category: stress relief

The Impact of Maternal Stress on Infants

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have recently given us even more reason to take the effects of stress seriously. According to the newest results of a longitudinal population study, girls who are born into families with high levels of stress are more likely to suffer from anxiety and disruptions in brain function as teenagers. The study, published in the…

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Don’t Believe Everything You Think

I recently had a big weight lifted off of my shoulders. For weeks, I postponed calling the parents of a college student – one of my son’s best friends and roommate – who was late in paying rent for a condo we own in Colorado. He wouldn’t return our phone calls or emails and was two months late in paying…

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Holistic Practices for Holiday Stress Relief December 2011

Dear Fellow Nurse, I recently saw some interesting findings about the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among nurses. A study published in the online version of Health Services Research in August found that 83 percent of nurses useCAM, compared to just 63 percent of the general population. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that so many of us…

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Blessings or Burdens? November 2010

Dear Fellow Nurse, I was devastated when my hospital nursing career was cut short because of a severe allergy to latex. I had worked as a registered nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston for 12 years when my allergist told me it was too risky to continue working in a clinical setting. To be honest, back in 1994,…

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