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THE BATTALION
MONDAY, AUGUST 28, 1978
Under stress: Doctors link everyday pressures to hypertension, alcoholm
By PATRICIA McCORMACK
UPI Health Editor
Stress makes gastic juices squirt in
the stomach when they’re supposed
to be dormant. They harm the fragile
stomach lining and set the stage for
ulcers.
Stress boosts blood pressure, lead
ing to strokes and heart attacks.
Stress pushes many persons to the
whiskey bottle and alcoholism.
Stress capsizes marriages, friend
ships and jobs.
Stress leads to fist fights and acci
dents.
Stress makes lives unpleasant and
then cuts them short.
To help men and women manage
stress psychologists Robert L. Wool-
folk and Frank C. Richardson wrote
“Stress, Sanity, and Survival”
(Monarch, $8.95). Woolfolk is on the
faculty at Rutgers University in New
Brunswick, N.J. Richardson teaches
at the University ofTexas in Austin.
There is no need to be victimized
or enslaved by stress, Woolfolk said
in an interview.
You can survive, as he and
Richardson see it, by managing
stress rather than having it manage
you.
Their survival plan includes the
following:
—Learn to plan. “Disorganization
can breed stress. Having too many
projects going simultaneously often
leads to confusion, forgetfidness and
the sense that uncompleted projects
are hanging over your head. When
possible, take on projects one at a
time and work on them until com-
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pleted.”
— Recognize and accept limits.
“Most of us set unreasonable and
perfectionistic goals for ourselves.
We can never be perfect, so we often
have a sense of failure or inadequacy
no mattter how well we perform. Set
achievable goals for yourself. ”
—Have fun. “You need occasion
ally to escape from the pressures of
life and have fun. Find pasttimes
which are absorbing and enjoyable to
you, no matter what your level of
ability.”
—Be a positive person. “Avoid
criticizing others. Learn to praise the
things you like in others. Focus upon
the good qualities those around you
possess. ”
—Learn to tolerate and forgive.
“Intolerance of others leads to frus
tration and anger. ” You can become
more accepting of other people by
trying to really understand the way
they feel.
—Avoid unnecessary competi
tion. “There are many competitive
situations in life that we cannot
avoid. Too much concern with win
ning in too many areas of life can
create excessive tension and anxiety
and make one unnecessaarily aggres
sive. ”
—Get regular physical exercise.
“Check with your physician before
beginning any exercise program.
You will be more likely to stay with
an exercise program if you choose
one that you really enjoy rather one
that is hard work and drudgery.”
—Learn a systematic, drug-free
method of relaxing. “Meditation,
yoga, autogenic training or progres-
Psychologists test
for significant stress
United Press International
This stress test was prepared by Drs. Robert L. Woolfolk and Frank
C. Richardson, psychologists and co-authors of “Stress, Sanity and
Survival” (Monarch Press, $8.95):
1. Do you worry about the future?
2. Do you sometimes have trouble falling asleep?
3. Do you often reach for a cigarette, a drink, or a tranquilizer to
reduce tension?
4. Do you become irritated over basically insignificant matters?
5. Do you have less energy than you seem to need or would like to
have?
6. Do you have too many things to do and not enough time to do
them?
7. Do you have headaches or stomach problems?
8. Do you feel pressure to accomplish or to get things done?
9. Are you very concerned about being either well-liked or suc
cessful?
10. Do you perform well enough in life to satisfy yourself?
11. Do you get satisfaction from the small joys or simple pleasures of
life?
12. Are you able to really relax and have fun?
Score one point for each yes answer, questions one to nine; and one
point for each no answer, questions 10 to 12.
The psychologists say a score of four or more suggests you may be
under significant stress.
sive relaxation can be learned bj'
various accredited teachers
licensed psychotherapists.”
—Talk out your troubles. “F
friend, member of the clergy, com
selor or psychotherapist you can
open with. Expressing you
bottled-up tension to a sympathy
ear can be incredibly helpful.’'
The two psychologists also stnij
down what they described as in;
conceptions about stress.
The number one myth, astheyss
it: "We always know when wean
under stress.”
“Not so, ” they said. “Oftenpeopi
become so accustomed to stressth
they become unaware of it. Many
us suffer the debilitating effects
stress even though we don’t let
tense.”
Other myths:
—Stress is something thatafled
only those with high-pressureliw
“Many ordinary individuals expeii
ence the constant stress of worn
leading unfulfilled lives or ofnt
being what they would like
—Stress is caused by eventslk
happen to us. "It is not the event
themselves that cause distress, h
rather the views we takeofevi
—Emotions have a will ofllie
own and cannot he controlled.!
can change our feelings by fin
changing our behavior or bydias
ing our thinking."
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Official battles for "working women
LORD BENSON by J. Wooley
United Cress International
WASHINGTON — It you walk
into the big corner office of Alexis
Herman in the Labor Department
— with a glorious view of the Capitol
from its windows — be prepared to
hear some statistics.
Herman, 31, is the director of the
58-year-old Women’s Bureau and
the numbers she spouts are designed
to make one big point:
Working women, she says, aren’t
getting an even break.
She says that’s because Americans
don’t know how many women work
“for the same reason men work, for
economic survival.”
She is the only person in the gov
ernment whose full-time job is up
grading the status of the working
woman.
Americans, she says, still think of
women in the stereotypes of televi
sion commercials: Mom kisses dad
goodbye, stay's home, looks after
kids, dog and house.
But these days that situation exists
in only about one household in six,
she says — her first statistic.
