Managing Stress Now » Effects of Stress

Medical Risks Of Stress

ManagingStressNow — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:01:42 +0000

“Stress”, in itself is not a disease; it’s the reaction and interplay between demands and expectations, and our ability to cope with them. It is not too hard to e stressed out when the stakes are high and we often find ourselves having no control over the situation or how we react. But the only thing that is affected is ourselves and stress just becomes a vehicle, by acting as a coping mechanism that helps the body in dealing with the situation. While some of us might be biologically susceptible to being stressed easily, for others, there could be strong outside factors that may do the trick.
Time and again, researchers have pointed out that some individuals are more prone to the impact of stress than others. One of the first consequences in line are health related problems. Pregnant women, working or single moms, couples who have just separated, children being pushed against demands better performances at school, unemployed or financially strained or underinsured people are a few examples that may constitute this group.

Medical Impact of Chronic Stressors
Often work related stress tends to become chronic as it becomes an indispensable part of people’s life. In turn it leads to less productivity, efficiency, thereby leading to more stress as it becomes a vicious cycle. There can be a number of health related issues that come sooner than we realize such as insomnia, back problems, fatigue and lack of concentration. In some cases it could be severe as if affects circulation of blood vessels and can have long-term effects.
As a mode of defense mechanism, the body in itself tries to prepare in response to a stress situation by involving almost all the organs such as the hear, lungs, immune system, reflexes, the brain and the power of perception etc. It is a complicated, and yet efficient as well as intriguing mechanism, which takes a toll on our bodies in due course of time.

It also puts the effected, under a long-term threat of a heart disorder, breakdown or even stroke, which can even, be fatal. The sooner in life we encounter these mild effects, the more likely we are to see its crippling effects later on. Slowly affecting the hormonal balance, it also has secondary effects such as encouraging people to pursue unhealthy lifestyles such as adopting comfort food for the “feel good” factor or indulge I smoking and drinking. Overall, it’s just the chain of events that makes stress a multi-organ, multi-factorial disorder.

Women have been seen to be more susceptible to stress, which could partly be due to the hormones and partly because of the many different physical cycles that they go through such as pregnancy, lactation and bearing the load of being a full time mother.
To summarize, it can only be stated without a doubt, that too much stress over a period of time, makes you prone to numerous health problems. It could be due to one major event in life or the buildup of multiple factors over a period of time. But more than likely, one would be suffering from a health issue, in one way or the other.

Some of the noticeable changes that can occur in our body due to stress are:
Hypertension, palpitation or heavy breathing, increased perspiration, fatigue, insomnia, body weakness, lack of interest, lack of appetite to name a few. Also, stress puts us at risk for constant headaches, depression, migraine, backaches, suicidal tendencies, stomach ulcers and digestive disorders, alcohol and drug abuse and not to forget, heart attack and stroke. We might want to look for signs early on which could be mild allergies, asthma, colds and infections that come on too often and in general a depressed immune system.
We have to learn to deal with stress as a part of our routine before it switches gears and becomes disabling. There are more than many ways to relieve stress on a daily level, and it’s never too late to start. You deserve living in a healthy and contended environment after all.

Stress at Workplace

ManagingStressNow — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:19:40 +0000

It goes without saying, that today’s world is far more complex than what our forefathers had seen. And what’s coming further, it’s simply going to get more and more taxing. The global economy, economic and social pressures, high cost of living and other luxuries, family pressures and higher expectations and the constant demand of better performances at the workplace are just a few picks from the bag.

All this, (and more) contributes immensely to the stress of an individual, in particular in his working environment. Since this is becoming a permanent scenario now, it is crucial that work related stress is dealt with in a timely manner.

In particular, there could be a number of ways that can be followed. One approach is the implementation of a few practical approaches in our everyday lives and an alternate way that works even better for some people, is the change in perspective and a individual’s approach.

