Stressed? Find Your Zen

A typical day for Duke biology professor Kathleen Smith includes running a lab, conducting research on mammalian evolution, and juggling meetings with students and faculty members.“I have bad problems with both insomnia and migraine headaches,” Smith said. “It gets pretty physical when I’m overstressed. When I have a migraine, I can’t get out of bed.”Last fall, Smith participated in a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course by Duke Integrative Medicine. She learned meditation techniques and now does yoga or meditates for 15 to 30 minutes before and after work, hyper-focusing her senses and breathing. It’s helped her through tough situations, such as serving as primary caregiver for a sick family member, and minimized her migraines and insomnia. “I feel much more mindful,” Smith said. “You pay attention to your environment. On a nice day, I’ll take a walk to Duke Gardens at lunchtime, and I just notice things much more.”In a 2014 nationwide poll of 2,500 adults conducted by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, about half of people surveyed said they had a major stressful event occur in their lives in the past year. Health-related problems were the most common source of stress. People surveyed also cited too many responsibilities, financial concerns and work problems. Ongoing stress can lead to major health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and depression, especially for those with high-strain jobs, said Dr. Redford Williams, director of Duke’s Behavioral Medicine Research Center. “Research has shown over and over again that these effects of stress on our depression levels and anger puts you at a higher risk of heart disease and at greater risk of dying from it,” Williams said. “Stress can damage both your mental and physical health.”In addition to Duke Integrative Medicine classes, Duke staff and faculty can find free programs and online tools to manage stress through LIVE FOR LIFE, Duke’s employee wellness program. LIVE FOR LIFE visits Duke departments and leads free stress reduction classes, which require a minimum of 12 participants and are available upon request. Julie Joyner, manager of LIVE FOR LIFE, said her team visited Duke Regional Hospital in 2014 when the health system was transitioning to Maestro Care, a new electronic medical records system. LIVE FOR LIFE staff led a meditation activity in which a few hundred nurses closed their eyes, focused on breathing and pictured themselves in a peaceful place.“Usually the activity is presented as a way for them to take a moment for themselves, just to relax, de-stress, and maybe just a moment to step away from the worry and anxiety,” Joyner said.