Waking up in the morning every day with an enduring sense of pressure, anger or fatigue is not something you should ignore. It’s completely clear that we all have our busy hectic schedule, in which we are considerably engaged. Sometimes we don’t even realize how adversely our life is affecting us and our lives.
One of the major issues which many people don’t take notice of is STRESS. Yes, Stress has become common for people under deadlines of work and meeting demands and frustration. As most people understand the term, stress is a reaction to excessive pressure. This can be due to a life event, work, or just feeling a little out of control.
What is stress doing to you?
Stress not just affects you emotionally, but also disturbs you mentally and physically. Your behaviour towards other things can also be affected. You may feel emotionally overburdened, irritated, anxious, fearful, and lack self-esteem. You may feel trouble in maintaining focus and concentration to make decisions. You might experience constant compulsive thinking and anxiety. Stress can affect your physical well-being. You may experience headaches and dizziness. Although you may feel tired and heavy all the time, you may have trouble sleeping. Some people eat too much or too little when they are stressed.
A common symptom of stress is muscle tension or pain. Stress can lead to addictions such as smoking, using drugs, and drinking alcohol. Stress can also lead a disturbed person towards gambling, stress eating, decreased exercise, zero participation in social functions. Things can become worse and the person suffering from stress may experience more serious problems like anxiety, depression and other mental health problems, cardiovascular diseases and stroke.
It's true stress can cause serious problems!
Know What You are Facing
For most of the people it’s difficult to recognize that they are suffering from stress. Hans Selye, in 1936 defined stress as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”. We can say “the way we respond against any threat or demand”. When we are threatened by something, our nervous system responds by releasing large amounts of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol, which alerts our body to take urgent action. Our hearts beat faster, muscles contract, blood pressure increases, breathing faster, and our senses become more acute.
There are three types of stress a person maybe suffering from:
Acute Stress: Acute stress is what a person experiences when faced with a stressor. As soon as the stressor is removed or the person finally copes with the situation, the stress response is activated and the body returns to homeostasis.
Episodic acute: When you constantly experience acute stress, such as overuse at work or constant anxiety, it often presents signs and symptoms of stress that can negatively affect your physical and mental health.
Chronic: Chronic stress occurs when persistent or serious life stressors (such as bereavement, child abuse, health related problems, job security, family responsibility, and private concerns) are present.
HOW STRESS BECOMES YOUR ENEMY?
Stress can affect all of us and there are a number of factors that can trigger it. Some common causes which enhances stress is:
Threat: threat can cause a person to feel pressured and stressful. It can be physical, social, financial, etc.
Fear: Just like a threat, fear can also result in stress. Fear can also make a person draw illusions and outcomes that may or may not be reality.
Uncertainty: Uncertainty about something that we cannot predict about or control can frighten and intimidate us, which in turn can lead to stress.
CAN YOU CONQUER STRESS? THE ANSWER IS YES!
Here we have tried to find out a few activities that can help you cure stress. They’re not going to give you immediate relief, but everyday practice can definitely help you.
Meditation and Deep Breathing:
You can practice breathing anywhere, just remember to breathe from inside and take long breaths. If it suits you, you can also try meditation accompanying yoga. In particular, yoga can help you soothe the muscles of the body and especially your back, chest and neck, all of which are often affected by stress.
Exercise:
Pumping the blood increases the heart rate and lowers the blood pressure. Exercise also allows the brain to release natural endorphins, which helps you in reducing stress levels. It makes you feel better and the want to exercise increases. Exercising a little daily creates a positive impact on a person’s life.
Writing:
Journaling is proven to be an important way to reduce stress levels. It helps you to think about events of your life in a different sense. When you can clearly see what is going on in a given situation, you can easily figure out whether your response is correct or caused by stress.
Get enough rest:
When you get a good amount of sleep, your cortisol levels will balance out and you'll feel better and able to perform your daily basis tasks. If you can't sleep properly during the night, you should take a nap. Nap can fulfill the rest you need and will give relief.
Speak slowly:
If you are feeling a little hyper than usual during a stressful discussion or talk, just try to speak slowly rather than speaking fast. You will be able to think more clearly and respond in a better manner by speaking slowly. Practice this more often and you will find it easy to cope up in situations alike.
Happy time:
From the 24 hours of a day, you should make an effort to give at least one or two hours for your own. In this time do what brings you immense joy. You can do various activities you like. Remember, being happy is important.
Talk and Socialize:
Studies show that people who have balanced and happy social supporters such as friends, family, relatives, or even pets, suffer very less stress-related symptoms and they manage stress in a better manner. Your loved ones are also the greatest helper when it comes to boosting up stress.
No to Junkies:
Street food makes our mouths watery, right? But at the same time it upsets our whole digestive system and then new problems take birth. There are people who are stressed about their health so better keep yourself super healthy by eating well. Also there are multivitamins available which can be useful in chronic stress. DeStress, one of our products made from herbal extracts can be a helping hand for you to cure your stress.
Stress is not something you should fear about, instead fight it back by adapting a few methods. If your stress becomes severe you should seek a physician immediately.
BLOG BY: Megha Rani