Practical Solutions:

Often seen is a pattern of physical stress indicators that are triggered by stress. These vary from headaches and anxiety attacks to muscle aches and back stress, upset stomach, etc. These are best dealt with at the earliest signs of appearance. A quick tip would be to take a short break and take a while off to relax. This could be as short as a couple of minutes where you put all work aside and have time for yourself. Get yourself a quiet corner and pamper yourself with a coffee or your favorite drink. Take a quick walk if you may prefer or drop by your favorite pall working next-door. If you are a nature person, a lawn or a garden might be your place to be. Any change is a good change as long as it gets you relaxed. This is often called as a mini vacation, and you surely deserve a couple of them in a day. Not only do they lighten you up, you work much better when you get back.

Besides the mind, dealing with the bodily stresses as easy as well. As you sit back on your most comfortable position with your eyes closed and shoulders laid back, a few deep breaths can help you relax within minutes. Thinking about your dream vacation or a loving family back home, can let you go away of all the negative vibes and recharge you very quickly.

These small exercises not only help you relax the tension on all your muscles, but it also clears the mind and gives you a positive inflow of energy.

A different approach…

Prevention always works better than cure and so most of the time, stress is avoidable at at-least to some extent by thinking about stress situations with a different approach.

Being serious about your work and even good at it, stress is not the only way of doing so. Though for some of us stress can work positively by in turn motivating us, it is not desirable to have it as an integral part of your work like, if it starts affecting your health and social life. There is life beyond work which is equally important, so prioritizing our goals is important, keeping in mind that the targets set by your boss are not the end of the world. Giving each work and responsibility its due time and credit and not pushing yourself too hard is the way to go.

If you try hard enough, one might be surprised to find that there is a good part to every situation. A bugging co-worker who gives you a hard time, might have a thing or two in him you could learn. Once you acknowledge that, you reward yourself from the positive things and are better prepare for the tough ones.

Another important point is that during a stress moment through the day, it is better to share it with others than to hang on to it. You will be surprised to find, how similar your problems are to the guy across the office you hate the most. Laughing about it together, and just the feeling that you are not the only one, takes you out half way through your worries.

Natural Response to Stress

ManagingStressNow — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:51:34 +0000

The human body is one of the most sophisticated and well-programmed systems among all living creations. The physical, biological, physiological and the neural networks work in a close and complex harmony for the functioning of the body. This also means that it self regulates itself in an even more complex manner to maintain the balance of life. Each condition or environment or a change goes through a signaling process to provoke response that presents itself as the “body’s response”. Stress is one such condition that triggers multiple physiological changes that it takes as a measure to deal with the condition. For the smooth and efficient functioning of the body machinery, it is important that it adapts and undergoes physiological as well as psychological changes, which express them by means of a “natural response”.

Water is the major component of the human body, which implies that our internal environment constitutes of various chemical entities and pH both inside and outside of the cells. To maintain the optimum physiological balance between the cells and various organs, this chemical environment has to be maintained in harmony and with minimum disequilibrium. The body strives hard to re-establish and maintain this state known as internal homeostasis. It if often required undergoing a number of changes to maintain the conditions within these fine physiological stress limits. Once disturbed, the consequences can vary from a disease or disorder or emotional dis-balance in the form of stress.

Stress being triggered, corresponds to the release of a number of stress hormones which prepare the body to deal with the condition. This is also referred to as the “Flight or fight “ response by the body. This is the mechanism of the human body to signal a stress condition, which it tries to evade and/or fight the dangers.

Time and again we encounter situations in our day to day routine, which are not suitable to express or freely encounter our emotional response. Such as a pressure situation or argument with superiors at work. Such instances are more than enough to invoke a stress situation but the fact that restricts us to prevent an emotional reflex of outburst, adds to the anxiety and stress. On one hand, your body tells you to prevent/avoid/counter or get away while the real scenario prevents us from doing so. These kinds of inner responses, which surface up to defend you sometimes become meaningless in situations like the current example. As an alternative, one could look for developing a different and a better approach of responding to stress. One needs to work on a relaxed response, which eventually would come naturally to you. There are numerous techniques on working on these alternative approaches to counter pressure situations. These range from forgiveness and increased tolerance, to self-relaxation using aids like hypnosis or yoga. You got to go out to explore what works out best for you. And soon you will realize, you have forgotten when was the last time you felt stressed.

