What Is Stress

Time 2021-10-31 10:08:12

Web Name: What Is Stress

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Stress. We've all heard the expression, but no one really knows what theyare talking about. Stress is an individual's response to changes withintheir life. Often mislabelled, people tend to think only about the negativesides of stress, ignoring the fact that stress is an important part ofeveryday life. Without stress one would have very little motivation, andwill become bored with life, and feel the need to do something -- anything.This is stressful, and during this "rust out" period one will suffer thesame symptoms that someone under severe stress does. The only thing to do is torecognize how much stress you experience, and make it work to your advantage.

Many people thrive under stress. The optimal stress point iswhere you are stimulated into a state of high productivity. If there is lessstress, ones performance may suffer, due to a lack of initiative; however,if there is too much pressure one may react badly and simply break down.This burnout will result in a drastic decrease in productivity.

The optimum stress level will be different for each individual, becausesomething that causes a great deal of negative stress to one person couldvery well cause another person to become exhilerated. A common example ofthis is being the centre of attention.

Short term stress is caused by a stressor that needs to be dealt withimmediately. Often negative emotions concerning the situation arise once thestressor is recognized, adding to the stress level. During a period of shortterm stress, the body will become more alert, but only in relation to thestressor. This can either help or cause harm to the task that was beingperformed before the stress began, depending on what the cause of the stressis. For example, if you were writing an important paper and it was causingyou stress, then your performance will become better. If however the paperis not too important to you and the cause of stress is from a burglar, thenperformance on the paper will suffer.

Short term stress works in such a way that once the stressful situationbegins, the body immediately prepares to deal with it, and your stresslevels shoot up. The body's stress level plateaus while it deals with the stress. Shortterm stress is very demanding for the body, and it takes a lot out of it,especially if the situation persists for a number of hours. After the stresshas been dealt with, the body has to take some time to recuperate and repairany damage that has been inflicted.

Long term stress, on the other hand is an entirely different story. It is causedwhen many little stressors accumulate over a long period of time. Thesestressors are usually due to everyday life, and are not so direthat they cannot be lived with. Because of this, the body often does notdeal with them immediately. With each new stressor the body can adapt to thehigher level of stress, but the individual cannot, and feels more stressed.The individual's stress is due to the fact that there is usually no time tostop, relax and recuperate and thus lower the stress levels, and because thesestressors are ones beyond personal control.

Eventually, neither the body nor the individual is able to deal with theaccumulated stressors, and burnout occurs. This is when the body cannotadapt to the stress level any longer and simply gives up. At this point theperson, both physically and psychologically, is susceptible to illness.

The "fight or flight" response is the body's reaction to short term stress.The result of it is that the body is prepared physically to stay and fightthe cause of stress, or to get away from the whole situation as fast as it can.It is not possible to control the response in any way, because it is wiredinto our brain and has been since the beginning of time. It is not unique to humans, either. Animals find themselves in stressful situations the same way humans do, and they react with the same "fight or flight"response. It was originally used as a life saving device, because then moststressors were major and life threatening. Even though now only few of arestressors are life threatening, the body's response has not changed at all,and still treats what the mind knows to be only a minor hassle to be lifethreatening.

This is how the reaction works: The brain recognizes a stressor, and sends amessage to the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus does two jobs. One is that itmakes a hormone, CRF, and it sends impulses to the adrenal glands (these arelocated on top of the kidney) by means of the spinal cord. The adrenalglands make the hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine, and neurochemicals.These in turn ready the body by speeding up the heart rate and breathing,increasing alertness and tensing muscles. The second "job" of thehypothalamus is to trigger the pituitary gland to produce yet anotherhormone, ACTH. ATCH sents more impulses to the adrenal glands which in turnrelease cortisol to speed up the body's metabolism. All of these changesfeed back to the pituitary gland to regulate the reaction. These reactionsare all helpful for coping with the stressor; however, there are some otherside effects that come along with the reaction. They do not help and canlinger after the situation has been resolved.

If the stressor persists, then the body will lessen the "fight or flight"reaction and calm down a little, but still stay alert in case it is needed.This stage can be compared to a screen saver on a computer. After thesituation is completely over, the body is supposed to relax and take time torecover while the reaction sysmptoms go away. New research has shown thatthis is not always the case. If the body experiences short term stress veryoften, then it can become sensitized to the "fight or flight" reaction. Theresult of this is that even a small stressor will immediately set off the "fightor flight" response, and thus make the person unable to deal withnormal, everyday stress for the rest of their life. This sensitization hasbeen shown to occur more often during childhood. Prolonged "fight or flight" responses can alsomake the adrenal glands to give off too much or not enough of the neededhormones. This can eventually cause obesity, osteoporosis, heart disease orbaldness.

Table of ContentsThe Symptoms of Stress
Stress Quiz
Stress Management
Our Fictional Family
Stress and Adolescents
Stress in the Workplace
Stress and the Future
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