Generation Stress

Millennials, who came of age after 1999, and Generation X, born between the early 1960s and early 1980s, are now being called Generation Stress. That's because for the last three years, the American Psychological Association's research on stress has found Millennials to be the most stressed demographic in America, with Generation X coming in a close second.

Both generations report almost twice the level of stress that's considered safe from serious health risk. Fifty-two percent of Millennials and 45 percent of Gen Xers say their stress has continued to increase over the last five years. Over 40 percent of both generations say they're having problems with anxiety, anger, irritability, and depression, and over 70 percent of Millennials say they are not getting enough sleep. This is not only holds serious ramifications for our younger generations, it also bodes poorly for companies in need of breakthrough innovators to maintain competitive edge. Stress blocks the brain function that generates creativity.

If you are a Boomer (48 to 66) or a Mature (67 and older), you're probably not fairing much better. The APA found that Boomers and Matures stress levels were higher than they consider healthy.

The good news in all this bad news is that there is a lot we can do using very simple approaches to turn this picture around, and in a few short weeks. If we have a problem with stress, it's because genetics and past traumas have wired our brain to over-react to stressors and problems. We can change the way our brain is wired by making a specific shift in attitude.

• Stress hormones shrink higher brain.
• They cause you to make bad decision-making and dampen your ability to sustain goal-directed action.
• Chronic stress locks the brain into an automatic response mode that has you performing the same unproductive actions over and over, blocking more suitable, creative, and potentially beneficial responses.
• Stress hormones switch your emotional set point to negative, impair the immune system, ruin the cardiovascular system, and damage your DNA, leading to the production of cancer cells and prematurely aging the body.

• Start your day by rising 10 minutes earlier, ahead of the morning rush.
• Sit quietly in a place where you won't be disturbed.
• Close your eyes, tilt your head toward your heart, and follow your breathing. The idea is to feel each breath opening your heart and mind wider, empowering heart and mind to work in concert.
• Feel appreciation for the gift of another day of life. It's not guaranteed. Feel gratitude for another day with the people you love.
• Set your intention to have a great day, filled with achievements. Equally, commit to a great state of mind to face the day's ups and down with a dynamically positive and peaceful attitude.

I present 20 simple but proven approaches in my book, The End of Stress, Four Steps to Rewire Your Brain. All of them are neuroplastic in nature, meaning that - with practice - they can rewire the brain to sustain a relatively stress-free life. The work I do is grounded in neuroscience, but I also speak from experience. A brain tumor taught me about the power that comes from making this shift. It helped me generate the mind-body connection to come through my ordeal without the disabilities the doctors had predicted. I wrote about it in another of my HuffPost articles this year (http://bit.ly/huffpost-storm-of-stress). If a change of attitude can change the course of a serious illness, it can also change the course of a stressful life.

image: canstockphoto.com