Our lives in this century and in this fast paced world is full of stress. Whatever may be your station in life, you can hardly avoid this load that saps your energy and joy. Exams, homework, arguments with friends or colleagues, being left out of your friend group, feeling harassed, going to the dentist or taking a new responsibility — all of this can make you feel stressed.
In this column, we will discuss stress and learn how to identify it. So let us begin by giving stress a definition. Stress is usually the response that your body comes up with when it feels that its balance has been upset. This actually is your body’s way of protecting you. When we perceive any kind of threat — say being ignored by friends — our nervous system releases some hormones into our blood stream. These hormones signal the body to take action. Your heart begins to pound faster, your breathing quickens, you feel your muscles tighten and your focus becomes sharper. Since it results in the earlier responses, you may think that stress should be good for us, right? Well, it is. But only in small quantities.
When you think you are overloaded with work or emotions and feel that you don’t have enough personal resources to deal with a situation, then stress begins to have a harmful impact on you. This is what we need to recognise and deal with.
A few important things to keep in mind before we go any further:
1. Stress is not an illness.
2. We are all susceptible to stress.
3. Everyone reacts to a situation differently. So no two people necessarily need to be stressed for the same reason.
4. Admitting that you are under stress is not a sign of weakness.
So what causes stress? Following are a few common causes. Some of them are internal factors and others, external.
1. Major life changes , such as moving from one town to another. Or addition of a new baby to the family.
2. Work or school
3. Financial problems.
4. Physical exhaustion
5. Being too busy to have fun or indulge in leisure activities.
6. Negative approach to situations.
7. Worrying too much about things beyond your control.
8. Unrealistic expectations from yourself and others.
We need to know how to recognise stress. Our bodies show warning signs when things get too stressful. Following are some such signs:
Cognitive symptoms:
1. Inability to concentrate
2. Anxious thoughts
3. Negative thoughts
4. Poor judgment
5. Constant worrying
Physical symptoms:
1. Body aches
2. Headaches
3. Wanting to binge on comfort food items like fried chips and chocolates
4. Diarrhoea or constipation
5. Nausea
6. Rapid heartbeat
7. Chest pain
Behavioural symptoms:
1. Change in appetite — eating more or less than usual
2. Change in sleep patterns — either sleeping too much or losing sleep
3. Habits showing a nervous state of mind like biting nails, licking lips or pacing.
4. Isolating yourself
5. Using cigarettes, alcohol or drugs to relax
Emotional symptoms:
1. Feeling constantly unhappy
2. Short temper
3. Angry outbursts for no apparent reason
4. Moodiness
5. Irritability
6. Sense of loneliness
Identifying your system’s own alarm is very important. I hope this article will help you do so. When you see your body giving you any of these signals, remember it is time to take some action.