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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1988)
Tonight at Mingles! [ THE SONS NO COVER ALL NIGHT 50<P draws and 75<t drinks 7-10 p.m. MINGLES j? ... .. SAVE $4.00 ON ANY PAIR OF h„r<41, , SHOES (IN STOCK OR SPECIAL jKLLUlQn ORDER) WITH PAGE 23 OF THE <ISatP boards STUDENT COUPON BOOK. /!'“ ‘- ' i BE READY THIS FALL WHEN WE GET THE HOT NEW CLOTHES IN FROM —LIFE’S A BEACH —VISION STREET WEAR —LEGGOONS AND MORE 110 SOUTH 19TH STREET 476-3044 MAKE A VISIBLE CHANGE I V Fast, Affordable, and Convenient. Men’s and Women’s Designer Perms and Micro Highlights $5.00 Off now (or $2.50 a spot perm) through October 30th _N^jGOOD WITiiANY^OTHER^OFFER_ Just say NO... to stress When you think about it, the 80’s are a pretty strange and wonderful time to be alive. Right now, it’s the only time to be alive. At any rate, human-beings are doing some aw fully darn crazy things, these days. But you read the newspaper, so you know that already. We live in a society in which stress is becoming more and more a part of daily living. As a culture we embrace stress. Stress gives our lives an illusion of meaning. The note pad next to the phone by my terminal has a box you can check if the mes sage is urgent. I always make a large, heavy mark in it because it makes everything we do down here"at the Daily Nebraskan seem more impor tant. Our schools send subtle mes sages to our children that if there isn’t any stress, something's wrong. It’s almost as if we’re teaching them to stress for success. But the main thing is, that in the age of 'just say no’ stress has become one of the few highs that is accept able anymore. People voluntarily place enormous pressures on them selves by accepting way more com mitments and responsibilities than is healthy for them. 1 guess you just can’t beat that adrenaline rush that goes along with racing around to meet deadline after deadline after deadline. As far as I can tell, the idea is to make your life as hectic as possible. Spread yourself so thin that you don’t have time to think about how meaningless your life really is. The belief is, that if your life isa blur, you will be less unhappy. Besides, that’s what everyone expects you to do. Ihe effects of stress are narcotic. Breathing becomes shallow and fast. Ihe pulse quickens. 'Ihe eyes become vacant and glazed over, like a doll’s eyes. Concentration becomes difficult as the mind reels back and forth from one obsessive and disturbing thought to another. Speech may be rapid and lack meaning relevant to the situation at hand. Body motions may be erratic and repetitive. And it’s addictive like dope. You don’t usually see all that many people abusing stress on campus this early in the semester, but as the year wears on it will become a real problem. People will seem agitated, concerned that something isn’t complete. It will be hard to get their attention. Tempers will flare and people will no longer be polite to one another waiting in the I ine at the Burger King in the Nebraska Union Some people are more prone than others to abuse stress. People who tend to abuse stress are driven by their own demons to over achievc. They are perfectionists. They are souls in torment. Certain professions are attractive to stress prone people. Journalism is an ex ample of one such profession. Stress junkies are easy to spot if you can recognize some fundamen tal symptoms. They try to systema tize their stress in organizer books. They attend stress management workshops and listen to special tapes that help them control stress. They have telephones in their cars and beepers in their pockets so they arc never far away from a ciuick fix. They know they’re hooxed and are trying to do something to regu late their habit. But it still takes itstoll on their minds and bodies. It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s a matter of choice. In universal terms, we are insig nificant creatures on a tiny planet in an average solar system and galaxy. With the exception of a few prob lems we have — like violating each others’ human rights and ruining the planet for all the other creatures we share it with — most of the things we get all worked-up about are re ally pretty dam trivial. And we are so lucky to be here now, together on this marvelous little world. Tht’s the funny thing about it. There is so much to see, to feel, to experience. There is so much to share. Life is too short. Stress destroys the quality of it by causing us to miss out on the really important things in life. Things like that weird blue green bigger-than-color glow emit ted by the trees and grass on a gray autumn afternoon. Things like the smell of coffee brewing in the morn ing or the taste of a peach after class. Things like the smile of a child look ing at you over her mother’s shoul der as you’re waiting for the bus home. Stress also causes us to loose our dignity as human beings, because it makes us selfish and closes our minds. 'T don’t have time for that now," slips out of our mouths and rever berates within our skulls with alarm ing frequency, when we’re messed up on stress. When we’re strung-out on stress, our world becomes nar row and our lives become empty. Stress breaks our bodies and consumes our souls. Stress wastes life. But you have a choice. Just say no. Students learn to ‘interrupt’stress Class relieves stress try micki nailer Senior Editor After nearly a month of school, the reality of education has hit. Two papers due, a major exam, 12 chapters to be read, and 40 pages of homework due, and that’s just for Friday. It’s time to run the midnight kilowatts, and prepare for major stress. But at least one class is aimed at reducing stress instead of creating more of it. Stress, Tension and Reduction, offered through the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, can teach students skills to reduce stress for a lifetime. According to Wes Sime, associate professor in HPER and director of the Stress and Physiology 1 .ab, the class is a mini course offered for five weeks each semester. The class has been full or overflow ing during the 11 years that it has been offered, Sime said. The class has room for about 50 students to enroll. Sime said popular appeal and the fact that it’s a good class are the reasons behind the “Stress Reduction" success story. The class is half content, and half experience, Sime said. The students receive information on the sources, signs, symptoms and disorders associ ated with stress. Then, they learn ways to cope with stress. Progressive relaxation is a scries of sessions which help an individual rec ognize the sensations of unnecessary muscle tensions. Students learn to interrupt or let go ol stress, bime said. 1 n autogcnic training, students Iistcn to a tape which has specific sugges tions. Ihe individual may feel his body getting heavier or warmer; things which help relieve unwanted tension, he said. Time management is a method of organizing one’s lime so stress is avoided. Cognitive restructuring is a rational way to combat stress. Everyday, people encounter little stress factors, like a red light at the wrong time, or finding out that a 10 page paper is due within a few hours. "The typical response is to presume disaster and doom,” Sime said. The object of cognitive restructuring is to put the event into perspective with the rest of reality, Sime said. Is it life threatening? Will it prevent a college education? Or is it just embarrassing? By determining the worst possible outcome, people can put their stress response into proper perspective, in stead of making mountains out of mole hills, he said. The finale of the course is learning how to put all the techniques together to quiet stress in day-to day situations. However. Sime said, not all stress is necessarily bad. A high degree of stress is exciting, for instance, while skiing, or doing risky things. "It is the spice ol life,” Sime said. Ihe most important part is to put the individual in cnarge of the stress, he added. when doing challenging things, it is important to concentrate on several things in order to function. "When one is really stressed out, all of that goes by the wayside," Sime said f'ach person's stress level is differ ent, and everyone should be able to recognize an optimum point of stress Without stress, life would be boring. "Boredom can be a fairly stressful phenomenon as well," Sime said. Although this semester’s course, held during the last five weeks, is al ready full, the course will be offered again second semester. I I John Bruce/Dally Nebraskan