BROTHA HEAL THYSELF

Let’s Talk about Stress

Stress is not always bad, there is such thing as good stress.  The problem is when good stress turns into bad stress and you start to experience these emotions. 

  • Annoyed

  • Unsure

  • Frustrated

  • Confused

  • Stressed

  • Sad

  • Exhausted

  • Angry

  • Anxious

  • Fearful

These periods of unhappiness leads to stress.  The American Psychological Association describes stress “as the physiological demand placed on the body when one must adapt, cope or adjust.   It can be healthful and essential in keeping an individual alert; however, intense or prolonged stress can be overwhelming on the body. Two of the major forms of stress are acute and chronic stress.

Types of Stress

  • Acute stress, the most common form of stress, is short-term and stems from the demands and pressures of the recent past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future 

  • Chronic stress, a long-term form of stress, derives from unending feelings of despair/hopelessness, as a result of factors such as poverty, family dysfunction, feelings of helplessness and/or traumatic early childhood experience  

Chronic stressors associated with health disparities include perceived discrimination, neighborhood stress, daily stress, family stress, acculturative stress, environmental stress and maternal stress long-term stress is the root cause of every state of ill-health and affects every part of our being; psychologically, emotionally, and physically.If stress is not managed, it can eventually kill you.

African-Americans and Stress

  • African-Americans are negatively impacted by stress and health disparities. 

  • Discrimination (work-place, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and religion) has been found to be a key factor in chronic stress related disparities.

  • Stress due to experience of racism and discrimination contributes to:

    • Hypertension

    • Diabetes 

    • Increase in unhealthy Behaviors (cigarette smoking, alcohol substance abuse, improper nutrition, refusing to seek medical services).  

Black Men Stress and Health

  • Life expectancy for black men is 71.5

  • More susceptible to disease and illness and more likely to die from them

  • Least likely to collect retirement social security benefits

  • Environmental factors impacting health (Homicides and increase in HIV)

"To be a black man in America is to be tense, anxious, and often fearful if not outright angry. While he struggles to grasp manhood in a society that holds it from him at arm's length, the befuddle black man lashes out violently at the women he feels is undermining his fragile authority."Tom Burrell Brainwashed: Challenging the myth of Black Inferiority.

Five Types of Men

Queen Afua in her book “Man Health Thyself” describes five types of men who are wounded in their physical, mental, spiritual and social states of being.  The five types of men are:

  • The Common Man

  • The Angry Old Man

  • The Sexually Additive Man

  • The Broken Man

  • The Negative Alpha Man


The goal is to become a Positive Alpha Man

Mindful Journaling Method

Why Should You Meditate and Journal?

Three Main Reasons why you should you start practicing meditation and keeping a journal includes:

  • Stress Reduction - Journaling and Mindfulness Meditation gives you an outlet for your emotions, thoughts, and anxieties, and space that allows you to express yourself honestly.

  • Self-Discovery - Journaling and Mindfulness Meditation provides a constant reminder that we are in control of our own lives. Journaling allows us to see how we’ve changes over time.

  • Easier Decision Making - Journaling and Mindfulness Meditation teaches us about ourselves-what motivates us, what makes us happy, what we’re afraid of, what we’re inspired by, what causes us pain.

Washington, DC