All about Stress

Life is a long series of changes and challenges. Every day, each of us faces some kind of challenge, big or small. One person may find deciding what academic course to pursue difficult while other may feel driving to her workplace as challenging. We all encounter uncertainties, such as losing job, death of a loved one or a car accident. These uncertainties are potential threats for our wellbeing causing stress.

Stress is a state of physical, emotional, mental and behavioural exhaustion and pressure. It involves appraisal of uncertain events as threatening or challenging. It can manifest itself in different ways:

• Physical problems includes fatigued, disturbance in sleeping, frequent colds, nausea, chest pain, etc.
• Emotional problems include experience of anxiety, fear, depression, etc.
• Mental problems include forgetfulness, inability to make decisions, inattention, feeling lost, etc.
• Behavioural problems includes pacing, speaking too fast or slow, eating too much, crying a lot, smoking, drinking, etc.

Stress can be both – good and bad. When minimum amount of stress is required to maintain a healthy state of wellbeing, it is termed as good stress or eustress. However, when the level of stress is more than minimum required stress and cause unpleasant and undesirable feelings and state of mind, it is called distress. Students are usually stress because of assignments. Assignment help thus, makes a difference in their lives. Stress also affects our immunity by causing the immune system to react as an illness or foreign organism has been detected, increasing the functioning of immune system. The longer the stress, the more immune system fails. The body’s responds to stress and works in three stages of reaction – alarm, resistance and exhaustion. The autonomic nervous system plays crucial roles in dealing with stress through fight and flight strategies. The sympathetic division of our autonomic nervous system helps us to fight with the ongoing challenge(s) using our existing physical, social, mental and financial resources. It prepares us to take up head-on challenge by expanding energy in our biological system such as secretion of cortisol, pupil dilation, increased heartbeat, sweating, etc while the parasympathetic division of autonomic nervous system helps in normalizing our bodily functions once the stressful event ends.

The response towards stressful challenge varies from one individual to another but the causes are similar in form of a spectrum. The causal factors of stress includes personality – traits and dispositions prone to stress, traumatic event such loss of loved one, unhealthy and unsupportive environment causing unbearable pressure, burnout, frustration, workplace or relationship conflicts, life-log disease such as diabetes, hypertension, etc. We have potential to overcome stress and maximize our wellbeing. We can determine our life state by adopting following healthy coping strategies:

• Daily practice of meditation and relaxation exercises helps us to build up a state of calmness and better at dealing with uncertainty.
• Physical exercise reduces cortisol and increases happy hormone oxytocin in which improves our mood.
• When we pen down our feelings and thoughts, we get a perspective on what is going on and solving the problem.
• Seeking counseling and psychotherapy from a mental health professional can help us to
• Include more nutrients, vitamins and protein to your diet.
• Transforming hat we can and letting go what we cannot.
• Practicing gratitude helps us to look at brighter side and seeking solution.