Guiding Conversations on Stress During Stress Awareness Month

With April being Stress Awareness Month, we encourage you to engage patients in better understanding and managing stress, a major factor impacting health and well-being. By integrating stress education into your daily practice, you empower patients to build resilience and improve their overall health.

Educating Patients on Stress's Dual Impact: Mental and Physical Health

• Mental Health Impacts: Explain that persistent stress can increase anxiety, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and contribute to depression. It can disrupt sleep, worsen mental fatigue, and affect judgment. Encourage patients to recognize these shifts as early warning signs.
• Physical Health Impacts: Detail how chronic stress activates the "fight or flight" response, leading to sustained high levels of hormones like cortisol. This can result in physical symptoms such as high blood pressure, weakened immune function, digestive issues, muscle tension, headaches, and sleep disturbances. Help patients understand that these physical symptoms are often psychosomatic and their body's way of signaling overwhelm.

Guiding Patients Towards Healthy Coping Strategies

1. Mindfulness & Relaxation: Introduce simple techniques like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or guided imagery. Suggest free apps or online resources.
2. Physical Activity: Emphasize exercise as a powerful stress reliever, recommending accessible activities like walking or stretching.
3. Healthy Nutrition: Advise balanced eating to support energy and mood, while limiting stimulants like excessive caffeine.
4. Foster Social Connection: Highlight the benefits of supportive relationships with friends, family, or support groups to buffer stress.
5. Identify Stress Triggers: Work with patients to pinpoint their personal stressors and brainstorm proactive management strategies.
6. When to Seek Professional Help: Clearly communicate that if stress becomes overwhelming, persistent, or leads to significant anxiety/depression, professional mental health support (counseling, therapy) is crucial.
7. Facilitate Referrals: Provide next steps and support for connecting patients to behavioral health or virtual care options; Highmark Wholecare’s Care Managers can assist members in accessing behavioral health care.

Additional Resources:

• Medicaid members can contact the Enhanced Member Services Unit at: 1-800-392-1147 TDD/TTY 711
• Medicare Assured members can contact Care Management at: 1-800-685-5209 TTD/TTY 711
• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Free and confidential support for people in distress, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Also offers specialized services for individuals who are deaf or hearing impaired, prefer to communicate in Spanish, and military veterans.