Perfectionists, research shows, can become easily discouraged by failing to meet impossibly high standards, making them reluctant to take on new challenges or even complete agreed-upon tasks. The insistence on dotting all the i’s can also breed inefficiency, causing delays, work overload and even poor results. Perfectionism can hurt health and re lationships, too. It is associated with anorexia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety, writer’s block, alcoholism and depression. Such problems may be prevalent: a 2007 study that evaluated more than 1,500 college students revealed that nearly one quarter of them suffered from an unhealthy form of perfectionism.  read full article

This is not to say that striving to perform your best is unhealthy. But it may be detrimental if it’s getting in the way of your actual ability to succeed.  If you are a Wesleyan student who feels you are suffering ill effects from your own perfectionism, the Office of Behavioral Health for Students can offer you free and confidential assistance. Call 860.685.2910 for an appointment.

WHEN:       Thursday, May 14, 2009
WHERE:      Usdan, Room 110
TIME:         10:00-11:30 a.m.

Beverages will be available.

From the New York Times…

In the quest for better health, many people turn to doctors, self-help books or herbal supplements. But they overlook a powerful weapon that could help them fight illness and depression, speed recovery, slow aging and prolong life: their friends.

Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship and social networks in overall health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the risk for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties could promote brain health as we age.

“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’t terribly well appreciated,” said Rebecca G. Adams, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. “There is just scads of stuff on families and marriage, but very little on friendship. It baffles me. Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well-being than family relationships.”

read the full article…

Image from here

STUDENT-RUN
GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP
(Sponsored by the Office of Behavioral Health for Students)

MEETS:   Tuesdays
TIME:   8:00 p.m.
LOCATION:   Group Room #212
(2nd fl., Davison Health Center)

Intended to create a network of support for
those who have experienced the death of a loved one.  
Please feel free to come and leave when it’s convenient for you.  
If you have questions, please contact: Margo (917/691-7312).

Are your friends happy? What about their friends? These people, new research suggests, will have a profound impact on your own personal satisfaction.

Like an influenza outbreak, happiness - and misery too – spread through social networks, affecting people through three degrees of separation. For instance, a happy friend of a friend of a friend increases the chances of personal happiness by about 6%.

Compare that to research showing that a $5000 income bump ups the odds by just 2%, says James Fowler, a political scientist at the University of California, San Diego, who led the new study.

“Even people we don’t know and have never met have bigger effect on our mood than substantial increases in income,” he says.  [read full article...]

Mourning over a lost campaign resonates with Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor who worked on Al Gore’s campaign in 2000. In a column for CNN.com, she recalled feeling lost and disillusioned at first, and had no idea what to do with her life.

“It hurts like hell,” she wrote. “It is like death of someone close to you — the difference is no corpse or casket to help bring closure, just more election analysis and pundits spewing out what you did wrong.”

She advises staff members, volunteers and supporters of candidates who lost on Tuesday to let out their grief: “Grieve. Mourn. Let it out.”

To combat the letdown of the period after the election, Molitor advises people to put routine back into their lives. Political junkies who lost their sleeping and eating routines should get back on schedule, she said. They should also take part in community activities, such as book clubs or other interest groups.

Even supporters of winning and losing candidates may feel a little off for two weeks or more, she said.

For some, the excitement will continue for a couple of weeks, until the reality sets in that the candidates they elected won’t be able to do anything until January, said Jana N. Martin, a licensed psychologist in Long Beach, California.

Anyone who feels depressed, hopeless or powerless after the election should realize that they as individuals have the ultimate control over their everyday lives, she said.

“The president is not going to find you a job; the president is not the one who manages your individual budgets,” she said. “If people want changes, they can do that in their day-to-day lives. They don’t need a candidate to do that.”

Those who feel truly overwhelmed should see a psychologist who can help them think out loud, she said. (read full article here…)

Wesleyan Resources: Office of Behavioral Health for Students

MEETS: Tuesdays
TIME: 8:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Group Room #212
(2nd fl., Davison Health Center)

Intended to create a network of support for
those who have experienced the death of a loved one.
Please feel free to come and leave when it’s convenient for you.

If you have questions, please contact: Margo (917/691-7312).

Now the Mayo Clinic reminds us that asking for help by creating your own support system is key to your health, by sharing the story of East African distance runners. Lessons learned?

1. We need to take care of ourselves as did these runners.
2. If we are isolated, if we are marginalized, if we are without a support system, we are at a profound disadvantage dealing with life’s stresses.

Stress is probably the most common health complaint I hear about from students; it’s even worn as a badge of honor by some. But dealing with life’s stressors — which will never completely go away, just change as time passes – is a skill that is best learned now when you’re in a supportive environment like a college campus.

Very simply put, stress management is about consciously choosing how to respond to what is happening in your life, rather than letting your stressors take charge. And your support system — your friends, family, Peer Advisor, RA or House Manager, professors, other campus offices, or whoever helps you — will make all the difference in your health and well-being personally and academically.

Wesleyan Resources:  Stress Management

A new study, discussed in Scientific American, indicates that the impact of stress may be greater on our physical bodies than previously thought, especially our immune systems.

It might seem counterintuitive, but Kiecolt-Glaser believes that stress makes our immune systems less effective because it actually elicits an immune response itself. Stress, she says, causes the body to release pro-inflammatory cytokines, immune factors that initiate responses against infections. When the body produces these cytokines over long periods of time—for instance, as a result of chronic stress—all sorts of bad things can happen. Not only does it hamper our body’s ability to fight infection and heal wounds, but chronic inflammation also increases our risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and autoimmune diseases including type 2 diabetes.

What’s more, because regular stress causes a chronic immune response, it can also increase a person’s risk for allergies, which occur when the body elicits a chronic immune response against something that’s not really dangerous (like pollen). In her most recent study, announced yesterday, Kiecolt-Glaser found that when people are under lots of stress—for instance, when they are forced to deliver a speech or do difficult math problems on the spot—their allergies worsen over the course of the next day.

Read the full article here.

Discussion Question: Experiencing stress is not inevitable; it’s about responding in a manner that helps you rather than hurts you. What small steps can you take this semester to manage your stress more effectively?

Wesleyan Resources: Stress Management

While waiting for an airplane, an interesting thing happened to me. I picked up a novel in a bookstore at a local airport and came across a story of a James Bond-type character who lived on the edge. His work was challenging, dangerous, and vital to national defense. When queried by his colleagues about his survival tactics, he mentioned three things which I think also apply to us. Regardless of the assignment or the project, there were just three things that he kept in mind.

-  Keep it simple. The more moving parts, the more individuals involved, the more complex the program, the higher the risk of failure.

- Always be prepared for contingencies. What if … what might go wrong … how will I deal with x, y, or z? For example, as a public speaker, I always keep in mind plan B if my laptop explodes, if the projector “freezes,” or we lose power.

- Never panic. This means being prepared within reason for what may lie ahead.

As an afterthought, this agent also embraced the uncertainty of life.  Things go wrong, relationships become painful, the goal sometimes is not reached.  We need to be flexible, we need to be adaptable, and to recognize that there is great merit in staying in the day and turning over our needs and our concerns to a higher power however we may define that power.

The moral of the story? Always be open to new ideas — they can come from anywhere — and often less is more!

Wesleyan Resources: Stress Management

Discussion Questions: How do you implement these simple keys to survival in your life? Or what barriers do you believe exist to their implementation?