MANAGING STRESS

WITH

BRAINWAVE ENTRAINMENT

ABDULKAREEM HARUNA

0806 040 6220

www.expressit.netfirms.com
INTRODUCTION

Stress is generally considered as an unpleasant state of emotional and

physiological arousal that people experience in situations that they perceive
as dangerous or threatening to their well-being. Stress is not always bad. In
small doses, it can help you perform under pressure and motivate you to do
your best. But when you are constantly running in emergency mode, your
mind and body pay the price.

Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened
or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger – whether it’s
real or imagined – the body's defenses kick into high gear in a rapid,
automatic process known as the “fight-or-flight” reaction, or the stress
response. This response includes physiological changes—such as the heart
begins to beat more rapidly, muscle tension increases, blood pressure rises,
and blood flow is diverted from the internal organs and skin to the brain and
muscles. Breathing speeds up, the pupils dilate, and perspiration increases—
as well as emotional and behavioral changes. However, most psychologists
regard stress as a process involving a person’s interpretation and response to
a threatening event.

The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. When working
properly, it helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency
situations, stress can save your life – giving you extra strength to defend
yourself, for example, or spurring you to slam on the brakes to avoid an
accident. The stress response also helps you rise to meet challenges. Stress is
what keeps you on your toes during a presentation at work, sharpens your
concentration when you are attempting the game-winning free throw, or
drives you to study for an exam when you would rather be watching TV.

But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing
major damage to your health, your mood, your productivity, your
relationships, and your quality of life. For example, when the source of our
stress is mostly imaginary or psychological such as fear of the unknown,
dissatisfaction with job, a snoring wife or husband etc, then the body’s
perfect harmony is thrown off constantly thereby leading to several side-
effects.
STRESS AND YOUR WELL BEING

Stressors can be classified into three general categories:

1. Catastrophic events such as death of loved one, loss of job, earth
quake;
2. Major life changes such as getting married, giving birth, getting a
more tasking job, divorce, imprisonment, settling down in a new
environment, etc and
3. Daily hassles such as dealing with job or school demands, living in a
noisy or dirty environment, handling relationship issues, children etc.
In addition, simply thinking about unpleasant past events or
anticipating unpleasant future events can cause stress for many
people.

The degree of exposure to any one or all of the above stressors determines
the level of stress one experiences. The body doesn’t distinguish between
physical and psychological threats. When you are stressed over a busy
schedule, an argument with a friend, a traffic jam, or a mountain of bills,
your body reacts just as strongly as if you were facing a life-or-death
situation. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, your emergency
stress response may be “on” most of the time. The more your body’s stress
system is activated, the easier it is to trip and the harder it is to shut off.

Long-term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. Chronic

stress disrupts nearly every system in your body leading to many health
problems are including:
• Pain of any kind
• Heart disease
• Digestive problems
• Sleep problems
• Depression
• Obesity
• Skin conditions, such as eczema
• It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the
risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up
the aging process.
• Long-term stress can even rewire the brain, leaving you more
vulnerable to anxiety and depression.

Apparently, stress is a largely counterproductive phenomenon, especially

when the stressors are imaginary.
COPING WITH STRESS

Coping with stress means using thoughts and actions to deal with stressful
situations and lower our stress levels. Many people have a characteristic way
of coping with stress based on their personality. People who cope well with
stress tend to believe they can personally influence what happens to them.
They usually make more positive statements about themselves, resist
frustration, remain optimistic, and persevere even under extremely adverse
circumstances. Psychologists distinguish two broad types of coping
strategies: problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping. The goal of
both strategies is to control one’s stress level.

Brainwave entrainment is one emotion-focused type of managing stress

where tones of measured frequency are played simultaneously into the left
and right ears as binaural beats and the effect is felt almost immediately by
the user. This is because the standing beat frequency experienced in the
brain, say 7Hz, has a calming and relaxing effect on the user.

Brainwave entrainment, especially the guided relaxation CD, is similar to

orthodox mediation and relaxation techniques used for managing stress in
advanced countries. The effect is felt almost on the first or second time of
use following the instructions on how it should be used.

Conclusively, brainwave entrainment has been used successfully in other

parts of the world especially Russia, U.S.A, Europe, etc for managing stress
and self development. The same principles and technology used in these
parts of the world are available to us here and now. Brainwave entrainment
can help manage stress to an unbelievable degree only if we allow it.

Reference:
Microsoft Encarta DVD 2009
http://helpguide.org/mental/stress_management_relief_coping.htm