Stress
What is stress?
Many people today feel that they are constantly battling stress and anxiety. Society’s obsession with productivity, the constant flow of digital information we consume, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, and a sense of overload can contribute to the stress that many feel. While we can all handle short-term stress, long-term or intense levels of stress can negatively impact our relationships and work performance. It can also lead to panic attacks and depression.
Stress is the body’s natural reaction to situations that require us to respond. During a state of stress, hormones and chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol are released in the body. This physical reaction is often referred to as the “fight or flight” response.
Short-term stress helps us deal with dangerous situations. This primary reaction helped our caveman ancestors quickly respond to potential threats. However, when stress is excessive or long-term, it can harm health and negatively affect life.
What are the signs of stress?
Common signs of stress include irritability, difficulty concentrating, changes in appetite, sleep disturbances, lack of motivation, problems with sexual life, mood swings, and social withdrawal. Physical changes can include aches, muscle tension, changes in appetite, headaches, digestive problems, and increased heart rate.
Given that stress is associated with 95% or all disease processes as a co-factor, learning how to manage stress effectively is the cornerstone of holistic alternative health and healing. This learning process begins with recognizing or identifying the four specific types of stress.
Stressors are generally divided into four types:
- Physical stress: Trauma (injury, infection, surgery), intense physical labor/overload, environmental pollution (pesticides, herbicides, toxins, heavy metals, insufficient light, radiation, noise, electromagnetic fields), illness (viral, bacterial, or fungal infection), fatigue, insufficient oxygen supply, low blood sugar, hormonal and/or biochemical imbalances, nutritional stress (nutrient deficiencies, food allergies and sensitivities, unhealthy eating habits), dehydration, substance abuse, dental problems, and musculoskeletal imbalances.
- Psychological stress: Emotional stress (resentment, fears, frustration, sadness, anger, grief), cognitive tensions (information overload, accelerated sense of time, worry, guilt, shame, jealousy, resistance, attachments, self-criticism), unachievable perfectionism, anxiety, panic attacks, loss of contact with oneself, altered sense of reality, excessive control over things.
- Psychosocial stress: Relationship/marital difficulties (partner, siblings, children, family, employer, colleagues), lack of social support, lack of resources for adequate coping, loss of job/investments/savings, loss of loved ones, bankruptcy, loss of home, isolation.
- Psychospiritual stress: Crisis of values, meaning, and purpose; joyless pursuit of productive, fulfilling, meaningful, and satisfying work; deviation from one’s core spiritual beliefs.
How does stress affect health?
Short bursts of stress are not inherently harmful, although it may take time for the body to calm down. However, prolonged or repeated stress responses can have detrimental physical and psychological consequences.
Generally, improperly or ineffectively managed stress affects the body. When stress-related feelings, moods, emotions are suppressed within the body, it is commonly referred to as psychosomatic or psychogenic illness (headaches, palpitations, physical/cognitive/emotional pain and suffering, tight throat and shallow breathing, sweaty palms, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, allergies, asthma, autoimmune syndromes related to inefficient immune system functioning, hypertension (high blood pressure), and gastrointestinal disorders such as diarrhea, stomach upset, duodenal ulcers, and esophageal reflux syndrome).
Prolonged stress can lead to weakened immune function, increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, immune system-related illnesses, and cancer. Emotional stress can also cause hormonal imbalances (adrenal glands, pituitary gland, thyroid, etc.), further disrupting the healthy functioning of the immune system.
Cognitive: anxious thoughts, fearful anticipation, poor concentration, memory difficulties.
Emotional: feelings of tension, irritability, restlessness, worries, inability to relax, depression.
Behavioral: task avoidance; sleep disturbances; difficulties in fulfilling work tasks; fidgeting; tremors; tense facial expression; clenching fists; crying; changes in drinking, eating, or smoking behaviors.
Physiological: stiff or tense muscles, teeth grinding, sweating, tension headaches, weakness, feeling of choking, difficulty swallowing, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, bowel looseness, constipation, frequent and urgent urination, loss of interest in sex, fatigue, trembling or shaking, weight loss or gain, awareness of heartbeat.
Social: some people tend to seek others for companionship during stressful times. Others withdraw. The quality of relationships can also change when a person is stressed.
Sources
psychologytoday.com/intl/basics/stress
mentalhelp.net/blogs/types-of-stress-and-their-symptoms/
