Today is National Stress Awareness Day.
Everyone has experienced stress in their lives. It is a fact of life, an every day occurrence, a normal and healthy part of life.
For some it is an unpleasant passing experience. For others it can persist, seriously impacting their daily life causing anxiety and/or depression.
What is stress?
Stress is the body’s response to a trigger – an event which causes a reaction. The trigger could be meeting someone new, a report due at work, giving a presentation, having an argument etc.
The body responds to stress with a mental, physical and emotional reaction. This is also known as the fight or flight response. The brain releases adrenaline causing a number of symptoms: racing thoughts, increased heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating, nausea, lightheadedness, muscles tense and shaking.
Stress – the good
Although symptoms can feel unpleasant, the body’s stress response does have advantages.
Stress keeps us alert, motivated and safe in times of danger. Studies have even shown short term stress boosts the immune system.
If you have an approaching deadline you may be familiar with the physical symptoms of stress. You may also recognise it is those symptoms which motivated you to focus on getting the job done. If you look at the time and realise you’re going to miss the bus it’s the stress response which gets you moving (or running!).
Once you’ve met the deadline or caught the bus the body starts to relax, the threat has passed. You unwind mentally, physically and emotionally.
Stress – the bad
So when does stress go from being helpful to a hindrance?
In between stressors the body needs time to relax. Without that relief problems can develop.
When faced with continuous challenges with little time to step back the body starts to struggle. This can also occur if the time in between stressors isn’t quality relaxation time, allowing you to switch off and regroup.
When this happens your body finds it increasingly difficult to cope with stressors, pulling you further and further down. Your body becomes increasingly distressed, disrupting the internal equilibrium and causing a number of different side effects.
The physical symptoms can include: an upset stomach, acid reflux, headaches, dizziness, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, muscle tightness, fatigue, insomnia and sexual dysfunction.
Emotionally it can lead to worry, anxiety, panic attacks and depression.
Stress – the ugly
Studies have shown chronic stress significantly effects the immune system resulting in illness.
The solution – make stress your friend
Does that sound crazy? How can you possibly make something which can kill you your friend!
What is important to remember is the stress response isn’t harmful. Not taking time out in between stressors to let the body restore its equilibrium is harmful.
So how do you keep yourself healthy? It’s relatively easy!
- Exercise
- Relaxation breathing
- Meditation
- Spend time outside (go for a walk or gardening)
- Spend time enjoying a hobby
- Get support from your friends and family
- Speak to a therapist to learn about warning signs, how to manage your stress better or to offload
A few years ago Kelly McGonigal, a Stanford Psychologist, discussed the very interesting findings of new research about stress:
“Viewing stress as harmful leads people to cope in ways that are less helpful, whether it’s getting drunk to “release” stress, procrastinating to avoid stress, or imagining worst-case scenarios. One study found that simply having the goal to avoid stress increased the long-term risk of outcomes like depression, divorce and getting fired, by increasing people’s reliance on harmful coping strategies.
In contrast, viewing stress more positively seems to encourage people to cope in ways that help them thrive, whether it’s tackling the source of stress, seeking social support or finding meaning in it.
The three most protective beliefs about stress are: 1) to view your body’s stress response as helpful, not debilitating – for example, to view stress as energy you can use; 2) to view yourself as able to handle, and even learn and grow from, the stress in your life; and 3) to view stress as something that everyone deals with, and not something that proves how uniquely screwed up you or your life is.”
Click on the video below to listen to Kelly McGonigal discuss the research in more detail.
Written by Julia Donald at Cognitive Vitality Psychotherapy in Inverness.