Essay on Stress
Under stress, the body produces the hormone adrenaline, the main function of which is to force the body to survive. Stress is a normal part of human life and it is necessary in certain amounts. If our life did not have stressful elements of competition, risk, willingness to work as hard as we can, life would be much more boring. Sometimes stress acts as a motivation that is needed in order to feel the fullness of emotions, even if it is about survival. If the amount of these challenges and complex problems becomes very large, then the person loses the ability to cope with these tasks.
Anxiety is a state of mind and body, associated with worries, tension and nervousness. Every person meets such moments in life when he is under stress or anxiety. In fact, the state of anxiety helps a person cope with external threats, forcing the brain to work intensively and giving the body a state of readiness for action. When anxiety and fears begin to suppress the person and influence his daily life, he may experience so-called anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, fear of losing a job, specific fears, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and general anxiety, usually begin to appear after the age of 15-20 years (Dunkley, 2013). Anxiety disorders are regarded as chronic diseases that can progress without treatment. Currently, there are effective methods for their treatment.
Causes of stress
There are external and internal causes of stress.
External causes of stress and anxiety are moving to a new location, change of job, death of a loved one, divorce, everyday troubles associated with money problems, fulfillment of obligations by a certain date, disputes, family relationships, not enough sleep or bad quality of sleep.
Internal causes of stress and anxiety are life values and beliefs, fidelity to the promise, self-esteem (Procko & Shaham, 2011).
Symptoms of stress
Symptoms may gradually increase or appear suddenly, within a few minutes. Panic attacks are usually short, occur in the form of emotional explosions, accompanied by a feeling of horror and reactions of the organism such as heart palpitations and sweating. Generalized anxiety disorder usually develops gradually and is usually not a direct consequence of a particular irrational fear (phobia). Two major signs of stress and anxiety are uncontrollable anxiety and worry. Symptoms also include muscle tension, fatigue, irritability, restlessness, insomnia or sleep disorders, difficulty in concentrating. Stress and anxiety can lead to panic attacks, which are characterized by pain or discomfort in the chest, heart palpitations, shortness, shallow breathing, feeling short of breath, choking, chills or sudden onset of fever, shivering, nausea, abdominal pain, numbness, or tingling in the extremities (Weston, 2013).
Body’s response to stress
Human behavior in situations of stress differs from affective behavior. Under stress, a person can usually control his emotions, analyze the situation, and make appropriate decisions.
There are various kinds of stress depending on the stress factor, including physiological and psychological. Psychological stress, in turn, can be divided into informational and emotional. Informational stress may develop when a person is unable to cope with the problem, has no time to make the right decision at the required rate with a high degree of responsibility, ie, when there is an information overload. Emotional stress arises in situations of danger, resentment, etc.
Hans Selye identified 3 stages in the development of stress:
The first stage is alarm reaction – phase of mobilization of organism defense, which improves stability with respect to a specific traumatic impact. Thus, there is a redistribution of body reserves: the main objective is due to secondary tasks.
The second phase brings the stabilization of the parameters derived from the equilibrium in the first phase, which are fixed at a new level. External behavior does not differ from the norm, as if everything is getting better, but there is an internal overrun of adaptive reserves.
If the stressful situation persists, there comes the third stage – exhaustion, which can lead to a significant deterioration of state of health, various diseases and, in some cases, death (Fagundes & Kiecolt-Glaser 2013).
If the stressful situation depends on us, we need to focus on how to change it. If the situation does not depend on us, it is necessary to accept and change our perception, our attitude to this situation.
One of the most common causes of stress is the contradiction between reality and perceptions of man.
Stress response is equally easy to be caused by real events, and ones that exist only in our imagination. In psychology, this is called the “law of the emotional reality of the imagination.” As estimated by psychologists, about 70% of our worries are caused by the events that do not exist in reality, but only in the imagination (#BB, 2013). Besides, not only negative but also positive life events can lead to the development of stress. When something changes dramatically for the better, the body also reacts to this with a stress.
Stressful conditions significantly affect the activities of man. People with different features of the nervous system respond differently to the same psychological stress. Some people experience increased activity, mobilization, improving performance. This is a so-called “stress of a lion.” Danger makes a person act boldly and courageously. On the other hand, stress can cause a disruption of activity, sharp decline in its effectiveness, passivity and total inhibition (“stress of a bunny”) (Dow, 2014).
Human behavior in a stressful situation depends on many factors, but primarily on the psychological stability that incorporates with the ability to quickly assess the situation, instantaneous orientation skills in unexpected circumstances, strong-willed discipline and determination, experience of behavior in similar situations.
Treatment of stress
Stress tends to accumulate. From physics we know that nothing in nature can disappear into nowhere, matter and energy just move or turn into other forms. The same rule is applied to the psychology. Experiences can not disappear, they are either expressed outside, for example in talking with other people, or accumulate.
It is known that there is no better medicine than a good sleep. Therefore, it is worth considering how you sleep. Here are some guidelines that will help make your sleep better.
- Regular exercise help normal sleep. It is desirable to exercise outside for a couple of hours before bedtime.
- Before going to bed, you can take a warm bath and listen to relaxing music. If possible, combine taking a bath with listening to music. Try to do this every day.
- In order the sleep to be deeper and healthier, the body needs the hormone melatonin. Rice, wheat, barley, sunflower seeds, and dried apricots contain B vitamins, which increases the content of hormone melatonin in the body. Refined products are lack of these vitamins, so try to eat organic foods, preferably with a high carbohydrate content.
- Your bedroom should not be stuffy, noisy and light: none of these is conducive to restful sleep.
Calm breathing helps to cope with stress. Inhale should be deep, through the nose. Exhale slowly and through the mouth.
It is also important to eat right when you are stressed. The food should be light and well absorbed. Eat slowly, in small portions. Relax a bit after the meal.
There are popular ways of dealing with stress. Chamomile is considered to be a good remedy. Its decoction helps to cope with headache, insomnia, has a calming effect. Herb oregano oil and clary sage also have effective relaxing properties. Melissa is a great remedy from overwork. It is used to relieve tension, anxiety, it can help even with strong stress. Teas of lemon balm are good for insomnia and depression.
Conclusion
Stress is a feeling that one experiences when considers that he cannot effectively cope with the situation. It is worth remembering that under the stress usual emotions are replaced by anxiety, which causes a disturbance in the physiological and psychological terms. This concept was introduced by Hans Selye to denote non-specific response of the organism to adverse effects. His research showed that various factors – fatigue, fear, hurt, cold, pain, humiliation in the body cause the same type of complex reaction regardless of what kind of stimulus acts on it at the moment. Moreover, these stimuli do not need to exist in reality. A man reacts not only to the actual danger, but also to the threat or reminder of it. For example, stress often occurs not only in situations of divorce of the spouses, but also in suspense of divide of the marital relationship. It is worth remembering that there are some rules to help combat stress. Firstly, try to avoid situations, which lead to the accumulation of stress. Secondly, it should be remembered that stress is accumulated especially well when we fully focus on it. Third, we must remember that there are many ways to relieve stress, such as exercise, massage, sleep, singing, bath salt and relaxing oils, bath, aromatherapy, relaxing music and others.
Do you like this essay?
Our writers can write a paper like this for you!
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading...