health, our productivity, and our quality of life will depend upon our abilities to adapt to these changes, in the most positive ways...We can not avoid or even control all of the changes that we encounter, but we can learn to better control the way we respond to these challenges.
Some possible suggestions for managing the building stresses include a variety of possible solutions including:
1. New role models for stress survival for normal people and families. The old standards of stress survival such as: denial, avoidance, substance abuse (medicating ourselves), over eating, "freakin out," or getting angry need to be replaced by more positive and effective techniques for stress management.
2. Change in awareness and priorities regarding productivity enhancements and quality of life including a more healthy and realistic view of living in this fast paced world. A significant increase of the awareness of the aging of the Baby Boomers and this impact upon our society and the world.
3. Support with positive habit change and then accountability partners or mentors which may include professional coaches/therapists, clergy, educators, "healthy family and friend."
4. Realistic goals and then realistic plans to achieve these goals.
5. Time for self-care! Learn the lesson that to create more time you must spend time in self-care. Commitment to self-care!
6. Control over our urge to give in to "denial" and "the quick fix"
7. Changed expectations on the use of new technology. Use technology like biofeedback to increase awareness and then, control over stress responses. (More tools and resources for stress management and biofeedback techniques for learning physical control of unhealthy habit patterns.
8. An evolution of spiritual and emotional health and well being (not necessarily religion). Finding ways of maintaining a healthy balance that honors mind, body and spirit.
9. An educational system that really prepares us for the "Information Age" and our roles within it.
10. A world that is so technologically advanced that it actually respects the individual and true quality of life...
medical coding training at home.