I find that the culture in this country is that you are really never 'off' from work, especially now with smartphones and such. I get irritated with
myself (first off) if I'm on vacation and I feel the need to check work email, Slack, etc. I get irritated with
others who blatantly disregard out of office messages and expect people to respond immediately. If it's an emergency, that's one thing. If it's not an emergency, it can wait. But still, I end up feeling guilty that I'm not responding.
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Max Anderson
Dir of Instructional Design and Learning Innovation
University of Illinois College of Medicine
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2022 10:03
From: Penny Schnarrs
Subject: For Your Learning Friday: What is Stresslaxation?
This community has shown a keen interest in learning new concepts that often come with new vocabulary terms. So today's learning lesson is: stresslaxation.
Urban Dictionary defines this phenomenon as: "Being so stressed that relaxing makes you more stressed because you're not working on what's making you stressed."
The clinical term is: relaxation-induced anxiety.
The stresslaxation term is new, but the concept is not. The recent attention to this problem may be the result of so much focus on the benefit of self-care. Picture this: You're stressed out. You know you need to take care of yourself. So you do something in the name of personal wellness (meditate, walk, breathing exercises, bath) and your mind doesn't turn off. Then you start stressing out about how your de-stress plan isn't working. The stress cycle continues.
Some studies show that 30-50 percent of people may experience relaxation-induced anxiety when they try to do relaxing things, causing symptoms of stress (such as rapid heart beat or sweating).
There are ways to reduce relaxation-induced anxiety, including: acknowledging and addressing the cause of stress (rather than being in denial about it), and finding new ways to relax that work for you (talking to a friend on the phone might be better than meditation).
I can't help but chuckle reading this, as I have been experiencing a bit of this phenomenon myself, as I prepare to be out of the office for a week on vacation. I hear myself offering to plan meetings during my vacation and work, because I know the stress will be unbearable while I sit and attempt to 'relax' knowing what is piling up...
Am I the only one who experiences this? How do you find ways to relax that work for you?
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Penny Schnarrs
Virtual Communities Program Manager
Association of American Medical Colleges
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