Stress and Health

ManagingStressNow — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 10:50:02 +0000

By now, it is very evident that stress has negative aspects on one’s health – be it some sort of physical damage or a psychological damage. The key factor is that these damages are adverse, and are better off if avoided. There are some direct and a few other indirect implications of stress, and as always, all of them are subjective to the situation. Irrespective of the implications, it is better off that they are avoided.

Speaking of indirect implications, they are the ones which lead to forceful habits; ones that may have adverse affects on the well being of a person anyway. To illustrate the same with an example, when subjected to stress, a few people might resort to drinking heavily or smoking; as these methods offer instant relief from stress, with the aid of certain chemical reactions. Other effects may range from skipping meals to losing sleep over brooding or expressing the same through anger. The bottom line here is, despite the various factors that might affect stress, all have very adverse effects and are more likely to harm the health; and so are better off when avoided.

While indirect implications might at times be involuntary and discoverable, the direct implications of stress are more drastic and immediate when it comes to the amount of harm caused. The best possible example would be the relation between stress and heart ailments. This relation is well known, and widely established. Elaborating on the same, high stress levels lead to increased heart rate and high blood pressure; which in turn exert higher pressure on the arteries, thus damaging them. In the long run, the artery walls thicken, which reduces the supply of blood and oxygen to the heart. This can lead to the occurrence of a heart attack.

Whether direct or indirect, the consequences of stress have been seen to be lethal. There are other mental health problems associated with stress, like anxiety and depression. The reasons for these problems, quite obviously are the negative feelings that arise due to stress. While the adverse forms of stress shows up in more serious ways, the initial symptoms can be seen to be a warning, and further in deciding stress avoiding means. Some of those symptoms are occurrence of ulcers, untimely headaches, and other body aches. If unable to deal with on one’s own, consulting a doctor for advice on the same is largely recommended. There of course, is no reason to panic, because many times the suggested methods are either something physical such as exercising or something much more easier like meditation.

Measuring the intensity of stress

ManagingStressNow — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:36:40 +0000

Stress in itself is seen as a feeling or a reaction of the body that is not very well understood. This therefore makes it even more intriguing to estimate or quantify the intensity of stress in any individual situation. However there is no denying the fact that stress comes very close to be associated as a medical condition and needs to be managed to prevent any serious repercussions. To identify the magnitude of stress, it is crucial to determine the cause and the nature of stress.
Stress for instance, could be a combination of different stressors related to the work place, environment at the home front etc and an individual’s inability to cope with it.
In each of these circumstances, the level of stress experienced would be very different and would also vary from person to person. On a broader prospective, stress can be classified as distress or eustress based on its kind, depth and intensity.

1. Distress
Distress is seen as a negative connotation of stress which is mostly perceived by the body in cases of constant transitionary periods and exposure to environment. The mind has a tendency to adapt to a comfort level and any change or deviation from usual, could result in a feeling of uncomfort pertaining to stress.

Acute stress is a subcategory of distress which is more intense but usually short-lived. It can be triggered by a change of routine and is a mechanism of the body to make a note of the changes around and adapting them in a better way.
As the name suggests, chronic stress is a rather long-term effect and is generally seen to set in after a prolonged and constant change of routine. Being deep rooted; it also demands more attention and requires stringent efforts to cure the symptoms of distress.

Further to categorize distress, it can be of two kinds.

Hypostress and hyperstress.

Hyperstress is a negative presentation of stress that results from overwork or when a person is involved in more than what they body can keep pace with. This could be a labor intensive physical activity or a stressful job. It could be a cause of grave potential danger and is crucial to be dealt with in time.
On the contrary, Hypostress is defined as the situation in which a person has a potential of doing more than his or her current expectations and responsibilities. It might lead to stress in the form of boredom or frustration as the current potential of the individual remains are not utilized which could lead to mental lethargy