All about STRESS
This information and discussion forum is brought to you by
Roger Macdivitt and Sheila Kennedy-Robinson
So.
What else do we know about stress?
The body is designed to deal with stress.
And knows how to react to it.
As we have mentioned before, stress CAN BE GOOD. It can keep us alert, ready for anything, ready to protect ourselves and others. However, when stress becomes prolonged or too strong it can change to DISTRESS.
So what are the symptoms of prolonged stress?
Headaches, upset stomach, chest pain, raised blood pressure, lack or disturbed sleep etc.
As well as the above there are many other things that can be associated with stress. These might be over indulgence in alcohol, drugs or cigarettes and rather than the intended use serving to reduce stress they can lead to new highs of stress levels.
Other symptoms of stress might manifest as skin problems, diabetes, heart problems, asthma, and even arthritis.
Mental illness cannot be ignored as a bi-product either. It can be instigated or worsened by stress and lead to long-term problems with far reaching symptoms.
The immune system is too not without suffering effects. If stress lowers the immune system’s efficiency we can expect many minor complaints to be far worse than average.
Chronic Stress disrupts nearly every system in the body.
So, how much is too much?
This can vary from person to person.
Some people do indeed thrive on SOME stress via challenges and excitement and extreme sports etc.
Your tolerance will be affected by:
Support from others
Your attitude to life.
How you deal with emotional things.
How much you understand the causes and likely timescales.
Confidence in yourself.
These tolerances are also indicators when it comes to finding a solution to our particular problem.
Stress is frequently caused by things and conditions around us. It might be generated by finances, work, relationships, workload or making too big a change etc.
Sometimes the cause is self generated by pessimism, negativity, expecting unreasonable outcomes or an ability to accept uncertainty.
People react differently to the same stresses.
Some step on the pedal of life, overheat, fail to sit still or slow down.
Some slam on the brake, space out, slow down, become paralized, tense, frozen, etc.
Some do both in combinations of above.
We can split the symptoms into groups which the professionals place in these categories:
Cognitive
This includes such things as memory loss, poor judgement, worry, seeing everything in a negative way etc.
Physical
These are manifested as aches and pains, colds, sickness and dizziness, diarrhoea and constipation and loss of sex drive etc.
Emotional
Being moody, short-tempered, lonely, agitated or just plain unhappy.
Behavioural
Eating too much, oversleeping, using cigarettes, alcohol or drugs to relax. Nail biting, leaving things undone or ignored.
CAN YOU ADD TO THESE LISTS?
Please contribute, you may help somebody.