I was reading a men’s health magazine article about how over work or burning the candle at both ends can significantly increase your risk of a stroke or sudden heart attack. Okay now granted, I’m not one of those people, it happens to other people. Well turns out curiosity got the better of me so I looked into stress and heart attacks and strokes and what I have found is concerning to me. So what does this mean? Well after reading everything from American Heart Association articles to publications on the American Institute of Stress it seems that what I have adopted in many cases is what is classified as Type A behavior. Don’t think that’s you? Take this quiz then…
1.) Do you have a balance between work, your school work and time for your family and things you enjoy?
2.) Do you have deadlines constantly looming over your head, such as a paper due by midnight Sunday (like me)?
3.) Do you have high standards for yourself that others might see as unrealistic? (For me it was studying until 4AM in a Waffle House, didn’t seem unrealistic at the time but in retrospect)
4.) Do you tend to have inflexible scheduling? (I have to do to meet deadlines and if I don’t stick to my calendar I get behind, then my stress levels soar)
5.) Are you in a hurry? All the time?
6.) Do you get frustrated now more than before you started spending all this extra time and effort on school? (I do, fatigue causes irritability)
7.) Have you started any new nervous fidgeting? Tapping your pen, bouncing your legs, biting your nails, etc. (Me, I’m guilty of about half a dozen of these but I notice I do it more when under the gun)
8.) Are you competitive when you don’t need to be? (For me it was insistence on a 4.0GPA on my MBA transcript)
9.) Do you drive more aggressively? (ummm…..no comment)
10.) Have you become increasingly distracted, such as not listening when someone is talking, scatterbrained or forgetful? (It’s been said that if I didn’t do this I’d have no personality at all)
Of course this is not an official questionnaire nor is it backed by research other than a few articles I’ve read recently but that’s not the point. The point is sometimes we as working professionals, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers and students are working so hard and so long for the betterment of our families and to get ahead that we forget the toll it may take on our bodies in the process. In fact being in school pretty much demands unrelenting commitment and at times, sacrifices but I think we need to be careful and pay attention to things outside of what’s on our to do lists or educational goals. The point is, you have to take care of you first, so that you can take care of everything else. While it’s admirable an at times necessary to go to school and earn that degree, learn that new skill etc. we still have to be smart about it.
Next blog post… How to take care of you so that you can take care of the things you need to do.
For those curious the questionaire was a paraphrase of some of the questions and symptoms of a few different articles I read...just an FYI. I'm not a doctor nor do I play one on TV. This is an education blog and does not constitute medical advice. Side effects of reading this blog may include nervousness, dizziness, well informedness, slightly sarcastic behavior and you may inadvertently be exposed to rare bursts of genius. ;)