What is Stress and How It Affects UsWhat is stress, anyway? The definition of stress by Dictionary.com is a specific response by the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain, that disturbs or interferes with normal physiological equilibrium of an organ. It's also defined as physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension. And also as a situation, occurrence or factor causing this. So what is stress - it can be our own response to a stimulus, or it can be the actual stimulus itself. It's all encompassed in the word stress. Stress issues are a huge problem in our society. The American Institute of Stress states that up to 90% of all health problems are related to stress! Whether we are dealing with mental stress (like solving a difficult math problem), or physical stress (such as an overly difficult work-out) or emotional stress (a fight with your spouse) a certain amount of disturbance happens to our normal state when we are under stress. Our thoughts and emotions have the ability to disturb our the normal functions in our body. We're talking about a biochemical event.Stress causes stress hormones to be released in our bodies. This, in turn, causes a chain reaction of events throughout the entire body called the fight or flight response. Our blood pressure rises, heart rate increases, appetite is suppressed, concentration increases. The changes our body caused by adrenaline and cortisol working together quickly changes how we think, act and feel.There is good stress and bad stress.At the word stress you probably think of something bad. While this is true, there is also good stress. Stress causes positive changes in our bodies too. It stimulates us to increase productivity, overcome a problem, go into high gear to succeed at a presentation or to win a contest. We would help ourselves to recognize the good stress in our lives.But it's the bad stress that we need to deal with. There are ways that we can counteract the things that the bad stress does to us. There are ways to diminish the damage that it can do to our bodies. The concept of recovery is an important one to explore. Stress is a necessary part of a healthy life.Much is in how we perceive it. And much is in how we manage it. It's always going to be around us. What are we going to do about it? The answer to that question will make all the difference.Return from What Is Stress to Home Page
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