Stress and You (I)

Stress has become a prevalent problem in our society today. Various occurrences in our everyday life has in one way or the other, increased our stress level, causing some mental imbalance (maybe temporal) on individuals. Stress can come in many forms; it may be stress in your workplace, emotional stress, environmental stress, financial stress etc. This has turned out to become a very serious issue, affecting millions of people all around the world thereby causing health workers and psychologist alike to find ways to help “reduce” this trend. This process has led to the manufacture of products such as drugs, Cd's etc. to help check this fallout.

Stress can simply be defined as mental pressure - pressure or worry caused by the problems in somebody’s life. It is a normal part of life that can either help us learn and grow or cause us significant problems. It is simply a fact of nature (forces from the environment affecting individuals). Stress can also be said to be a psychological phenomenon whereby a person feels a sense of not being able to cope with situations at certain times.

Stress can be caused by:

Misfortunes, such as illness or death of a loved one

Worry about health

Worry about pressure of work

Worry about security

Fear of failure

Outcomes of our daily living

Stress can however lead to:

Insomnia (sleeping disorders)

Chest pain

Dizziness

Jitteriness

Headaches

Excessive sweats

Unrest

Anxiety

Depression

Frustration

Burnout

Fatique

Post-traumatic stress disorder

However, psychological stress such as death of a loved one can cause transient and long - lasting symptoms of a serious psychiatric illness known as post-traumatic stress disorder. Stress response of pregnant women can affect the stress response of the fetus and perhaps predispose the child to psychiatric illness in life. The effect of stress on individuals are two numerous to mention, hence the longing by individuals to get stress relief and the need also to entirely get rid of stress at all times.

Some suggested ways to manage stress (stress management tips) are:

Exercising

Ensure that you are capable of facing the work before you naturally.

Avoid surmounting pressure on yourself.

Control your work. Don’t let your work control you.

Withdraw from addictive substances like smoking, alcohol, drugs etc.

Learn to be always tidy (place your equipments/materials properly for easy access to them)

Learn to exercise patience on things/issues

It is advisable to take a walk instead of lunch breaks.

Be at peace with yourself, God, people around you and your surroundings.

Finally, it is sad but important to know that stress is a part of life and will always live with us. It can however be checked by appropriate control of stressful factors. With emerging treatments for stress (whether drugs, Cd's or whatever), stress can be reduced and controlled but the utmost way of managing stress is by your willingness to make changes that is necessary for your lifestyle. Keep checking back always for the second part of Stress and You.

Keep living good and staying stress free.