Dr.Tony Fiore
Everyone experiences stress at some point in their lives. But what’s stressful to you may not be the same as what’s stressful to others. You might also have your own way of managing that stress.
Causes of stress
Maybe you’re late to an appointment because of traffic, or you’re a new parent who hasn’t gotten enough sleep for a while. Life is full of potential stressors, and your threshold for managing these triggers depends on many factors.
What may cause you stress is not necessarily what stresses someone else. We are all unique in our responses and in how we interpret events. While some people get excited by speaking in public, others may experience a panic attack in the same situation.
There are also a few important life events that tend to be more stressful for everyone.
A well-known tool used by health professionals to measure the amount of stress someone’s experiencing is the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory. According to this scale, the most stressful life events are:
death of a spouse
divorce
marital separation
incarceration
death of a close family member
major injury or illness
marriage
being fired from a job
marital reconciliation
retirement
drastic change in the health of a family member
pregnancy
Extreme life changes, such as a pandemic, for example, may also trigger intense stress reactions in many people.
For Example,
"After a stressful day as a computer programmer,
Jim pulled into his driveway.
The children’s toys were scattered on the walkway to the house.
He immediately began noticing slight tension in his muscles
and apprehension in his stomach.
Entering his house,
his wife ignored him while she talked with her sister on the telephone. His heart started beating a little faster.
Looking around, he noticed disarray;
nothing was picked up; the house was a mess.
Irritation and frustration started to settle in.
Finally,
as his feelings grew,
he exploded and began yelling at his wife and children."
Stress may trigger anger:
Stress is often the trigger that takes us from feeling peaceful to experiencing uncomfortable angry feelings in many common situations such as the one described above.
Stress is most easily defined as a series of bodily responses to demands made upon us called stressors.
These “demands” or stressors can be negative (such as coping with a driver who cuts in front of you on the freeway) or positive (such as keeping on a tour schedule while on vacation).
Stressors may be external to you (like work pressure) or internal (like expectations you have of yourself or feeling guilty about something you did or want to do).
Whether the stressor is external or internal, scientists have discovered that the major systems of the body work together to provide one of the human organism’s most powerful and sophisticated defenses; the stress response which you may know better as “fight-or-flight.”
While the fight-or-flight response happens automatically, that doesn't mean that it is always accurate. Sometimes we respond in this way even when there is no real threat.
This is because the fight-or-flight response can be triggered by both real and imaginary threats. Phobias are good examples of how the fight-or-flight response might be falsely triggered in the face of a perceived threat.
Constantly being in a state of fight-or-flight, such as when facing repeated stressors, can also be harmful to your health. Chronic stress can increase your risk of:
Chronic fatigue
Depression
Gastrointestinal issues
Headaches and migraines
Heart attack and stroke
High blood pressure and cholesterol levels
Metabolic disorders, such as diabetes and obesity
Poor immune function
Reproductive and sexual dysfunction
Worsened breathing problems, such as those related to asthma.
This response helps you to cope with stressors in your life. To do so, it activates and coordinates the brain, glands, hormones, immune system, heart, blood and lungs.
Avoid Jim’s destructive behavior toward his loved ones. Before your stress response turns into anger or aggression, use these strategies to get it under control:
Read your personal warning lights: Becoming aware of your stress response is the first step to managing it.
This means listening to your body, being aware of your negative emotions, and observing your own behavior when under stress.
For instance, notice muscle tension, pounding heart, raising voice, irritation, dry mouth, or erratic movements.
Pay attention to warning signs: So, how do you recognize stress? Warning signs of stress are like the flashing lights on the dashboard of your car, Brotherson explains. They are an indicator something might be wrong with your health, and you need to slow down and get it checked out. Stress typically manifests itself in these four areas of our health:
Physical: Tension in your body, headaches, muscle aches or digestive difficulty such as upset stomach or ulcers. Existing health conditions might become exacerbated or more challenging. Other signs include extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, sweating or shaking.
Emotional: Irritability, restlessness, feeling discouraged or hopeless, wanting to isolate yourself, having difficulty concentrating, or feelings of panic and anxiety.
Behavioral: Difficulty with sleep, inability to relax or destress, anger issues, trouble with decision making, increased use of self-medicating approaches such as alcohol or other drugs, overeating or not wanting to eat at all.
Relational: Communication difficulties, avoiding others or withdrawing, working long hours, avoiding interaction, or communicating with people.
What you see is what you get: For a potential stressor to affect us -stress us out - we have to first perceive it or experience it as a stressor.
Gaining a new perspective on the stressing situation can often drastically change the effect it has on us. Our stress response can indeed be a response (something we can control) instead of a knee-jerk reaction (which is automatic).
Examples:
Cut off on the freeway? “It is not personal. That guy has a problem. I will stay calm.” Bullied by a co-worker? “If I react, he wins. Later, I will privately let him know how I feel about what he did. If that doesn’t work, I’ll discuss it with our manager.”
Stress-Guard your life: You can also make many life-style changes to reduce or minimize feeling stressed-out, even if you can’t change some of your actual stressors.
For instance, manage your time better, establish priorities, protect yourself from toxic relationships, and find a way to manage your money better, or consider changing your job or occupation.
Other stress-guards include those you have probably heard before, but maybe need to do more frequently such as:
getting adequate rest,
eating a healthy diet,
avoiding excessive alcohol intake,
living in a way consistent with your core personal values,
developing social networks of friends and support.
Stress is most easily defined as a series of bodily responses to demands made upon us called stressors.
It’s important to recognize these stress responses and develop techniques to lessen the impact.
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