Rant: 8-Ways to De-Stress?

In my morning perusal of news on the internet, I clicked on Yahoo’s posting of a video and Shine article “Dr. Travis’ Top 8 Ways to De-Stress”. Ok, I don’t watch “Doctors” so I don’t know for sure if this guy is a doctor or just plays one on TV – given the depth of his advice, I’d assume the latter (but no ... he is real MD). Here’s the link to the original article.

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/the-thread/dr-travis-top-8-ways-to-de-stress-2407334/#comments

Below is my summary of his recommendations (paraphrased). Note that the title should have included that this list is “for women”. Can you guess what my beef is with this?

To de-stress, women should:

1) Cook.

2) Clean (He called it “De-Clutter”).

3) Do Laundry.

4) Work Out (He says to "earn your couch time").

5) Don’t Get Fat. (Ok, here he does recommend “breathing and meditation” but that is so the stress doesn’t make you fat.)

6) Make Sleep a Priority. (This should always be the case, not just when stressed!)

7) Laugh.

8) Get Together with Girlfriends (and Laugh again).

Numbers 1-5 sure seem chauvinistic to me. I mean … really? Cook? Clean? Do Laundry? Just what does this guy think women who are at home do all day? And guess what? For women who work outside of the home, they are the ones still doing the majority of the household chores. So here are my recommendations:

1) Practice Meditation or Yoga. I think the medical industry stands behind the benefits of both for stress-related illnesses, such as reducing high blood pressure and boosting the immune response.

2) Go for a Walk. For me, the more “back-to-nature” the better. If a nature park is not nearby, a walk through the neighborhood is still recommended. However, I believe a change of scenery is best … so get out of your own neighborhood, if possible.

3) Take a Bath / Have a Home Spa Afternoon or Evening. Put on your favorite calming music album, or maybe an audio book, and pamper yourself.

4) Mow the Lawn – just because this Doctor Dude in the video segment said “a woman wouldn’t mow the lawn” (again, this guy needs to get in touch with reality). Now, I realize that usually men do prefer to mow the lawn over cooking and cleaning – and that’s my point! Doing something physical that is different is a great way to blow-off some steam.

Of course, all of these require getting someone else to take care of things like watching the kids in order to be present in the moment, and with that maybe Dr. Travis’ list could make sense as well.

One last note: As one woman’s comment pointed out, how did SEX not make this guy’s list?