Stress and Stress Management

Stress and Stress Management

 

  Stress and stress management is an important issue in our today's world where a lot is expected of us almost round the clock. Pressure either at work, school, home, etc over time builds up and take its toll on us mentally and physically and then our immediate environment just says it all.

Well, let's look at some definition of stress and then some tips to guide us on stress management.

What is stress?

  "Stress is simply a reaction to a stimulus that disturbs our physical or mental equilibrium. In other words, it's an omnipresent part of life. A stressful event can trigger the “fight or-flight” response, causing hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol to surge through the ." Another source puts it as,  

 "Stress is a body's method of reacting to a challenge. According to the stressful event, the body's way to respond to stress is by sympathetic nervous system
activation which results in the fight-or-flight response."

   Simply put, Stress is your body's way of responding to any kind of demand or. When you feel threatened, your nervous system responds by releasing a flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, which rouse the body for emergency action. Your heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and your senses become sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction time, and enhance your focus. This commonly is known as the “fight or flight” or mobilization stress response and is your body’s way of protecting you. 

   Stress has its own spice to our lives as psychology proves.When stress is within your comfort zone, it can help you to stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life—giving you extra strength to defend yourself, for example, or spurring you to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident. Stress can also help you rise to meet challenges. Stress is what keeps you on your toes during a presentation at work, sharpens your concentration when you’re attempting the game-winning free throw, or drives you to study for an exam when you'd rather be watching TV. But beyond your comfort zone, stress stops being helpful and can start causing major damage to your mind and body.

Common causes of stress

• Major life changes
• Work or school
• Relationship difficulties
• Financial problems
• Being too busy
• Children and family
• Common internal causes of stress
• Chronic worry
• Pessimism
• Negative self-talk
• Unrealistic expectations/Perfectionism
• Rigid thinking, lack of flexibility
• All-or-nothing attitude

    Chronic stress 

   Stress is termed "chronic" if one repeatedly experiences the "fight or flight" response  in his daily life which could lead to serious health problems. Chronic Stress can affect almost every system in your body. It can shut down your immune system, upset your digestive and reproductive systems, raise blood pressure, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, speed up the aging process and even leave you vulnerable to various mental and physical health problems.

 Some diseases caused or aggravated by stress

• Depression and anxiety 
• Weightproblems 
• Skin conditions Eg eczema 
• Heart disease 
• Pain of Amy kind
• Memory problems
• sleep problems 
• Auto immune disease, etc. 

Dealing with stress

Here are some healthy helpful ways of dealing with stress and they include ;
Physical Activities

•  Exercise regularly. Targeted exercise goes a long way toward freeing your body of stress hormones and increasing your endorphin levels - responsible for feelings of happiness. Carve out time during your busy day to exercise to both keep your body healthy and as a natural outlet for your stress. You should notice the difference.
• Get enough sleep. Give your body the sleep it wants, and your stress levels will take a nosedive. Sleep is a mechanism by which your body recuperates and restores its energy reserves. If you're not getting enoughsleep, your body will use stress to keep you active and alert in the absence of stored energy.
• Eat properly. Your body needs to be healthy, strong, happy and properly fueled to help you tackle stress. Like it or not, stress is a bodily reaction to anything that disturbs its natural state, meaning that your body can have a profound effect producing and relieving stress.
• Learn to relax. Relaxing your body, by whatever natural means, is a great way to reduce stress. Don't expect your stress to immediately dissipate; it can take time. In most cases, try not to fixate on the stress itself while you're relaxing. Think of something placid and tranquil, or think of nothing in particular. Let your body tell your mind that everything is okay.
• Practice yoga and meditation. Although you could technically consider yoga your daily exercise, practicing the deep stretches and slow body movements will help you to clear your mind. Meditating - clearing your mind - while practicing gentle yoga will give the relaxation effect to ease your stress.

Mental Activities

• Avoid negative thinking. Acknowledge the positive in your life and begin to re-establish some balance in your emotional register. Avoid focusing on only the bad things that happened during your day, but consider the good as well.
• Organize your life. Set goals for what you need to achieve during the day, then write a "to do list" . Add some breathing room in the middle of the day that will give you time to recharge. Taking control of your time and priorities will significantly decrease the amount of stress you feel.
• Identify the things that put you under stress. Make sure you understand why you become stressed so that you can try to avoid these circumstances. Knowledge is powerful, and self-knowledge is especially powerful.
• Stop worrying about the things you cannot change. This especially comes with things such as politics, and often applies to otherindividuals. Learning to accept things as they are is an important coping mechanism, but not as easy as it sounds.
• Take responsibility for making your life what you want it to be. It is less stressful to make decisions and take action than to feel powerless and react to others' decisions. Decide what you want and go for it!
• Develop a sense of humor. One of the barriers to stress reduction is the temptation to take things too seriously. It's okay to back offf rom your intensity and see the humour in life's situations. Laugh a little or better yet, laugh a lot! See the humour in stress.
• Learn to lean on friends and loved ones. This is one of the most important things, as keeping things bottled up can only cause more stress. Your friends, if they are true friends, will try to understand what you're going through, and will accompany that empathy with a sincere desire to help out if at all possible.
•  Have more positive self talk. Nothing else helps intensify stress more than negative thoughts. When you start to having the feeling of defeat is the perfect time for a little reminder.

See also;
People who go to church live longer




     This is based on research done by myinfospring on net, I do hope you learnt a thing or two. Feel free to drop your comments below.