Effectively coping with stress, managing stress and finding ways to reduce unnecessary or unhealthy levels of stress are important life skills – skills that everybody needs.
Negative stress, tension and anxiety are extremely common problems in modern life – most people will suffer from potentially dangerous or debilitating symptoms of stress and stress related issues at some point in their lives.
This page (part of a series of stress management pages) provides an introduction or overview to negative stress, together with some of the most common causes of stress and the consequences of inappropriate levels of stress.
You may encounter stress from a number of sources including:
- Personal Stress: which may be caused by the nature of your work, changes in your life or personal problems.
- Stress in family or friends: which in turn may affect you.
- Stress in your colleagues: which also may affect you.
Stress can be described as the distress that is caused as a result of demands placed on physical or mental energy.
Stress can arise as the result of factors including:
Anxiety
Anxiety is caused when life events are felt to be threatening to individual physical, social or mental well-being. The amount of anxiety experienced by an individual depends on:
- How threatening these life events are perceived to be.
- Individual coping strategies.
- How many stressful events occur in a short period of time.
Tension
Tension is a natural reaction to anxiety. It is part of a primitive survival instinct where physiological changes prepare the individual for ‘fight or flight’. This sympathetic response, as it is known, results in a chemical Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) being released in the body and causes muscles to tense ready for action.
Blood vessels near the skin constrict, to slow bleeding if injury is sustained, and to increase the blood supply to the muscles, heart, lungs and brain. Digestion is inhibited, the bladder relaxes, the heart rate and breathing speed increase, the body sweats more. The person affected becomes more alert, their eyes dilate and a surge of adrenaline gives rise to an increase in energy.
These responses are extremely useful in situations of physical danger but, unlike for primitive humans, many of the anxieties of modern life are not ones that can be solved by a ‘fight or flight’ reaction or by any physical response.
Modern day stressful situations tend to continue for much longer periods of time and an immediate response does not relieve the anxiety-provoking situation. Therefore, prolonged states of anxiety can lead to symptoms of stress which prevent the individual from returning to his or her normal, relaxed state. Prolonged stress can therefore be detrimental to health and well being.
Physical Signs of Stress
In addition to feeling uneasy, tense and worried, physical sensations of continued stress can include:
- Palpitations
- Dizziness
- Indigestion or heartburn
- Tension headaches
- Aching muscles
- Trembling or eye twitches
- Diarrhoea
- Frequent urination
- Insomnia
- Tiredness
- Impotence
People are often unaware that they are suffering from stress and visit the doctor with symptoms of indigestion, muscle pain, headaches, etc. Severe stress can lead to panic attacks, chest pains, phobias and fears of being seriously ill.
Continued stress can lead to feelings of lethargy and tiredness, migraine, severe stomach upset and sleeplessness. As with all such symptoms, you should seek the help and advice of a health care professional. Once symptoms are recognised as being caused by stress it is possible to control and reduce stress levels. This can be done through learning a number of stress reduction techniques.