What is stress?

Stress is a response to an event in our life. Emotions, thoughts, people and events in our life can all bring about stress. The things that cause stress are known as stressors. Not all stress is bad – positive stressors can enhance our ability to perform well and push us into achieving that all-important goal. However, prolonged or severe stress not dealt with properly can be harmful to us both physically and mentally and can lead to burnout.

What causes stress?

Stress can be brought about through all aspects of our life: employment, health, finance, housing, family, relationships and unexpected life events. All these areas have the potential for causing stress, if we are unable to deal with them appropriately.

By the way, having too little on your plate can be as stressful as too much. If you are feeling bored or unchallenged, think about steps you can take to change this.

What happens to our body when we experience stress?

When we experience stress, our body responds as follows:

• Increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
• Constriction of blood vessels.
• Rise in blood sugar levels.
• Blood flow becomes directed towards major organs.
• Breathing becomes deeper and faster.
• Air passages dilate.
• Digestion stops.
• Perspiration increases.
• Adrenaline is produced from adrenal glands, stimulating the heart and organs.

What are the symptoms of stress?

Symptoms can vary from person to person but can be divided into four categories:

Behavioural: lethargy, drinking more, eating more / less, smoking more, sleep problems, sexual problems.

Physical: headaches, shaking, stomach problems, high blood pressure, nausea, dizziness, Increased sweating.

Psychological: procrastination, lack of concentration, negative thoughts, blaming self, feeling confused.

Emotional: mood swings, frequent crying, irritable, anxious, feeling depressed.

Why is stress a problem?

Although our body’s response to stress can assist us short term, if we continue to experience the symptoms, serious health problems can arise, some of which are listed below.

• Coronary heart disease
• Neuroses
• Diabetes mellitus
• Ulcers
• Asthma
• Migraine
• Psychoses

Stress relief

Once you become aware of how stress affects you, you are in a better position to do something about it.

Monitor yourself when you next feel stressed. You may be surprised at the number of symptoms felt. You then want to reduce these symptoms. A number of ideas are set out in my relaxation article.

The important thing to realise is that no matter what is going on in your life, you can control your response to it. You can let the event overwhelm you, leading you deeper and deeper into a black hole. You can blame the situation or other people for your stress. At the end of the day however, you can choose not to feel such stress. The stress after all is your response to a particular event.

If you are having difficulties with stress in your life, you may want to see a counsellor.