What is Stress?
According to Webster’s dictionary, stress is “a factor that induces bodily or mental tension, or a state induced by such a stress.” The impact of a particular stress on an individual depends not only on the kind and intensity of the stress, but also of an individual’s response to it. What one person considers a major aggravation might be only a minor annoyance to someone else. We must also distinguish between stress and challenge. For most of us, the occasional moderate levels of pressure we feel to meet a reasonable deadline, deliver a speech, or perform well on a test are probably better characterized as challenges. These can energize us to do our best work and are unlikely to have harmful long-term effects. But many stresses that beleaguer us do not fall into these categories. Rather they are the stresses that wear us out and wear us down.
Fight or Flight
Stress begins when we perceive something as a threat to our safety or well-being. Once this happens, the body rapidly sets in motion a cascade of physiological events called the “fight-or-flight” response, designed by nature to protect us against physical danger such as an attacking adversary. The brain kicks off the response by sending out corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) from the hypothalamus. CRH prompts the pituitary gland to releases adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which, in turn, signals the adrenal glands to pump out additional hormones that include epinephrine and cortisol. These adrenal hormones cause the heart to beat faster, breathing to quicken, and blood pressure to rise. Blood carrying oxygen and nutrients is redirected to organs such as the brain and muscles that need more energy to function in the face of imminent danger. Less blood goes to the stomach and skin.
How does stress affect us?
Stress causes problems with the chemicals in your brain. When life is smooth, your brain is able to produce enough “Calming chemicals” such as serotonin, to keep up with normal levels of stress, demands and expectations. But when too much stress is placed on the brain, it begins to fall behind in its ability to cope. As the stress continues, some of the “calming chemicals” may begin to fail. Important nerve centres then become distressed. You enter a state of brain chemical imbalance known as Stress or Anxiety.
With stress overwhelming the brain, a person feels "overwhelmed" by life. People complain of feeling depressed, anxious, or just unable to cope with life. Fatigue will often be complained about particularly on slight exertion. Other symptoms can include loss of weight due to lack of appetite, others complain of indigestion and nausea, which are not related to food consumption. Some people after a meal feel bloated and experience flatulence and or heartburn.
Symptoms associated with the urinary system are a common sign with individuals speaking vaguely about a pain in the bladder or a need to pass water very often. Some individuals experience a pain near the apex beat of the heart and may have palpitations and slight constriction of the chest or they may have a severe pain in the lower part of the abdomen together with constipation and diarrhoea. These individuals are convinced they suffer from either a bad heart or a grumbling appendix.
Many younger clients complain of excessive blushing and become very self-conscious when in company, saying they blush or perspire in an exaggerated way.
Sufferers are often plagued with headaches making them visit the opticians significantly more often than they should to have their eyes tested just in case.
The fact is that stress or anxiety can produce a terrible set of very real symptoms in the individual who has the misfortune to be affected by either.
To sum up I would like to add that anything that causes change in your daily routine is stressful. Anything that causes change in your health is stressful. Imagined changes are just as stressful as real changes.
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Sandra
sandra@unfoldinglifestyles.com