Stress
The modern lifestyle can be quite stressful, despite all the technological conveniences at our disposal now. Sometimes, I feel it is stressful because of these so called conveniences. I have often thought of things that are stressful in our lives and in the past few years, I have been educating myself on stress. In fact identifying my stressors and managing my stress has become a bit of a focus area in recent years. Since emotional intelligence and well being is a favourite topic of mine, I thought I should write another entry related to it.
Have you ever been in a situation where you felt simply overwhelmed by all that was going on around you and all that you had to complete or achieve? How about that uneasy feeling back in school or university when you had your examinations the next week and you realised you simply were not adequately prepared? Or how about that feeling when you had to make a presentation in front of senior management? That feeling is called stress.
The Australian Psychological Society (2012) defines stress as ‘a feeling of being overloaded, wound-up tight, tense and worried’. Stress is our body’s way of responding when faced with challenging or threatening situations. Stress triggers our fight or flight mechanism. We can either fight the situation in a bid to resolve it or run away from it. This mechanism developed during earlier phase of human evolution when humans were surrounded by dangerous situations and animals and the onset of stress would serve a very important function in preparing the human body for the fight or flight response by boosting energy levels, diverting blood to certain muscles, heightening our senses, shutting down unnecessary body functions etc.
Due to stress, the early humans would take the necessary action and either resolve the situation or get away from the stressor (thing that causes stress) to a safe location and the body functions would return to normal. This fight or flight stimulus was very handy in dealing with certain situations and ensured the survival of mankind. Nowadays while humans are not dealing with dangerous animals on an everyday basis (at least most of us), nevertheless the demands placed by modern workplaces do cause the same kind of stress as that faced by the earliest humans but the fight or flight response may not work as originally intended. For instance, in the modern workplace the fight response caused by stress may cause us to focus on getting the task done or it may also cause us into getting into an aggressive stance with a co-worker which may negatively impact upon our relationships in the workplace. Similarly, the flight response may push us into moving away from the stressor but in the modern workplace the stressor may not go away, unlike the stressor for early men, and in fact may even escalate. Stress has been found to have been a major contributor to a number of workplace issues such as absenteeism, poor performance and workplace conflict.
While stress can be useful in certain situation by providing you with the necessary impetus or motivation to get into action mode in order to finish a task, stress that lasts a long time or which overwhelms us over a prolonged period of time can be very harmful. It can cause physical harm to us as our body reacts to prolonged stress by continuously secreting hormones that are not meant to be secreted over a lengthy period of time. The human body is not designed to withstand stress over a long period. The secretion of these hormones over a long period causes our body to change the way it works resulting in development of physical issues related to heart and blood vessels and accelerating the ageing process. It can also affect an individual in psychological way by causing depression, anxiety, irritability, aggressiveness etc. all of which can affect their social and professional life.
Different types of Stress
There are different types of stress. The Australian Psychological Society has classified them as:
Acute stress – This is the short-lived kind of stress that results from specific situations involving unpredictability. It is sometimes also called the good stress as this type of stress can be beneficial and may provide us the required motivation to deal with the stressor. Think about the stress before the university exam or the presentation to the CEO. Another example could be of the stress we feel before taking on a challenge such as sky diving. The stress induced in those situations will give an individual the capacity and the focus to take appropriate measures to resolve the situation by doing adequate amount of study, creating an appropriate presentation and summoning up required courage respectively. And as the case with sky diving shows us it may even be a bit thrilling. The body will deal with this type of stress and then get back to its normal functioning. This is the kind of stress the human body has evolved to cope with and does not result in any lasting damage to our body. Common symptoms of acute stress are distress, muscular problems, stomach and gut problems and headaches and dizziness.
