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What is stress?
For many people stress means worry. If they are worried about something (whether it be taking an exam or organising a wedding) they say they feel stressed. But often stress is not just a feeling. It can be physical too. Symptoms of stress vary from the psychological, in the form of anxiety and depression, to the physical, in the form of headaches, insomnia, bowel problems and impotence. In its severest forms stress can lead to hypertension, heart attacks and mental breakdown. Nowadays it is also being blamed for causing cancer.
Why do we get it?
There are four main reasons why people get stressed. One is purely physical – changes in our bodies through adolescence, the aging process, being ill, etc. can cause people to feel stressed. Another cause of stress can be our reaction to our environment. A particularly noisy or polluted environment, for example, can lead to stress. Other causes of stress can be found in the demands people make of us. For example, being required to meet deadlines, give presentations or organise an important family get-together can put a lot of strain on some people. Also in this category we find challenges such as financial difficulties, marital problems and the loss of a close friend or relative, all of which can cause immense stress.
Another reason why people get stressed is that their thought patterns enable stress to take hold. What some people may regard as a challenge others may perceive as a serious problem. Hence they will feel stressed about it, their brains triggering a stress response in their bodies which will produce stress symptoms.
It seems that the main thing which triggers stress is change. Any changes in our lives (be they bad or good) can cause a person to feel stressed and lead to related physical symptoms.
What are the effects of stress?
Stress, apparently, has a major impact on society. It has been estimated that over 30 million working days are lost every year through stress. And that is just in the UK! However the problem is not confined to the UK. In fact the number of working days lost through stress-related problems is so great that the World Health Organisation has dubbed stress ‘a global epidemic’. The WHO may well be right: according to some statistics more than 75% of patients in doctors’ surgeries are there because of stress-related problems or illnesses. Work seems to be a major cause of stress: it is often said that most heart attacks happen on Monday mornings when people get to work.
So what’s the cure?
The symptoms of stress are so varied that there isn’t just one way of curing it. Surgeons cannot simply x-ray a patient suffering from stress, locate the source of the complaint and then operate to remove it! Doctors’ responses range from doling out anti-depressants and other medicines to recommending meditation and yoga. If anyone ever develops a pill to cure stress they will no doubt make a lot of money!
When you find yourself feeling the bad effects of stress, you need to take action immediately. The sooner you begin the process of treatment, the easier it will be and the quicker you will be back to your normal state.
The first step in the process is to try to identify the cause of the stress. Sometimes this is a known source such as a deadline at work, a pile of unpaid bills, or a relationship that is not working out. It can at times be more difficult to find the source of your problem.
Often, many relatively mild stressors occurring at once can bring on the same stress as a larger problem or known source of anxiety or worry.
Some people experience stress from events that occurred in the past .
If you can identify the source of your stress, remove yourself from it or address the situation. That may be all that is needed to resolve the situation and your anxiety. Even if you are only able to get away for a few seconds or minutes, the break is important and can help you on the way to a more permanent solution.
This break can be accomplished by physically removing yourself from the provoking situation (such as an argument) or mentally removing yourself from the stressor (such as financial worries) through a mental distraction, often called a time-out.
The point of these actions is to allow you a moment to relax and formulate a plan for dealing with the problem at hand. Just having a plan can be a great stress reliever. It gives you a set of positive steps that you can work on to get yourself back to your baseline and out of the stressful situation.
These steps should be broken down into tasks you can accomplish easily. Working toward a goal is rewarding. It prevents the hopelessness and lost feeling that can accompany stress and make it worse.
If you are unable to determine the source of your stress, you need to seek outside help. Sometimes discussing your situation with family, friends, or a spiritual adviser can be helpful. If these routes are not successful, you should make an appointment with your doctor or a mental health counselor to help determine the source of the stress and rule out any potentially reversible medical causes of your stress.
