Stress is on the increase in these troubled times. Before dealing with stress, there has to be an understanding of how stress works.
Understanding Stress
Stress causes the body to react in a consistent way, regardless of the situation. If there was a burglar in the house in the middle of the night, the body would either prepare to fight off the intruder or to run away.
In both cases it would need extra adrenaline, noradrenalin and cortisol. The sympathetic autonomic nervous system helps the body deal with stressful situations by flooding the system with these stress hormones which create heightened awareness and increased energy. The digestion slows down and breathing is affected. Whether the choice is to fight off the intruder, or to run away, the body is fueled by the hormones.
After the danger has passed, the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system takes over, decreasing the heartbeat and relaxing blood vessels. The body begins to relax and return to normal. This is part of the evolutionary process for survival.
When there is an increase in pressure at work, people may develop that same physical stress response, although in this situation there is no use for this fight or flight sydrome. Worry about how to manage the extra work or tighter deadlines causes work stress to escalate. The worry becomes anxiety about how to cope. The stress response continues, inappropriately, in the body, with extra adrenaline and other stress hormones. If these hormones are flooding the body regularly as they do in chronic stress situations, they begin to cause damage to organs, bones, skin, muscles and brain cells.
Chronic Stress and the Immune System
Over a period of time, people who react more to psychological stressors have a higher risk of heart disease. This is also linked to people who tend to be highly competitive. Their stress might show itself in impatient or hostile behaviour and rapid speech patterns. Other long term problems of chronic stress include high blood pressure, susceptibility to infection, chronic muscle pain, skin problems such as psoriasis and eczema, and possibly diabetes. The effects of chronic stress on the immune system can be to over activate it, causing auto-immune illnesses such as arthritis and MS.
Psychologically, chronic stress can result in indecision and feelings of overwhelm, anxiety and a sense of being out of control. Eventually this could cause depression.
5 Top Tips for Dealing with Stress
- Exercise regularly to relax tense muscles and improve blood flow to the brain.
- Cut out caffeine and eat a balanced diet to get the right nutrients.
- Explore life coaching and techniques such as NLP.
- Meditation is an effective form of stress management and can be practiced at home.
- Yoga classes or Tai Chi actually reduce stress with the relaxation response.
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