And Now for a Non-Musical Interlude: STRESS! and How (and Why) You Should Care

So we are quickly hurtling toward the end of the semester and you feel stressed.

Big deal. Everyone is stressed. 

WHY IS EVERYTHING RED?!

Okay, maybe yes, everyone IS stressed. But stress is not good for our bodies or brains, both of which we need to play musical instruments. This article says the following scary things:

- 75%-90% of all visits to the doctor's office are for stress-related complaints.
- Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually. That is enough to pay off EVEN OUR student loans.
- 43% of all adults suffer adverse health affects from stress.

So it seems fairly clear that this is bad. But WHAT KINDS of bad things happen from stress?

Short-term stress.

Annoying, and kind of no big deal. BUT, over time, stress can have long-lasting and unpleasant effects.

Long-term stress, :-(

Yuck. Does not want.

A number of questions arise when we realize how bad stress is: how can we stop the inevitable? Can we avoid stress? How can we not panic when we have so much STUFF to do and practice for and write about?

Even THIS could be stressful (if you sunburn easily)

We'll be making a stab at some stress-busting case studies over the next months, where we will implement the following three steps:

1. Find a thing that is supposed to be a de-stressor.
2. Do that thing.
3. Think critically about its impact on our selves. Blog about it.

Stay tuned! And in the meantime, let us know if you do anything in particular to de-stress!