Stress

Certain amounts of stress are necessary to life and can be considered healthy.  This positive, or eustress, plays an important part in motivation, performance and reacting to challenges.  However too much stress, or stress concerning the seemingly insurmountable can be harmful, especially when the stress is long lasting (or chronic).

Stress is also a personal thing.  What one person seems to shrug off easily may cause somebody else great difficulty.  Stress is especially pronounced when we perceive that we lack the resources, the skill, the time or the autonomy to cope the obstacles placed in our way by life.  This is why low paid jobs which are highly monitored or have immoveable work patterns can be at last as stressful as the pressures felt by senior managers as they juggle work family and social commitments. 

So it is important to see eustress (positive stress) and distress (negative stress) as very different things.  Hans Selye (1907 – 1982) also suggested that people may also be over-stressed or under-stressed .  Clearly a balance of the two is desirable with as much eustress added to the mix as possible.   .

Coping

People can be helped to cope with too much stress.  Good coping is judged by how well somebody can handle anxiety and negative feelings  caused by a stressful situation.  There are different easy in which this can be done, here are just three that may be helpful.

Affiliation:  Developing a social network is a superb way of dealing with issues of stress.   Simply being in the company of other people can reduce the impact of stressors even without sharing the nature of the stressor concerned.  Discussion with friends or impartial experts can also help stressed people find a different perspective.

 Humour:  Finding an element of laughter in stressful circumstances can help to control symptoms.  Remembering how the laughter came about can also shield aginst the stressor in the future.

Sublimation:  Steer the stress away into a socially acceptable outlet.  Exercise is just one way of reducing the impact thta stress can have on our minds and bodies.   

What happens during times of stress?

The body looks to be in what Sleye called homeostasis, or a state of equilibrium.  However, when alarmed by a stressor (a stressor is something that causes stress) the body begins to build up resistance beyond normal levels.  The body’s sympathetic nervous system releasing adrenal hormones that boost energy, tense muscles, reduce sensitivity to pain, shut down the digestion and cause a rise in blood pressure. In the short term this causes no problems at all, but stress over a prolonged period can make the body much more vulnerable to more stress and other diseases.

However research seems to suggest that it is the perception of stress, quite as much as the stress itself that is harmful.  Chronic stress may even lead to permanent changes in physiological, emotional, and behavioual responses which can continue long after the original stressor has ceased. 

There is also evidence that people who do not believe that stress will affect them remain healthier for longer than people who succumb to stress more easily.  In short there are significant individual differences in vulnerability to stress; which seems likely to be due to both genetic and psychological factors. These factors can be ameliorated or exacerbated by the age at which chronic stress begins.  Chronic stress from a young age can have lifelong health impacts.

Health

Stress can make the individual more susceptible to physical illnesses like the common cold.  Stressful events, such as job changes, may result in insomnia, impaired sleeping, and health complaints. In time these effects can even lead to heart attacks and strokes.  Stress can lead directly to anxiety and depression, both of which deplete the body’s energy reserves.

However, it is possible to become hardy, which means being both chronically stressed and healthy, when factors such as social support and counselling can become crucial.

Stress scales

So how stressed are you?  The following scales may help.  Add up the number of life change units for events that occurred over the past year. A score of more than 300 means that you are likely to be at risk of illness, a score between 150 and 299 means that a risk of illness is moderate, one of under 150 reflects only has a slight risk of illness

Stress reduction device as covered by the BBC.  Well worth a click:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29742908