Stress Awareness Month has been held in the United States every April since 1992. During this annual thirty-day period, healthcare professionals and health promotion experts across the country join forces to increase public awareness about the causes and cures for our stress epidemic.
Sponsored by The Health Resource Network (HRN), a non-profit health education organization, Stress Awareness Month is a national, cooperative effort to inform people about the dangers of stress, provide successful coping strategies, and eliminate harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in our society.
“Even though we’ve learned a lot about stress in the past twenty years,” says Dr. Mort Orman, M.D., Founder and Director of HRN, “we’ve got a long way to go. New information is now available that could help millions of Americans eliminate their suffering.”
Dr. Orman invites leading healthcare organizations across the country to develop and disseminate educational materials and other information about stress during the month of April. He also encourages stress experts and other healthcare leaders to conduct public forums, discussion groups, and other informative community events.
Dr. Orman explains, “I discovered that there is no such thing as ‘good’ or ‘healthy’ stress, that the causes of human stress are widely misunderstood, and that managing stress can sometimes be more harmful than beneficial.” He adds, “Managing stress is better than using alcohol, drugs, or other unhealthy chemical coping solutions, but as a primary coping strategy that deals mainly with symptoms alone, it leaves much to be desired.”
For details about the educational resources made available by Dr. Orman during April, 2024, please visit http://stressawarenessmonth.com/.
