Silent Stress Source (SSS)
Sound Creep
Symptom: You wonder if the world is getting louder or you're just getting crankier.
Causes: "Researchers have found one of the reasons we feel so negatively affected by noise today is that it's become nearly impossible to escape the din," says George Prochnik, author of In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise. We listen to televisions with surround sound and talk on mobile phones when walking. Even our nights are noisier: Since 1973, when Federal Express launched expedited delivery, planes have zoomed overhead even in the wee hours. Last year, the World Health Organization estimated that at least 1 million years of healthy living are lost each year due to noise pollution.
Treatment: Prochnik recommends a "sound diet" in which you balance annoying noise with silent breaks or healthier sounds. For instance, urban designers in Europe have found that water fountains can make people feel more tranquil. Resist the urge to fight noise with yet more noise (turning the car radio up while surrounded by honking cars), and consider sound-canceling headphones. Most important, seek out quiet spaces for 10 minutes a day: pocket parks, wooded trails, libraries, cemeteries or an empty room—but one with a good door (a city planner told Prochnik that even a 5 percent gap in an enclosure will let through 80 percent of the noise).
Causes: "Researchers have found one of the reasons we feel so negatively affected by noise today is that it's become nearly impossible to escape the din," says George Prochnik, author of In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise. We listen to televisions with surround sound and talk on mobile phones when walking. Even our nights are noisier: Since 1973, when Federal Express launched expedited delivery, planes have zoomed overhead even in the wee hours. Last year, the World Health Organization estimated that at least 1 million years of healthy living are lost each year due to noise pollution.
Treatment: Prochnik recommends a "sound diet" in which you balance annoying noise with silent breaks or healthier sounds. For instance, urban designers in Europe have found that water fountains can make people feel more tranquil. Resist the urge to fight noise with yet more noise (turning the car radio up while surrounded by honking cars), and consider sound-canceling headphones. Most important, seek out quiet spaces for 10 minutes a day: pocket parks, wooded trails, libraries, cemeteries or an empty room—but one with a good door (a city planner told Prochnik that even a 5 percent gap in an enclosure will let through 80 percent of the noise).
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/Secret-Stressors-Whats-Making-You-Feel-Frazzled#ixzz1rAb1DFGv
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Not-Broke Money Anxiety
Symptom: You save, pay your bills and cut back where you can, but there's still this uneasy sense that you're not doing enough.Causes: Many of us have absorbed the message that our financial future is our personal responsibility. But retirement calculators ask questions that seem out of touch with the current economy ("typical annual raise"?) and spit back impossible-seeming goals. At the same time, the risks of taking a shortcut and making big mistakes with the stock market or a Madoff-like investment scam seem way too high.
Treatment: Make sure you're putting at least as much in your 401(k) as everyone else. Most employees save more than 8 percent of their annual salaries, and the average contribution in 2011 was $5,750, according to Fidelity Investments. No matter what comes up—college tuition, a cramped-feeling house—stick to your long-term strategy. The Associated Press reported that workers who routinely contributed to their Fidelity 401(k) plans for at least 10 years had saved an average of $179,100 by the end of 2011 (that's two and a half times more than 401(k) participants who may have invested more sporadically). If you're saving consistently and retirement is decades away, it's useless to panic. Consider this: Martin Kurtz, CFP, chairman of the board of the Financial Planning Association, once worked with a middle-class couple who were 50 years old with no savings. He put them on a strict budget for the next 17 years—at which point they'd saved enough to quit their jobs and start enjoying their golden years.
Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health/Secret-Stressors-Whats-Making-You-Feel-Frazzled/2#ixzz1rAbGxhaC
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