The Nature of Stress

Are You Stressed or Distressed? Your Body Knows . . . Do You?

Do you sometimes feel like the circus acrobat who has to keep the plates spinning in order to stay in balance with life's demands? Do you get body aches or muscle pains? Or maybe you’re catching colds or just feeling sick more often. If so, you may be suffering from stress. Perhaps it may be time to tune into what your body is saying.

Where Does Stress Begin?

Your mind identifies the stressor, whether it’s real or imagined, and initiates your body’s stress response. A stressor is simply the cause of stress, and can be anything from an argument with someone to a traffic jam.

When your brain signals the stress response, your adrenal gland secretes adrenaline, triggering a sudden increase in your heart rate. At one time or another, you may have felt the racing of your heart when you were excited or frightened. Your breathing also becomes shallower, and blood moves away from the skin to the muscles and brain. As a result, your hands and feet become cooler, and tension builds up in your muscles, particularly in the lower back, neck, shoulders, and head area.

To handle the increased demands of your body, your liver releases stored energy, and your spleen releases red blood cells into your bloodstream. These additional red blood cells carry oxygen and nourishment to other cells throughout the body. Your digestive system shuts down to divert the energy to your muscles. This stress response is known as your fight-or-flight response, preparing you to act in life-threatening emergencies.

Short-term stress can be desirable for enhancing performance in such activities as a sports competition, an important meeting and a dangerous situation. However, negative stress continuing over a long period can drain your body’s resources and weaken your immune system, making you more vulnerable to bacteria, viruses, and illnesses. Financial worries, relationship problems, continual deadlines, and other unrelenting pressures can lead to chronic stress.

Which Type of Stressors Do You Suffer From?

Are you constantly exposed to loud or frequent noise? Do you live or work in an area with too many people, too little space or pollution? Are you fighting crowds, heavy traffic or congestion? Or you may find yourself frequently irritated or annoyed at something or someone. We will go over three types of stressors that can initiate your body’s stress response.

Automatic Stressors

Your body reacts to exterior and/or environmental stressors, such as noise and overcrowding, so automatically that you probably aren’t even aware of their effects. You can, yes, you CAN do something to help yourself and your body feel better in spite of the people and environment surrounding you. You can reduce these stressors by modifying how you react to them.

Hidden Stressors

Are you often nervous? Do you have trouble concentrating or sleeping? Do you have low energy? Feeling stressed out for months but can't seem to pinpoint the cause? Perhaps your doctor hasn’t been able to identify the cause for your symptoms. You may have conflicting feelings that you have trouble expressing. The first step is awareness of what is bothering you. Next comes information about the source or cause of your concerns. If you can’t resolve your concerns or control your reactions, a trained counselor or your health care provider may be able to help guide and assist you in working through your conflict. Perhaps some self-help is all that’s needed.

Obvious Stressors

Do you experience stress near project deadlines? If you are a student, do you experience stress near the end of the semester with term papers due and final exams to study for? Do you blame the cause of your stress on work or school? The reasons for your stress are so obvious; they seem to require no explanation. In cases of obvious stressors, you may need to examine your behavior carefully and observe how it may contribute to your stress. With this awareness, you can modify your behavior or the circumstances to reduce your stress. Perhaps you may need to restructure your workload and responsibilities and distribute them more evenly so that they don't sneak up on you in the end. Reorganizing work area or prioritizing your work often can help you work more efficiently and minimize your stress around deadlines.

Remember, big changes often begin with small steps, followed by immediate rewards that come with each success along the way even if that reward is a reminder to yourself … "I did it! I’m on my way! …" Involving someone else to be your supporter and cheerleader makes it more real and increases success.