Other statistics come quickly:
— Forty-nine percent of the
women in America — 41 million
women — are working or looking for
work.
— Four out of every 10 jobs are
held by women.
— Since 1965, some 14 million
women — but only 9 million men —
have joined the work force.
— But the average woman earns
60 percent of what the average man
makes — a smaller share than 20
years ago, when the woman s
paycheck was 63 percent of the aver
age man’s.
“Some women work out of eco
nomic necessity, some to improve
their families’ living standards, some
for self-fulfillment,’’ she says.
“Unfortunately, most people as
sume that the increased participa
tion in the labor force is by women
who don t need work. ‘If they’d just
go hack home, we wouldn’t have this
unemployment problem,’ they say.
“But that’s not so. Cinderella
doesn’t live here any more. We need
to know that today nine out of 10
women will work at some point of
their lives. We don’t have just a
casual flirtation with the job mar
ket.
And what jobs do women hold?
Most are secretaries, sales clerks,
bookkeepers, elementary' school
teach el's and waitresses — the same
jobs they held 30 years ago. The
Census Bureau lists 441 occupations
— but almost all working women are
concentrated into 20 of them.
"Seventy-nine percent of women
are in clerical work,” she says. "Wo
men account for 96 percent of all
typists, but only 1 percent of the re
pairers of typewriters. Most electri
cians — 99.7 percent of them — are
men and most stenographers are
women; electricians earn an average
of $330 a week and stenographers,
$159. Sure, lots of men are locked
y
pul
and
die
to s
inte
1
scat
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327 UNIVERSITY DRIVE
Antics prompt crackdown
on alcoholic truckdrivers
United Press International
MEXICO CITY — The highway
antics of Mexican drivers have
sparked a government attack against
alcoholic, color-blind and mentally
ill drivers of trucks and buses.
It is not unusual to see colorfully
painted buses and trucks barreling
down Mexico’s many swerving, nar
row highways as they pass other ve
hicles on curves and nearly drive
them off the road.
“One bus after another passed us
while others were passing cars on the
other side of the road, ” said one sha
ken American who recently drove
from Acapulco to Mexico City along
mountainous Route 95. “Some buses
would pass two or three cars at a
time, even on S-curves.
The Communications and High
way Ministry, in announcing the
new crackdown on drivers, said
buses and trucks were involved in
25,678 highway accidents in 1977.
that resulted in 3,811 deaths, 18,678
injuries and more than $20 million in
property damage.
The most spectacular highway ac
cident in recent memory occurred
last July when a truck carrying
butane gas overturned on the busy
Queretero Highway and exploded
into flames that engulfed 10 other
vehicles, including three buses.
Twenty people died in the accident
and more than a hundred suffered
serious burns.
To stem the tide of the costly colli
sions, the Ministry’s Preventive
Medicine Section last April began
spot health examinations of truck and
bus drivers at city transportation
terminals.
Director Dr. Estela Ponce de
Leon reported that out of some
490,000 health checks 965 drivers
were found unfit to drive and their
licenses were revoked.
Of those, more than 70 percent
suffered from color-blindness,
nearly two-thirds from mental stress
and fatigue and almost 30 percent
into dead-end jobs, but theyatla
pay more.
Because of “occupational segrep
tion,” she says, laws mandah
equal pay for equal work have
made much difference in womn
earnings.
So she is championing a newm
cent — equal pay for workofeqj
value. If the maid’s work is equal
value to the janitor’s, the raa
should be paid as much, sheargua
Herman sees her job as acqua
ing the country with one overwheb
ing fact — “that we re heretostav
Herman was born in Mobile, 11
Her mother was a schoolteachera
her father, Alex, owned an insuw
company. He had once been
catcher in the old Negro baseia
leagues and helped Satchel Pais
break into baseball.
She landed her job by catching
eye of Ray Marshall, thesecretaw
labor, when he was a University
Texas economics professor and si
wars a high school counselorprepai
ing young black high schoolgirls
apprentice for jobs that had neve
entered their minds —as carpen
ters, machinists and welders in tk
shipyard at Pascagoula, Miss
Later, she orchestrated aprogu
in Atlanta which landed 60 lid coi
women in professional jobs newl
fore held by women. wh<
She placed the first womanli
Telephone management trainees
Atlanta and the first Delta Ai
woman accountant, and has]
women in professional slots in
ing, insurance, retailing and ti#
portation.
Then Herman ran a similar elf
covering 10 cities — and platd
1,000 women in good jobs.
Off the job, she enjoys terms
bowling and cooking down-hou
food like red beans and rice gum#
In Washington, she heads a stall
79 (almost all women) and has a
million budget. She spent her to
year cautiously learning the term
tory, but now she is becoming
forceful advocate for li
tuency.
Within the government, sk
pushes for child-care centers
working mothers (no progress the!
— ‘too expensive,’ she’s told) anils
raising issues of pension rights, Si
cial Security reform, and restrucw
from high blood pressure and other ing work patterns to create part-ti#
circulatory conditions. More than 10
percent were alcoholics
jobs, flexible
sharing.
hours and wori'
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chil
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hou:
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kno'
that
days
July
nitic
cane
dier:
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Come to the Baptist Student Center at 12 noon
Monday, Wednesday and Friday or Tuesday and
Thursday at 11:15 for Bible Study, Christian
Fellowship, and a sandwich. Come to the Howdy
Party at 7:00 p.m. Friday night September 1,
Cali 846-7722 for more information; or come by
201 College Main, one block north of Loupot’s
at Northaate.
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