Episodic acute stress – This stress occurs when an acute stress situation is faced by an individual over and over again. This type of stress can often occur during a series of stress events. An example being studying for examinations and also being asked to take over additional shifts at work as well as being forced to move all at the same time. This type of tress can get worsened by worrying about things. According to the American Psychology Association (2017) it is common for people with episodic acute stress reactions to be over aroused, short-tempered, irritable, anxious and tense. American Psychology Association (2017) further adds that this causes people to always be in a hurry, to be abrupt, and sometimes their irritability comes across as hostility which causes interpersonal relationships to deteriorate rapidly when others respond with real hostility and the workplace becomes a very stressful place for them. Type A personalities are described to be particularly susceptible to this kind of stress due to their innate personality traits of competitiveness, impatience, demanding and generally being short of time. Common symptoms of episodic acute stress are persistent headaches, hypertension, heart disease, migraines etc.
Chronic stress – Chronic stress is in some regards the exact opposite of acute stress. Chronic stress is the long term, non-thrilling that grinds people down. According to the Australian Psychological Society (2012) chronic stress involves ongoing demands, pressures and worries that seem to go on forever, with little hope of letting up which is very harmful to people’s health and happiness. It is different than episodic stress in the sense that while in episodic stress individuals face the same stressful situation again and again, there is some sort of a break and the individual can get away from the stressor for an amount of time or it ceases to be on the mind of the person whereas in chronic stress the stressor remains there day and night. Think about being in a poor relationship with your partner with daily arguments and fights or about being a in a toxic workplace where petty politics rules the day and your manager is always there to give you grief. Those are examples of chronic stress.
The American Psychology Association (2017) quoting studies by Miller and Smith says chronic stress comes when a person never sees a way out of a miserable situation and is the stress of unrelenting demands and pressures for seemingly interminable periods of time and with no hope, the individual gives up searching for solutions. Our body is not designed to handle chronic stress. Chronic stress can cause our body to react and work in ways that are not natural and can and often leads to health problems. Another worrying bit about chronic stress is that people stop noticing it and accept it as a part of their lives and stop taking any measures to stop or reduce it which further compounds the problem of chronic stress. Symptoms of chronic stress are irritability, frequent urination, difficulty in breathing, problems with concentrating, difficulty in sleeping, frequent fatigue feeling etc.
Have you ever been in a situation where you felt simply overwhelmed by all that was going on around you and all that you had to complete or achieve? How about that uneasy feeling back in school or university when you had your examinations the next week and you realised you simply were not adequately prepared? Or how about that feeling when you had to make a presentation in front of senior management? That feeling is called stress.
The Australian Psychological Society (2012) defines stress as ‘a feeling of being overloaded, wound-up tight, tense and worried’. Stress is our body’s way of responding when faced with challenging or threatening situations. Stress triggers our fight or flight mechanism. We can either fight the situation in a bid to resolve it or run away from it. This mechanism developed during earlier phase of human evolution when humans were surrounded by dangerous situations and animals and the onset of stress would serve a very important function in preparing the human body for the fight or flight response by boosting energy levels, diverting blood to certain muscles, heightening our senses, shutting down unnecessary body functions etc.
Due to stress, the early humans would take the necessary action and either resolve the situation or get away from the stressor (thing that causes stress) to a safe location and the body functions would return to normal. This fight or flight stimulus was very handy in dealing with certain situations and ensured the survival of mankind. Nowadays while humans are not dealing with dangerous animals on an everyday basis (at least most of us), nevertheless the demands placed by modern workplaces do cause the same kind of stress as that faced by the earliest humans but the fight or flight response may not work as originally intended. For instance, in the modern workplace the fight response caused by stress may cause us to focus on getting the task done or it may also cause us into getting into an aggressive stance with a co-worker which may negatively impact upon our relationships in the workplace. Similarly, the flight response may push us into moving away from the stressor but in the modern workplace the stressor may not go away, unlike the stressor for early men, and in fact may even escalate. Stress has been found to have been a major contributor to a number of workplace issues such as absenteeism, poor performance and workplace conflict.