Hope it helps, cause sometimes we hardly find a way to release our stress 
For many people stress means worry. If they are worried about something (whether it be taking an exam or organising a wedding) they say they feel stressed. But often stress is not just a feeling. It can be physical too. Symptoms of stress vary from the psychological, in the form of anxiety and depression, to the physical, in the form of headaches, insomnia, bowel problems and impotence. In its severest forms stress can lead to hypertension, heart attacks and mental breakdown. Nowadays it is also being blamed for causing cancer.
Why do we get it?
There are four main reasons why people get stressed. One is purely physical – changes in our bodies through adolescence, the aging process, being ill, etc. can cause people to feel stressed. Another cause of stress can be our reaction to our environment. A particularly noisy or polluted environment, for example, can lead to stress. Other causes of stress can be found in the demands people make of us. For example, being required to meet deadlines, give presentations or organise an important family get-together can put a lot of strain on some people. Also in this category we find challenges such as financial difficulties, marital problems and the loss of a close friend or relative, all of which can cause immense stress.
Another reason why people get stressed is that their thought patterns enable stress to take hold. What some people may regard as a challenge others may perceive as a serious problem. Hence they will feel stressed about it, their brains triggering a stress response in their bodies which will produce stress symptoms.
It seems that the main thing which triggers stress is change. Any changes in our lives (be they bad or good) can cause a person to feel stressed and lead to related physical symptoms.
What are the effects of stress?
Stress, apparently, has a major impact on society. It has been estimated that over 30 million working days are lost every year through stress. And that is just in the UK! However the problem is not confined to the UK. In fact the number of working days lost through stress-related problems is so great that the World Health Organisation has dubbed stress ‘a global epidemic’. The WHO may well be right: according to some statistics more than 75% of patients in doctors’ surgeries are there because of stress-related problems or illnesses. Work seems to be a major cause of stress: it is often said that most heart attacks happen on Monday mornings when people get to work.
So what’s the cure?
The symptoms of stress are so varied that there isn’t just one way of curing it. Surgeons cannot simply x-ray a patient suffering from stress, locate the source of the complaint and then operate to remove it! Doctors’ responses range from doling out anti-depressants and other medicines to recommending meditation and yoga. If anyone ever develops a pill to cure stress they will no doubt make a lot of money!
When you find yourself feeling the bad effects of stress, you need to take action immediately. The sooner you begin the process of treatment, the easier it will be and the quicker you will be back to your normal state.
The first step in the process is to try to identify the cause of the stress. Sometimes this is a known source such as a deadline at work, a pile of unpaid bills, or a relationship that is not working out. It can at times be more difficult to find the source of your problem.
Often, many relatively mild stressors occurring at once can bring on the same stress as a larger problem or known source of anxiety or worry.
Some people experience stress from events that occurred in the past .
If you can identify the source of your stress, remove yourself from it or address the situation. That may be all that is needed to resolve the situation and your anxiety. Even if you are only able to get away for a few seconds or minutes, the break is important and can help you on the way to a more permanent solution.
This break can be accomplished by physically removing yourself from the provoking situation (such as an argument) or mentally removing yourself from the stressor (such as financial worries) through a mental distraction, often called a time-out.
The point of these actions is to allow you a moment to relax and formulate a plan for dealing with the problem at hand. Just having a plan can be a great stress reliever. It gives you a set of positive steps that you can work on to get yourself back to your baseline and out of the stressful situation.
These steps should be broken down into tasks you can accomplish easily. Working toward a goal is rewarding. It prevents the hopelessness and lost feeling that can accompany stress and make it worse.
If you are unable to determine the source of your stress, you need to seek outside help. Sometimes discussing your situation with family, friends, or a spiritual adviser can be helpful. If these routes are not successful, you should make an appointment with your doctor or a mental health counselor to help determine the source of the stress and rule out any potentially reversible medical causes of your stress.
Hope it helps, cause sometimes we hardly find a way to release our stress