This month’s writing project, courtesy of my friend Robert Hruzek of Middle Zone Musings, is all about stress. Did you know that stress increases the likelihood of an allergic attack? Well, it does and I learned this first hand.

I was young; I was working for the summer months in the IT department of a major railroad company. My job was all about computerization of manual processes and reducing head count. It was stressful to be the person that people hated because I might end up getting rid of their position. I traveled almost weekly from my home base in Toronto to Montreal. When in Montreal, there were long hours on-site and the joys of a hotel bed. Of course, I was eating restaurant food, with its many perils.

I was also living in Toronto with its cosmopolitan delights and fabulous night life. Sleep? Sleep was for the elderly.

One day, towards the end of my term, I went to my local office early. I sat down at my desk and did all the regular things to start my day: I fired up the computer; I rifled through some files to find my papers for a meeting; I finished up a few leftover odds and ends. I scratched my face a few times, but figured I must have forgotten to apply my moisturizer that morning. I gathered up my stuff and walked into the meeting.

My boss looked up from pouring a coffee. “What’s wrong with your face?” he squawked.

I looked in a mirror. I was covered in hives.

Off I went to the local hospital. After they’d filled me full of a high-powered antihistamine, they sent me home to take the equivalent over-the-counter version with warnings that I’d need to stay on it for a couple of weeks. They weren’t kidding! Every time I forgot a dose of my antihistamine, I’d break out in hives again. It was at least two weeks and several packages of antihistamine, before I could go a whole day without having a hive pop up. I also completed my summer job in that time and headed off to finish my Master degree.

I never did figure out what I was allergic to in that office. After all, the cleansers that had been used on my desk (which were my primary suspicion because I’d reacted to chemicals before) were the same cleansers that had been used for the whole 4 months. I had been fine when I left home that fateful morning. I broke out when I got into my office. What triggered the problem?

It was likely stress. In addition to the stress of work, I was in a difficult relationship. Add the emotional stress with the work stress and my desire to see everything in the city in the shortest time possible, and I’d become a disaster waiting to happen.

I’ve never had an allergic reaction to cleaning chemicals since. However, I gave up the toxic man and I learned to balance my stress levels more effectively. I even learned how to get a reasonable amount of sleep at night.

It only goes to show that your body is not a bunch of isolated systems; all these delicate parts are linked together. You can blame the allergens, but you can also take some steps at your end to make sure that your overall health is as good as possible.

Which brings me to a great way to manage stress – exercise. Jim Estill, another friend of mine, is a great advocate of exercise. In fact, it’s one of the key things that he does to help manage both his stress and his environmental allergies. He always manages to fit healthy activity in, despite being one of the busiest people I know.

In these challenging economic times when the media is full of bad news, here’s my wish for all my readers: may your stress be low, your job secure and your allergies absent.