- With Mayo Clinic oncologist
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Edward Creagan, M.D.
"The magic of the electronic village is transforming health information. The mouse and keyboard have extended the stethoscope to the 500 million people now online." — Dr. Edward Creagan
The power of the medium inspires Dr. Edward Creagan as he searches for ways to share Mayo Clinic's vast resources with the general public.
Dr. Creagan, a Newark, N.J., native, is board certified in internal medicine, medical oncology, and hospice medicine and palliative care. He has been with Mayo Clinic since 1973 and in 1999 was president of the staff of Mayo Clinic.
Dr. Creagan, a professor of medical oncology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, was honored in 1995 with the John and Roma Rouse Professor of Humanism in Medicine Award and in 1992 with the Distinguished Mayo Clinician Award, Mayo's highest recognition. He has been recognized with the American Cancer Society Professorship of Clinical Oncology.
He describes his areas of special interest as "wellness as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual-financial model" and fitness, mind-body connection, aging and burnout.
Dr. Creagan has been an associate medical editor with Mayo Clinic's health information websites and has edited publications and CD-ROMs and reviewed articles.
"We the team of (the website) provide reliable, easy-to-understand health and wellness information so that each of us can have productive, meaningful lives," he says.
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Stress blog
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April 13, 2011
Is there a secret formula for success?
By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.
Baseball remains America's pastime. The history, the tradition and the legacy of the sport endure despite competition from other professional sports. There's a simple symmetry to the baseball diamond and something almost magical about the numbers: three strikes and you're out, three bases, three outfielders, nine players and 90 feet between bases.
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If the stress in your life is more than you can cope with, get help right away.
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Baseball, like all businesses, is bombarded with a bewildering number of percentages, graphs, charts and statistics. Managers and others pore over these in an attempt to gain an edge or predict who will win the baseball game.
A grizzled manager with 50 years of experience made an interesting comment, "OK you geniuses, you math geeks, stop the baloney and tell me what I need to know. What's the one thing that distinguishes the winning teams from the losing teams?"
The answer was surprisingly simple. Get a batter on base. If the batter strikes out, doesn't get a base hit or home run, or is thrown out while trying to steal a base, his team is statistically more likely to lose.
Does this remind you of your life? Do you feel bludgeoned by experts, talking heads, and gurus who claim to hold the secret to peace and happiness? Would you like to cut the baloney and get to the one thing that will enable you to go the distance and win the game of life? It's really very simple: Take care of yourself physically, spiritually and emotionally, and share your gifts with others.
8 comments posted
October 11, 2011 12:20 p.m.
Just my thoughts I would like to share. I agree, life is stressful. Managing stress in life in stressful. My theory take all suggestions you come across, implement the ones which suit you personally. It's all about balance ... when your life is out of balance, that's when trouble comes in I think. For example: work and personal life balance, you work too much and not enough investment in your personal life, causes stress. Example two: spiritual and physical. Too much physical investment and not enough into your spiritual side, also causes stress.
- Vitalmax
April 27, 2011 3:39 p.m.
I'm not sure where I heard this or even the exact words. It was along the lines of "I try to do one thing at a time. However, sometimes several things attack me at once." To me it is a great definition for stress. It isn't a question of taking care of myself -- it is how to balance that with all the other demands of my life. One by one I want them all, but they don't happen one at a time, and all together it is a difficult job! For example, to take good care of myself I need a long period of sleep every night. However, my family deserves some of my time in the evening, I need to exercise and do at least some of the housework, and my job has specific requirements on my time. This means that one simple aspect of taking care of myself is NOT so simple.
- Susan
April 26, 2011 11:33 a.m.
Perhaps I misinterpreted the scope of this blog, broadening it too much, and I do apologize if I offended anyone. Maybe people dealing with everyday stess can improve their difficulties by themselves, with self-help advice, like this blog, combined with personal commitment. However, for those of us who, as children, grow up in a state of constant stress -- mainly fear -- stress and anxiety become so ingrained that they become "normal." There are studies (some cited in past issues of this newsletter) that strongly suggest chronic stress can trigger depression in people genetically predisposed to that condition (and sometimes those not predisposed). I am talking about major depressive disorder -- the kind that doesn't just go away, the kind that involves actual physical changes to parts of the brain -- not the depression, for example, that follows the loss of a loved one. Major depressive disorder is a recognized medical condition. There is no cure, only treatment. One of the misperceptions about mood disorders is the idea that we can "just get over it" with commitment to a self-help program. Perhaps instead of weight loss as my example I should have used the common example of diabetes. Diabetes is not "really very simple" to overcome on your own. Would you say to someone with diabetes "just be positive and make more insulin?" The advice in this blog is good advice, but it does simplify the role of stress in what can be debili
- Jeff
April 25, 2011 9:03 a.m.
Amen! Thanks for the insight.
- Sarah
April 23, 2011 9:29 a.m.
I didn't think this example was escaping the complex nature of stress at all. It was suggesting that the answer might be to get the physical, spiritual, and emotional health in order first. I totally agree with this. As for sharing your gifts, maybe it is as simple as sharing your ideas in a stress blog to help others. I know I must have gifts but I am not clear on how to share with others yet.
- cb
April 22, 2011 9:08 a.m.
First, I find your blogs very uplifting. Stress will always be a part of life and handling it is never easy. I think being able tell ourselves that it is "really very simple" gives us the opportunity to figure out the reality of the problem without the emotional stress. From there we are able to start working toward a solution...Bottom line the reality of weight loss is burn more calories, or consume less.
- No name given
April 21, 2011 11:59 a.m.
Shame on you for even suggesting - on a stress blog - that escaping the complex nature of stress (which should include stress's close allies anxiety and depression) is "really very simple." A perfect example of easier said than done. Would your advice to someone struggling with weight loss be that it is really very simple - just burn more calories than you take in?
- Jeff
April 17, 2011 2:24 a.m.
Thanks for for weekly blog. I'm having a bad time recently work stress, budget cuts,increasing targets , housework, little sleep so I can do it all. It got so bad I became physically ill. So I booked a holiday first in several years(really!) But now I feel guilty leaving husband etc behind. But your blog does remind me that I do need to do things to take care of myself and I am allowed to enjoy life too. Thank you
- julie
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