What is stress?
It is a phenomenon through which our body responds to an unwanted or harmful situation. It is also triggered when you feel threatened or under pressure. Moments of stress can make you nervous and frustrated. If the triggering situation or entity is persistent, this may lead to the development of chronic stress.
Stress is also helpful to protect you from a harmful situation. It helps you in protecting yourself in a fight-or-flight situation. Stress can become very debilitating when it continues without periods of relief.
What happens to our bodies during stress?
Our body has a system that controls our heart rate, breathing, sphincter tone, sweating, and vision control. This system is called the autonomic nervous system. During stress, this system is activated and we experience an increase in our heart rate, increased sweating, and difficulty in breathing.
What are the symptoms of stress?
- Loss of sleep, behavior change, and loss of temper.
- Chest pain and pounding heart.
- High blood pressure.
- Headache, dizziness, and exhaustion.
- Body aches and muscle spasms or pain.
- Loss of sex drive.
- Gut problems.
If not managed properly, what are the results of chronic stress?
Chronic stress can lead to emotional, psychological, social, and nervous breakdowns. In some cases, this may lead to the development of depression, anxiety, behavioral changes, loss of interest, and panic attacks.
Patients who are suffering from chronic stress find their way of relieving it by overspending money, gambling, drinking, showing compulsion in sexual activities, smoking, and using drugs.
What is the difference between stress and anxiety?
Stress is can caused by internal or external triggers.
Anxiety is a response to a threat or doubt about something that is causing you stress.
Stress is usually proportional to the trigger.
Anxiety couples up the external trigger, sometimes making it very difficult to cope. Anxiety takes a trigger and turns it into a bigger problem.
Do I have a stress problem? How to diagnose?
Stress is a subjective feeling. It can't be measured by any device or laboratory test. A patient can inform the clinician about the intensity of his stress.
Your local healthcare provider may come up with a questionnaire method to scale your stress level. It is always advised to contact your local health provider for further assessment.
How to prevent stress?
A person can't completely avoid stress but the level of stress can be reduced by practicing some daily goals.
Always think about accomplishments at the end of the day.
Exercise daily even when you feel stressed.
Say NO to a person or a situation that makes you under pressure or stressed.
Set some goals for your day, week, or month and take control of your life.
Try relaxing exercises such as yoga, meditation, and tai chi. Also, practice muscle relaxing exercises and breathing exercises. always stay positive and be supportive of your family members and colleagues. It is a scientific fact that you can't control everything so learn to let go when circumstances are out of your control.
When to see a doctor?
It is very common to feel a little stressed. Chronic stress can be debilitating. Try to cope with stress by practicing daily strategies.
