Sunday Newsletter

Masses Today

6.30 (Vigil): Michael Donnellan, (Anniv).
6.30: John Lonergan, (Recently deceased).

As I Was Saying...

Discussions on stress were very common when the Celtic Tiger was in the whole of his health! According to the experts, this stress was economically induced: families forced to hold down two jobs to service inflated mortgages, leaving for work early to leave the baby to the child minder, and so on.

Now that the Celtic Tiger has expired, have the stress levels dropped? Au contraire! (See 'Recession & Stress' below). Joblessness is far more likely to induce stress than two jobs! But, according to recent research from Kentucky University involving 19,000 people, some stress is good for us. Stressful situations that last for brief periods seem to tap into a primeval "fight or flight" response.

It reminds me of the story of the two Irish students spending their transition year in India. Foolishly they were walking from one village to another even though they had been advised that a man-eating tiger was in the neighbourhood. After a while they heard a rustling nearby. They stopped, and one of the students took a pair of running shoes from his rucksack and put them on. "I don't know why you're doing that," said his companion. "You'll never be able to outrun a tiger." "I don't need to outrun the tiger," came the reply. "I only have to outrun you!"

The Kentucky Report concludes that we all need some pressure in life, whether it's running away from a tiger or having to confront a difficult interview. The research tells us that short term stress boosts a body's natural frontline defence against infections - the immune system is strengthened. But long term anxiety has the opposite effect. Damaging experiences, like losing a partner, wears out the immune system, leaving it prone to infection. The immune systems of stressed-out people are working flat out all the time. The danger then is that when these people take a break, so do their immune systems. As soon as they go away on holiday, they get a cold or catch a bug of some type.

All this helps to explain other research which indicates why people who seriously engage with a religion appear to live more healthy lives.

According to Time Magazine of February 23rd, 2009, a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that faith may indeed bring us health. People who believe in a loving God fare better after a diagnosis of illness than people who believe in a punitive God. Any great religion asks us to think deeply about ourselves, and the moment we face the people we really are, we find plenty to raise our stress level. Then we have a choice. We can choose flight - and run back to our old life. Or we can choose fight and, with the grace of God, we can turn and find a new way of living.

Engaging with God in honest confession after serious self-examination, can be a stressful experience, but the sense of thankful joy when God offers forgiveness is a basis for new hope. Body and soul find new strength, and the stresses of life can be faced and overcome.

-Dick Lyng

HAPPENINGS

Recession & Stress

Mr John Farrelly, Director of Counselling with ACCORD (formerly Catholic Marriage Advisory Council) said recently: "The recession is quickly and deeply affecting marriage and family. One only has to consider how in the first quarter of 2007 only 4% of males attending our service were unemployed but this has nearly tripled to 11.5% for the first quarter of 2009. "

"Financial problems have always increased stress on marriage and relationships. However, an analysis of current data shows an increase of 40% in this problem between 2007 and 2009. Crucially, the context of financial stress has changed. Previously couples worried and argued about keeping up with the demands of the so called 'Celtic Tiger' economy. Issues such as who was in charge of finances in a two income family were to the fore. However in 2008, and particularly in the first quarter of 2009, among the challenges now facing couples is how the family's childcare and mortgage costs are to be met. "

"Increasing stress brought about by reduced income through wage cuts, higher taxation and the possibility of unemployment are also a cause for concern as this raises the spectre of the repossession of the family home."

Quote, unquote...

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