S.T.R.E.S.S. = Someone, Trying to, Repair, Every, Situation, Solo

~ Dave Willis

Myths and Reality about stress?

Stress is a tricky matter. There are a lot of misconceptions about it, some of which you have perhaps debunked for yourself, however there are still some strong ones out there that we need to be aware of, so that we can maintain an optimal level of performance and life satisfaction.

Stress is our body’s mechanism of reacting to a stressor — a condition (such as a challenge, a threat, or some kind of physical or psychological barrier) that poses a demand which exceeds our body’s regulatory capacity, particularly situations that include unpredictability and uncontrollability. That said, stress is not always the result of a negative event. As Hungarian pioneer in stress research Hans Selye put it: “A painful blow and a passionate kiss can be equally stressful.”

How stress can influence us?

Some stress can be beneficial for boosting motivation, adaptation and performance. However, prolonged exposure to stress (or chronic stress) has been found to increase the risk of many health-related problems. There are many suggested ways to mitigate these negative effects — relaxation, meditation, yoga, regular exercise, spending time in nature or with loved ones and pets. Most often we are advised to reduce the stress we expose ourselves to.

Of course, all of these are great but we don’t always have the chance to prioritise stress-relieving activities over other important tasks. It is popular to emphasise the importance of investing time in self-care (and for good reason!) but in reality, most of us are still quite stressed on a daily basis. Most importantly, none of us want to make decisions based on trying to avoid potential stressors. Rather, we want to make decisions that make sense for our own, our team’s, or our company’s needs and interest. It is better to adopt a strategy of searching for meaning, and not one of avoiding discomfort.

Fortunately, recent research findings suggest that something as simple, easy and practical as changing how we think about stress can reduce the health risks it poses and potentially even make us healthier. To do that, we need to be able to recognise what stress is and its symptoms.

The physiology of stress.

So, what happens in our body when we find ourselves in a distressing situation over which we have no control? Simply put, two systems get activated, resulting in the famous fight-or-flight response. One of them — the sympathetic nervous system, gets the adrenal gland to release epinephrine and norepinephrine in preparation for intense muscular action, so that we can fight or run away to safety. The other system (the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis) is responsible for the release of ‘the stress hormone’ cortisol. It increases the level of glucose in our blood, so that there is enough energy available for action. It also inhibits the immune system and regulates other systems which makes it an essential part of our metabolism — its work is not all bad.

The stress response entails accelerated heart rate and breathing, dry mouth, dilated pupils, shaking, flushed face, tunnel vision where peripheral vision is compromised, and slowing or stopping of digestion (remember those days when you have no appetite during long hours of working non-stop but as soon as you leave the office, hunger strikes?). This response was designed to get us out alive when there was danger, as fast as possible. But when it is activated too often and for too long, the abundance of these hormones leads to high blood pressure, malfunction of the immune system, muscle damage and mental health damage, among others.

How to handle it?

Two wonderful ways to deal with stress that don’t feel like another task you need to put on your to-do list

Fear not! There are truly wonderful ways to spare your health that are easy to adopt and don’t ask you to free up a couple of hours off your daily schedule.

The Body Chemistry way.

The protagonist in the ‘cute’ way of dealing with the deleterious effects of chronic stress is also a hormone — the ‘cuddle hormone’ oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone that plays a role in social behaviours. Some of its effects include bonding between a mother and her baby, between humans and dogs, between individuals that have things in common; facilitating trust and attachment, enhancing empathy and prosocial behaviour; acting as an antidepressant; wound healing; reducing inflammation. The list goes on but the best part is that increase in oxytocin coupled with social support has been demonstrated to suppress cortisol and decrease anxiety during a stressful situation.

So, a good way to fight stress is to share it with close ones — colleagues, friends, loved ones. And it works both ways — oxytocin makes us feel good about sharing our problems with someone but it also predisposes us to listen and give support to others who are under stress. Giving and receiving support in times of stress helps us better deal with it mentally and has a positive effect on our health — it’s a win-win!

The Conscious way.

There is one more strategy to protect ourselves from stress and it is proving to be a very strong one. It involves changing the way we think about stress and its effects. It basically asks us to stop focusing on all the negative and scary talk about stress. Instead, we can view the changes in our body provoked by the stressor as a sign that our bodies are preparing to act in the right way to overcome the challenge. Our heart-rate and breathing are accelerated, so we can be fast; our vision is centred and focused, so we can attend to details; our body is warm and shaking because it is full of the power we need to tackle this problem.

There is scientific research to support the effectiveness of this tactic. It shows that among groups of people with different levels of stress and different perceptions of its effects, the group with the highest risk of dying was that of people who were exposed to a lot of stress and believed that stress had a negative effect on their health. On the contrary, people who were also exposed to a lot of stress but did not perceive stress as harmful, had the lowest risk of dying — even lower than people who had relatively little stress.

As a conclusion, next time somebody tells you stress will kill you, tell them this is not necessarily true. By taking control of your own thoughts and beliefs about stress, you can turn it from a harmful foe to a helpful friend. And the best part is you can use the strength and energy you get from it to help another person under stress. Not only will that feel amazingly rewarding, it will also boost your health even more, so you can be energetic, driven, and motivated to work toward your goals.

Thanks to Katerina Paliakova

Empowered by MartinPetrov.Org

@ www.martinpetrov.org