Showing signs of stress

Living in the fast-paced world of publishing can have its effects on the most assured of hacks. Our laid-back design editor, Jamie Trounce, has been watching a stress-busting DVD in British Sign Language to see if it could zen him out

This DVD is designed to tell you what stress is, what its causes are and what stress can do to you. It also includes some relaxation exercises to help reduce your stress levels, and all of this is presented in British Sign Language (BSL), with the option of also displaying English subtitles.

The DVD aims to help all BSL users learn how to relax at home to manage stress and to improve their overall health and confidence.

Stress is part of every­one’s life but I think that Deaf people are sometimes more at risk of exposure to depression, anxiety and other pressures because of the frustrations caused by being Deaf in a hearing world.

There are many reasons why stress affects Deaf people, such as not being able to communicate with hearing people in certain situations, or understand people in meetings, or hear music that helps hearing people to relax.

I’m profoundly deaf and I’ve suffered stress a few times, usually because I tend to think too much and get worried or paranoid when I have too many problems at the same time.

I sat down and watched the DVD, which was easy to follow, with its simple structure of introduction, definitions of stress, relaxation exercises and common questions.

The DVD explains the different types of stress – short-term stress, long-term stress, how to pace yourself, how to breathe when you feel stressed, and so on. The relaxation exercises cover things such as muscle tension, grounding, auto­genic therapy and mind journeys. Finally there are solutions to common problems such as “my home’s too busy”, “I can’t stop thinking”,
“I can’t get comfortable”, “I keep falling asleep”, “I’m too worried” and “I’m too busy”.

On the whole I found the DVD gave too little information about actually coping with stress – and while the guidance was helpful I was already aware of much of it from my GP.

I certainly didn’t find the presenter of the DVD especially helpful – in fact she occasionally made me more stressed because of the way in which she conducted the exercises, which I found a little over-dramatic and repetitive – but maybe that’s just me. I’m sure that she and this DVD could help many other Deaf people.

INFORMATION

You can order the Stress and Relaxation DVD online at http://www.eyegaze.tv/health at £24.95 (free delivery). If you enter the quote DISNOW you will get an automatic discount