TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, Kyrgyzstan - Staying fit is a requirement for service members, but that includes more than regular visits to the gym. While physical training can keep a slim waist and a passing score on the physical fitness test, strengthening mental fitness can affect all aspects of a person's life.
To help strengthen mental fitness, the 376th Expeditionary Medical Group here offers a 3-part Comprehensive Stress Management course to anyone eligible to receive services from the 376 EMDG, taught by Lt. Col. (Dr.) John Leckie, clinical psychologist and Capt. Bryan Vralsted, 376 EMDG, clinical social worker.
Attending the course does not enroll a person as a mental health patient.
The first class in the session focuses on stress reduction through lifestyle management; while class two and three focus on healthy cognition and emotional management. Exercise, nutrition, and breathing techniques related to stress management are also covered.
"We are now more than ever understanding how integrated the brain and body are, and how important it is to look at the whole person, as opposed to only mental health or only physical health," said Vralsted, who is deployed from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. "Our brain controls our body, and if our mental health is compromised it can affect our physical health."
Allowing stress to go unchecked can be as damaging to mental health as lack of exercise and fast food is to physical health, and snowball into a host of negative consequences.
"I think most of us know when we're stressed out, we're not sleeping, we have headaches, we find ourselves upset and irritable, there are a lot of signs," said Vralsted, a native of Billings, Mont. "A lot of the course's focus is on avoiding getting wrapped up about things we can't control and learning to manage ourselves in those situations."
Vralsted said it's important to get away from compartmentalizing issues, instead recognize and deal with them. For example; an Airmen having a personal issue that may be negatively affecting their work should not be told to "leave it at home" or "suck it up," but instead, the use of healthy coping methods should be fostered in the work environment.
"In fact these types of skills are directly correlated with successful leadership and the health of the unit," he said. "Research has been done in relation to not only mental and healthy well-being, but also with regards to some of the more severe things we see, like suicide. One of the best protective factors for suicide is good leadership."
A leader that has healthy stress management and coping skills can pass those skills on to their subordinates. On the other hand, a leader that cannot manage stress can have a negative effect on the whole unit, he said.
"If you are supervising people and you're stressed out, how does that impact your behavior towards them?" Vralsted said. "Healthy and rational thinking is key to good leadership and allows us to be objective. Even if I'm having a bad day, I can think in such a way that I do not take it out on my troops, that's the mark of a good leader."
The skills taught not only benefit people's career and work environment, but their family life as well.
Senior Airman Verlisa Hooks-McNeal, 376th Expeditionary Force Support Squadron, Lobos Den contracting officer's representative deployed from Robins Air Force Base, Ga., completed the course. She said she took the course because she tends to stress out.
"I learned controlled breathing techniques and how to focus on muscle groups if need be," said the Augusta, Ga., native. "I now understand my thought processes and can examine them realistically to reduce the anxiety of stress that is unhealthy for me. You will feel more empowered with the tools this course teaches you."
Hooks-McNeal said that learning to examine her thinking and having the power to change her thought process in-turn changes her perception of different situations, allowing her reactions to be more realistic and reasonable, which benefits her family as well.
"I will reduce a tremendous amount of stress I put on myself or even my kids. No one is perfect and I'm not the only one with feelings," she said. "I now think more positively in situations out of my control and realize the world will keep turning and I have to be okay with the outcomes that may not be what I agree with. The instructors empowered us to challenge our thought processes more effectively and taught us the difference between healthy and unhealthy stress and how to cope with them."
| Date Taken: | 10.25.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 10.25.2013 09:06 |
| Story ID: | 115724 |
| Location: | TRANSIT CENTER AT MANAS, KG |
| Hometown: | AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, US |
| Hometown: | BILLINGS, MONTANA, US |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, 376 EMDG teaches mental fitness skills, by SMSgt Krystie Martinez, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
