Have you noticed a change of attitude in yourself and your teammates since you started the competition? Not due to the economy or that Jay Leno is leaving the air, but because you are now in charge of your body? How were you feeling when you began, compared to now? Attitude and outlook is everything.  For example, Mehmet and I try to use and teach The Seinfeld Approach to Anger and Frustration Management...Get some "EMP"!

In a popular Seinfeld episode, George turned his life around by doing the opposite of everything he thought he should do. The episode became a series of signature Costanza moments, but it also taught a great lesson: doing the opposite of what you might normally do actually works in one area of life in particular--dealing with stress, frustration, and anger. When we're angry, our instinct may be to punch, snarl, or growl-- but the only thing that does is let our anger build even more.

What works? Doing the opposite. And the opposite of anger is actually empathy, or getting into Emp for short. So the cure to calming down is to take a moment, say you're going to get Emp inside you, and think about why that person may have done something to you.  Maybe the driver who cut you off was trying to get his wife to the hospital to deliver a baby, or maybe your co-worker who flamed out is having problems at home.

The approach helps you deal with many seemingly hard emotions to manage, including anger, stress, frustration, and depression--which are all things that can severely impact your health as you age.

Still miffed at your best friend for spilling the beans?   This feeling of anger, like I had toward the gate agent at Dulles airport (is it still called that or am I dating myself?) who wouldn't let me board the earlier plane to return to Cleveland even though the door was still open when I showed up with just 9 minutes to go, just aged me--it did no good.  That's right, anger and frustration are relationship busters (1st problem)  that hurt your heart and immune system (2nd problem), so the person you're mad at causes you to age twice!

And very few people, even Docs, are jerks on purpose--we don't mean to yell out or keep you waiting--we need your emp. So whatever's got you feeling slighted, it might be time to forgive, if not forget. (That gate agent probably needed to get the count right and weight balanced so she could send the plane off, and must have had to pee real bad, too--the technique really started kicking in at the door of the plane when I pictured how bad she must have had to pee--then I started laughing!)

Of course, some injustices are hard to let go of. You'll have to be the judge of which ones you're able to move past and which ones you just can't. But keep in mind that not letting go may do extra damage. For example, college students' blood pressures rose when they described a time that a parent or friend deeply hurt or betrayed them. And the blood pressure levels of the students who were unable to forgive took longer to return to normal.

When your cardiovascular system has trouble stabilizing after stress--whether it's for physical or emotional reasons--that's bad news for your heart. It could mean high blood pressure or heart disease in your future, and a visit to one of Cleveland Clinic's world-renowned catheterization laboratories.  (No need to make us busier. We need all the time we can get to write these columns.)  And that anger also makes your immune system less able to defend against internal (bad cells--i.e., cancer) and external (bacteria, viruses, fungi) invaders.

Stress is not necessarily a bad thing. The only time you don't have stress is when you are 6 feet under. Your nervous system and stress hormones form a very effective stress circuit: Way back when, they'd get you moving (fast) if a saber-toothed tiger appeared. Today, if you're "Branjelina", they help you escape pursuing paparazzi.

The problem is that while you face a lot less fight-or-flight stress in the modern world, you have a lot more of the other kinds of stress--and they just keep going and going, like the Energizer Bunny. That makes it hard to actually shut your stress system down--and that can lead to many things that make your Real Age older.

Another reason stress can shorten your life: It staunches the regenerative work that stem cells do in your body. (Stem cell slowdown is another Major Ager). When stress hormones damage tissues, cells, and organs, stem cells come to the rescue like the Super Friends. They snooze in your bone marrow until needed, then snap into action to replace damaged cells. There are two problems, though. First, if you stay mentally revved up, stem cells can't do their jobs. Your brain needs to be on idle before they can go to work. Second, you don't have an infinite supply of stem cells. The more that are used to repair the damage of stress, the less you'll have left when you need them to make other repairs on your body.  And learning how to redirect stress and anger to be anti-aging is surprising easy and fun. So get EMP-- and have positive energy all the time!

And what about the gate agent?  After I started to laugh (thinking how much she needed to pee), she asked me why I was chuckling--I told her that I had just visualized that the reason she wasn't letting me on the plane was she had to pee bad, and I know how much of a need that could be.  She started laughing too, told me it was true, and let me on the plane. There's the proof--Positive energy almost always makes a situation better!

And when you revel in the accomplishments of others, you bring positive energy all around. Surrounding yourself with buddies who think positively is like an infectious disease--you catch it and can achieve your goals more easily. So call a teammate now--we'll wait--it's not too late to send more encouraging notes. Appreciate the successes of your teammates--big and small, and be sure to compliment them on a job well done.

Yours In Health,
The Cleveland Clinic Employee Wellness Team
support@shapeupandgo.org

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