Virtually everyone experiences stress from time to time and, while a small amount of stress can motivate us, too much stress or prolonged stress, can be damaging to both your physical and mental health.
Stress typically begins as pressure – from yourself or others – and if you are unable to cope with this pressure, you feel stressed. The effects of stress will differ from person to person, but if left untreated it can lead to illness: physical, emotional, or a combination of both.
A variety of situations in your life can cause increased stress; for example, work, relationships, family issues, and financial problems. These types of stress may cause you to adopt unhealthy coping methods, such as smoking or drinking – and while these activities may feel like a quick fix solution for coping with stress, these habits are damaging your health and, ultimately, the stress itself is NOT being addressed.
What is stress?
Stress is an innate reaction to life, left over from the earliest days of human existence. “Back in the day,” as they say, human beings were forced to deal with life-threatening situations on an almost daily basis. These threats to life and limb would cause our brains to release a range of “stress chemicals,” such as cortisol and adrenaline, to provoke what is known as the “fight-or-flight reaction”. The fight reaction (a flood of adrenaline) would give us a burst of energy, making us ready to fight for our lives, while the flight reaction would encourage us to flee from danger to protect ourselves.
In contemporary life, we rarely encounter such threatening situations; however, your brain continues to react in this way when you are under pressure. When this happens to you, and you have no option for fight or flight – these stress chemicals can build up and affect your immune system and blood pressure. Over time, this build-up of stress can affect our mental health too, leading to anxiety, depression, and other mental health problems.
If you’re having trouble coping with stress, you’re sure benefit from my FREE eBook, Be Stress Free… Anytime, Anywhere.
Speak Your Mind