So Stressed

by hamilton-beth-mcclellan-stephanie

'So Stressed' combines two female gynecologists' insights to reveal a unique view on stress and how it affects women's bodies and minds. It reveals how stress disrupts the intricate balance of the female body and becomes the root cause of a wide range of physical problems.

Genres: Health, Self Help, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In theory I like the idea of "self help" books. In practice I tend to find most of then pretty elementary and trite. Every blue moon I'll see an exception.

This book is a wealth of information. It not only covers the types of stress and metabolic effects, but it actually gives you thing to do to help. Realistic things that make perfect sense.

So far I think it's very good.

[Maren · Rating 4 out of 5]

While there is nothing earth-shattering in here, I like how these two MDs explained the science behind why we react to stress the way we do, and what to do about it. It won't surprise anyone that when you are stressed and your body responds by freaking out, proper nutrition, exercise, and rest is what you need for your body to do what you want it to. What was new to me though is they define four different types of stress responses, and you can identify your particular needs and treatment. For example, I appreciate the acknowledgement that if you want to improve your exercise go-immediately-and-sign-up-at-the-nearest-gym is not the advice that will work best for everyone. With my stress type, I struggle with low energy, and intense workouts are the last thing I want to do, and it turns out it isn't necessary. The book explains alternatives that still can give me benefits, but won't overtire me. Same with nutrition, everyone knows generally what food is good and bad for you, but after identifying my stress type I have a list of certain nutrients that I should be sure to include (ones I already eat, not an obscure "superfood" only grown in the amazon or something) and I found out that lunch should be my biggest meal of the day--and that is the meal that I usually skip because it is my busiest time of the day! So while the advice was not anything I hadn't heard before, I got some direction as to which habits will be most effective for me.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book to any woman who has stress in her life. Which I imagine is pretty much all of us! This book helps you understand how stress can make you sick and how to heal yourself through self assessing your stress type and by tailoring a nutrition, exercise, and relaxation routine that will improve your health and give you higher resilience to stress.

[Renee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is for people into charts, graphs, and making things way more complicated than they need to be.

[Kiki Bakker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Heel happy met de intentie, en de wetenschappelijke onderbouwing maar de 2e helft verwordt gewoon weer een to do lijst voor mensen die al onder hoge druk staan.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I definitely have my stress

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book includes a quiz that helps you determine your particular stress response. I found it very interesting to learn about my stress response (I fit strongly into one of the neat categories) and to understand the biochemistry behind this. The book is divided into different sections for each stress response, so if you fit squarely into one category you can skip a good part of this book to save yourself some time. While I didn't learn any new groundbreaking stress management techniques, I now have a better understanding how WHY particular techniques are helpful for me.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated this book written by two female gynecologists. The science behind it appeared solid and their sources were well documented. It was easy to understand and simple to begin to put into practice. It did not give any "magic pill" to get rid of stress but outlined in a very structured way common sense practices to cope with the stress that we all experience.

[Angela N]

I don't normally like non-fictions but this was great! Some of it's simplest suggestions worked to help me not be so stressed - something I personally struggle with. It's a book I need to reread every couple months to help keep zoned.

[Mie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finally finished reading everything. When you are really stressed, you even can not read that thick volume of the book! It was a bit hard for me to categorize myself into one of four types since I can relate bits to all of the four types. So I recommend reading all the types ' recommendations.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight to your different kind of stress! This is a book to retread often and to reference!

[athenaowl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Focused on the physical manifestations of stress, which I enjoyed but trying to figure out which type of stress quadrant I am supposedly in certainly made me feel stressed!

[Sarah Swann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book was fine, just not what I needed.