Stress can be termed as the natural response of your body when a demand is placed on it. Stress is a natural phenomenon which can be influenced due to both internal and external factors. External factors of stress involve work deadlines, exams, relationships, finances, etc. Health, hunger and amount of sleep are the internal factors which can affect how people deal with situations in which they might have handled otherwise competently.
But stress can also be useful sometimes. It enables a person to work optimally in demanding situations. For instance, students are at their best preparing for a subject when exams are near. In the same way, a working individual can deliver work efficiently under a strict deadline.
What are the signs of stress?
Our body releases chemicals that tell the body that it is in danger while dealing with acute stress. This further activates the flight and fight response. This response is a survival mechanism which alerts the body to face any threat. Increased heart rate, heavy breathing, dry mouth and sweating are some of the signs seen during this response. However, these responses don’t have any long-term effect on our body and can often help in dealing with the stressor. As discussed earlier, stress can be helpful in certain situations as it elevates energy and alertness to the person to work in demanding conditions.
But long-term exposure to stress can affect an individual’s overall wellbeing. Exposure of high levels of body hormones like cortisol and adrenaline can affect a person with the illness, depression, obesity, heart disease and other disorders.
What causes stress?
There are certain life situations which lead a person to experience stress. Surveys have found that working mothers are more prone to experience stress in their day to day life. Other circumstances which can predispose stress are financial pressure, unemployment, work pressure, lower education, personal conflict, family problems and relationship problems.
People experience events in various ways. For example, losing a job can be a disaster that negatively affects some people, whereas others might find it as an opportunity to move forward in search of something better. This clearly defines that people hold different responses to different events.
How adults and kids are affected by stress?
Stress can affect anyone. Be it a child or an adult, both of them are vulnerable to stress if they feel overwhelmed sometimes. For children, stress can affect them at their early stage of learning. Separation from their parents can result in anxiety in them. As the child grows up, the pressure to fit among her/his peers create stress. Social and academic pressure are the two main factors for anxiety among kids and teenagers.
An adult is affected by stress the same way a child is. And with everything available at our fingertips, digital devices are the main reasons contributing to stress factors in this digital age. A UK study has shown that an individual check their phone on average 85 times a day. This means we are unable to concentrate and fuse our attention properly in cognitive skills. Majority of the population check their phones before bedtime. Checking phones before sleeping overstimulates our brain, making it difficult for us to switch down and exposing us to the blue light emitted from the phone screen. Research has proved that blue screen exposure can decrease the production of melatonin, which disturbs our sleep cycle. And poor sleep means poor resilience and increased levels of stress and anxiety.
How to deal with stress?
Good news is that you can overcome stress through various techniques. It includes monitoring and challenging the way you think about events, slow breathing and solving your problems in a structured manner. In addition to this, incorporating exercising habits, cutting down on alcohol and drugs can immensely help in coping up with stress.
However, in severe cases where stress leads to depression and anxiety, professional help is necessary.