While stress can be useful in certain situation by providing you with the necessary impetus or motivation to get into action mode in order to finish a task, stress that lasts a long time or which overwhelms us over a prolonged period of time can be very harmful. It can cause physical harm to us as our body reacts to prolonged stress by continuously secreting hormones that are not meant to be secreted over a lengthy period of time. The human body is not designed to withstand stress over a long period. The secretion of these hormones over a long period causes our body to change the way it works resulting in development of physical issues related to heart and blood vessels and accelerating the ageing process. It can also affect an individual in psychological way by causing depression, anxiety, irritability, aggressiveness etc. all of which can affect their social and professional life.
Different types of Stress
There are different types of stress. The Australian Psychological Society has classified them as:
Acute stress – This is the short-lived kind of stress that results from specific situations involving unpredictability. It is sometimes also called the good stress as this type of stress can be beneficial and may provide us the required motivation to deal with the stressor. Think about the stress before the university exam or the presentation to the CEO. Another example could be of the stress we feel before taking on a challenge such as sky diving. The stress induced in those situations will give an individual the capacity and the focus to take appropriate measures to resolve the situation by doing adequate amount of study, creating an appropriate presentation and summoning up required courage respectively. And as the case with sky diving shows us it may even be a bit thrilling. The body will deal with this type of stress and then get back to its normal functioning. This is the kind of stress the human body has evolved to cope with and does not result in any lasting damage to our body. Common symptoms of acute stress are distress, muscular problems, stomach and gut problems and headaches and dizziness.
Episodic acute stress – This stress occurs when an acute stress situation is faced by an individual over and over again. This type of stress can often occur during a series of stress events. An example being studying for examinations and also being asked to take over additional shifts at work as well as being forced to move all at the same time. This type of tress can get worsened by worrying about things. According to the American Psychology Association (2017) it is common for people with episodic acute stress reactions to be over aroused, short-tempered, irritable, anxious and tense. American Psychology Association (2017) further adds that this causes people to always be in a hurry, to be abrupt, and sometimes their irritability comes across as hostility which causes interpersonal relationships to deteriorate rapidly when others respond with real hostility and the workplace becomes a very stressful place for them. Type A personalities are described to be particularly susceptible to this kind of stress due to their innate personality traits of competitiveness, impatience, demanding and generally being short of time. Common symptoms of episodic acute stress are persistent headaches, hypertension, heart disease, migraines etc.
Chronic stress – Chronic stress is in some regards the exact opposite of acute stress. Chronic stress is the long term, non-thrilling that grinds people down. According to the Australian Psychological Society (2012) chronic stress involves ongoing demands, pressures and worries that seem to go on forever, with little hope of letting up which is very harmful to people’s health and happiness. It is different than episodic stress in the sense that while in episodic stress individuals face the same stressful situation again and again, there is some sort of a break and the individual can get away from the stressor for an amount of time or it ceases to be on the mind of the person whereas in chronic stress the stressor remains there day and night. Think about being in a poor relationship with your partner with daily arguments and fights or about being a in a toxic workplace where petty politics rules the day and your manager is always there to give you grief. Those are examples of chronic stress.
The American Psychology Association (2017) quoting studies by Miller and Smith says chronic stress comes when a person never sees a way out of a miserable situation and is the stress of unrelenting demands and pressures for seemingly interminable periods of time and with no hope, the individual gives up searching for solutions. Our body is not designed to handle chronic stress. Chronic stress can cause our body to react and work in ways that are not natural and can and often leads to health problems. Another worrying bit about chronic stress is that people stop noticing it and accept it as a part of their lives and stop taking any measures to stop or reduce it which further compounds the problem of chronic stress. Symptoms of chronic stress are irritability, frequent urination, difficulty in breathing, problems with concentrating, difficulty in sleeping, frequent fatigue feeling etc.
I thought I will be able to talk both about stress and stressors but clearly this is a very long blog post as is, so, I think I will just follow up this blog post with another on Stressors. Keep tuned.
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