Time has become a major stressor of our age. Probably THE greatest stressor, in the final analysis. We live in the age of anxiety, and that anxiety is most often provoked by the pressures of time. People are driving themselves to the limit and are convinced they never have enough time to get things done. With incessant interruptions and immediacy of today’s electronic communication systems (computers, cell phones, beepers etc.), we are constantly being told to hurry up. I s this good? Does it make us more productive?

During the 1980s an upholsterer in San Francisco made an observation that led to one of the most important discoveries of our time. While working in the office of Dr. Myer Friedman, a cardiologist, he noticed the seat cushions were worn out on the front edge. He happened to meet Dr. Friedman that day and put to him a simple question, "Why is it that in everyone else’s office the seat cushions wear out in the middle, but in your office they wear out on the front edge?" Dr. Friedman had answered many difficult medical questions before, but was unable to respond to the upholsterer’s curiosity.

The Hurry Sickness

What is the connection between good health and time as we perceive it? Plenty! The distorted attitude towards time which has developed, mostly over the past hundred or so years, has proven to have a huge impact on health and long life. There is a very convincing-sounding adage that "Time is money," a philosophy that seems to become more true the more people believe in it. The problem is that mounting research shows a distorted attitude about time may distort the behavior of that great timekeeper in your chest, your "ticker."

After his encounter with his upholsterer, Dr. Friedman paused often during the next few weeks to peer out his office door and watch the behavior of the cardiac patients waiting to see him. He soon discovered why the phenomenon was occurring. Instead of sitting back in their seats, reading magazines like patients waiting in other rooms, they were perched on the edge of their seats like Olympic sprinters so they would not lose an extra hundredth of a second when their name was called to see the doctor. After devising a few tests and performing some studies, Dr. Friedman published his now classic book, Type A Behavior and Your Heart.

Dr. Friedman’s studies, and those that followed, have proven a direct relationship between how one handles time and the eventual health of their cardiovascular system. It appears there is a certain group of people who are more likely to suffer from premature high blood pressure and heart attacks. These turn out to be the folks who are hard-driving, always feeling the pressure of time and seemingly spurred on by an underlying hostility.

What if you have a "Type A" personality, or are just merely stressed?

If your reactions to constant pressure, demands, and continual threats of your external environment are producing chronic stress and persistent muscular tension you need to learn how to de-stress If your nervous system is interpreting your current social situation as an immediate threat to your survival, you need to learn to relax even if the clock is ticking in front of you and there are deadlines ahead.

I help my patients see an exaggerated degree of tension is harmful and inappropriate. Actually, relaxation is not about something we do; it is about something we don’t do. It is what is left over when we allow ourselves to stop doing everything we didn’t really need to be doing in the first place. Like the stars in the sky, that are invisible when the sun is out, the relaxation state is always there beneath the turmoil.

When we feel we are in danger or believe we have to respond to some demand, an inner pressure to perform arises within us. The tension of our bodies, the anxiety of our emotions, the obsessive racing of our minds, are all futile attempts to solve problems which are either imaginary, long past, or not yet present. One is reminded of Mark Twain’s quote, "I’m an old man and have known a great many troubles, most of which never happened!"

Seven steps to help you relax and let go:

1. For one moment, become aware of the fact, at this instant, there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, no problem to solve.

2. Recognize time is on your side. Start with a relaxation tape like Healing Journey, Letting Go of Stress, or Relaxation and Inspiration. These tapes will lead you to a profoundly different experience of time. You will learn the secrets of relaxing body, mind, and emotions and how to come completely into the moment. Practice regularly. Next, carry this altered perception of time and relationship with time along with you.

3. Become a "One-Minute Meditator." Relax and attune yourself to your breath. Breathe in slowly, then breathe out and pause. Sink into the pause after you breathe out and before you breathe in again. Although it may take 10-15 minutes initially to enter a truly deep relaxed state, with training, this can be accomplished in a minute or two. Direct your awareness away from whatever is going on in the outside world, tune into the out-breath and let go. This sudden awareness of Self creates a new relationship with the environment and a new, more comfortable sense of time. You experience the world differently; work quality improves, and your cardiovascular system is protected from illness.

4. Re-examine your priorities. Make a list of the priorities in your life, then make a list of what you spend your time doing. If you’re like most people, there’s quite a discrepancy. We’re busy responding to urgent, unimportant things rather than responding to important things that may not appear to be urgent at the moment. If your schedule is too crowded with other things to afford you time to do the things you really want to do and that really are your priorities, then you must make a commitment to change. One of the things that has to go on this schedule is time to center and experience the eternal moment. Take time for deep relaxation, physical exercise, and quality time with someone you care about. All these give a fuller sense of life, more comfort with being, and less of the hurry sickness.

5. Drain your stress away daily. Stress is cumulative. The more changes we have to deal with and the shorter period of time we have to deal with them, the more stress is experienced by body, mind, and emotions. Most people don’t take time to drain away stress because they don’t know how, and tomorrow’s stress is added to that of today. Bottom line? On a daily basis use stress reduction tapes, exercise, let go of rushing, and mindless, unimportant activities. Take charge and wake up to each precious moment.

6. Reinstate relaxation cycle. Understand stress is just half of a normal, healthy life cycle. The rest of the cycle involves relaxation. Normally, there is stress followed by relaxation followed by stress, etc. The relaxation phase allows nerves to repolarize, chemicals to be metabolized, emotions to come to rest, and the psyche to remember itself. Without this, tension, anxiety, anger, frustration, etc. rise as the body and emotions begin to experience the inner fight-or-flight reflexes that enabled it to survive in prehistoric jungles. Because we can’t run away from our stressors, we must reinstate the relaxation cycle. Deep relaxation and meditation help us to do this.

7. Relax before each challenge. Relax after each challenge. This simple technique keeps stress at a minimum, gives a sense of success, and reinforces a calm, focused center for dealing with stressful situations. You can get fit for stress just as you can get fit for physical challenges. When you are fit, you perform optimally and really enjoy the experience. Remember, "stress is not something that happens to you; stress is something you do with what happens to you." §