BAGUIO CITY – As part of the 2024 National Women’s Month celebration, the Department of Agriculture- Cordillera (DA-CAR) held a learning session on Stress Management Techniques and Mental Health Wellness today, March 15, at Mt. Kalbo, BABRC Compound, Dontogan, Baguio City.
Dr. Gwendolyn Cayad of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC)-Psychiatry Department served as the resource person for the activity. She shared that unmanaged stress causes health problems such as high blood pressure, changes in the menstrual cycle for women, weight gain and belly fat, memory and sleep problems, back aches, extreme fatigue, and a higher risk for cancer.
“Stress-related mental health disorders among women are anxiety disorder, phobia, panic disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and major depression, while impulse control disorders and substance abuse disorders for men,” identified Cayad.
She cited that the incidence and prevalence of stress-related mental disorders are higher in women because of hormones and gender-stereotyped jobs. “Women are usually caregivers and there are what we call caregiver burdens,” said Dr. Cayad.
𝐈𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐝?
“If there is no stress, performance in our daily functioning would be very low. Similarly, If the stress is so high, the performance is still very low. That is why there is a certain amount of stress needed for us to function. We call such stress a challenge. Our attitude has a lot of things to do in managing stress,” emphasized Cayad.
Furthermore, she discussed ways to manage stress, such as prevention through proper nutrition and exercise, source management or consciously avoiding the source of your stress and relaxation techniques such as meditation, diaphragmatic breathing, and yoga.
“We could eliminate stress through stress management, reinterpreting stressful thoughts to be less stressful. We can learn it by constantly practicing and influencing one another,” added Cayad.
Accordingly, it is more important to actively handle stress than to passively discuss it. As such, we should actively seek therapy and intentionally simulate stress reactions in a safe environment.
The activity ended with a yoga session enjoyed by the participants. By Chamanei C. Elias