written by volunteer contributor Azadeh Vafaee on 28th February, 2014
What is stress? What effects does it have? How can one control it?
Stress is defined as a response by our body to a difficult situation, such as:
- traffic
- difficult job
- exams
- divorce
It is not limited to any particular age, and it includes all generations, even kids. It is not just a simple change in mood, but rather is a body reaction that can cause a fatal illness.
Dealing with stress consists of many approaches: firstly, to look at the elements that cause stress; secondly, to look at its effects on the body; and finally to look at ways to control it. Its most significant impact is in our body but it also affects our spiritual happiness and our emotional happiness. Many people are aware of how obvious tense muscles, headache or stomach-ache are during, before or after a stressful situation.
Whenever you feel stressed, your body is primed with hormones which have powerful mood altering abilities, thus it is likely that you are not a very happy person when suffering from stress. Imagine that you are living with a partner who is not very kind or loving towards you. He or she starts an argument which leads to a very heated debate or even physical abuse, so your body pumps in adrenaline to prepare you for response. There is an immediate and powerful mood change. You do not start smiling or laughing in this circumstance. In contrast, your body is primed for defense, getting ready to react by reaching with the fight emotion of fear, anger or nervousness. If this situation happens often, the stress of this would create a serious problem for you. Especially if it is expected that the same thing will occur again and again. Then, you are living all moments of your life with stress! This produces a lot of very unhappy nervous, fearful, depressed and angry people.
Also, this body response speeds up the body’s metabolism and quickly burns up precious reserves of nutrients and energy. The process of vitamin and protein absorption would be disturbed. So, if it continues less resource are available for you to deal with life and the body starts to degenerate, compounding the situation and making you feel even worse. Also, stress can affect us in other ways. For example, people with stress are constantly worrying and are tired, but cannot sleep or eat. They experience frequent chest pains and for some their hair starts to fall out. These symptoms are considered to be due to chronic stress.
Furthermore, the person who is being affected by stress cannot manage and control his/her behavior. For example, if he or she has a family, they cannot pay attention to their children due to always feeling tired, or if they have decided they should not ever have become a parent they might be feeling bored. So, what will happen for those children in this environment? They would likely grow up to become isolated individuals without self-assurance.
There are many different ways to manage stress. It is best to eliminate as many stressors as you can and find ways to better handle the stressors that are left. The following are some simple things everyone should try to do:
1) Find time to exercise at least three times a week: thirty minutes each day. It could be as simple as just walking. Exercise is not only beneficial for weight control, but also for decreasing stress hormones.
2) Eat healthy meals: mainly fruit and vegetables, while minimising salt, sugar, junk food, fried and greasy food. Sugar, caffeine, alcohol, drugs and tobacco are what many people turn to when stressed because these make them feel better for a short time. In truth, these escapes make stress worse and create mood swings. Additionally, alcohol, tobacco and other drugs can hurt your organs, make you violent and cause cancer. Instead of these, you can prepare some healthy sandwiches and spend lunch-time outside with your family or friends and just relax.
3) Get a good night’s sleep. For example, you can find some books or journals which you are interested in and try to read parts of them before sleep. Also, go to the bed at same time each night.
4) Avoid places and individuals that cause you stress, even if this place is your home or this person is your partner!
5) Do something for someone else, even a small thing. Sometimes just being with others can make you feel better.
Because stress reduces your motivation and you cannot be creative on your own, you might want to talk to a professional that may be able to offer some assistance and suggestions. The stressed person cannot make wise decisions or even in the easiest decisions makes the wrong choice. The more you repeat a bad choice, the more stress is produced.
People can begin to tell if they have a low stress tolerance and it is suggested that those with this condition should get help early, otherwise they may have long-term problems that will cause a stress-related illness.
Stress exists in every one and every day you will have at least one stressful moment. It is important that not all stress is bad but, when it becomes excessive, it is time to make some choices. We need to learn to deal with stress positively. Negative choices could leave us with even bigger problems.
The restoration to health of only one stressed person would change the future and fate of a generation of individuals who live with or who are born from that one person.
♡~♥~♡
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♥ Thank you Azadeh Vafaee for making this valuable contribution to our site.
