Ideas on Coping With StressStress is a Killer!Dealing with StressCoping with stress is a natural part of life, the main difference between the “stressed out” person and others is in the way they manage stress. Dealing with stress is as much a part of life as eating and sleeping, and this is where you can find some practical ideas for how to handle stress. So, where does stress come from, anyway? And where can I get ideas about coping with stress? I am glad you asked! Let's start here with some background about stress.
There are four basic sources of stress:1. The environment is a constant bombardment of demands to adjust.2. Social stressors: place demands on your time and attention. 3. Physiological stress: is your body’s reaction to the environment and social stressors, such as muscle tension, headaches, stomach upset, and anxiety. 4. Your own thoughts: is your brain’s interpretation and translation of the complex changes in your environment. This is a major determinant in the switching on the “emergency response” in your body. This is also called the “fight or flight” response.
Fight or FlightResearch has shown that your point of view is what decides how you are responding to any particular stressful situation. You first decide how dangerous or difficult the situation is and then decide what resources you have for coping with stress.Anxious and stressed people often automatically decide that the situation is dangerous or too difficult and they do not have the resources to cope with stress. This sets off the fight or flight response in the body. The fight or flight response is actually a series of biochemical changes that prepare you to deal with threats or danger. This was a natural and instinctive response that primitive humans needed to survive. Presented with a dangerous or threatening situation, such as facing a predator like the saber-toothed tiger, they would need a quick rush of energy to stand and fight, or run away. How would you like dealing with THAT kind of stress? Modern society has created social customs that do not allow you to fight or even run away from most situations, so the built in “emergency response” is rarely useful, and makes dealing with stress that much more difficult.
Your Body’s ResponseWhat happens inside you when the fight or flight response is triggered?Your brain sends a signal to the hypothalamus: Emergency! The hypothalamus charges the sympathetic nervous system to make a series of changes in the body. Your heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension, metabolism, and blood pressure all increase. Your hands and feet get cold as blood is pulled away from the extremities and digestive systems into the large muscles that can help you fight or run. You get that “butterflies” in the stomach feeling. Pupils dilate to sharpen vision and hearing improves. Adrenal glands dump several different kinds of adrenalin into your system. These inhibit digestion, reproduction, growth and tissue repair. It also inhibits the responses of your immune and inflammatory systems. The effect is to take the body’s focus away from basic, vital functions and put all of its energy into being prepared to either fight or run. This is your basic survival instinct and is your own built in way of coping with stress. Once you decide that the situation is no longer dangerous, your brain stops sending the emergency signal and in turn stops sending panic messages to your nervous system. Within three minutes, the fight or flight response burns out and all systems begin to return to normal. Your metabolism, heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension, and blood pressure all return to normal levels. It is your built in coping with stress mechanism.
Chronic StressWhat is chronic stress and what happens as a result? Chronic stress is when you are constantly and persistently under stress, so that the fight or flight response never really has a chance to shut down. You do not get a chance to recover. This is what happens when you ignore the advice to take care of yourself and don't do anything to help you with coping with stress.As long as your mind decides that there is a threat, your body will stay aroused. In other words, you will be constantly in the fight or flight stage. Since the body shifts its focus away from normal repair and maintenance functions in order to be prepared to respond to the threat, this can lead to stress-related disease. Evidence has shown that chronic stress can result in muscle tension and fatigue, and can certainly be a factor in stress hypertension, migraine, headaches, ulcers, and chronic diarrhea. Some other long term effects of chronic stress are: • Menstruation stops (amenorrhea) • Ovulation stops • Impotency • Loss of libido • Asthma symptoms increase • Bronchitis and other respiratory symptoms increase • Insulin loss • Diabetes • Bones begin losing calcium • Immune and inflammatory systems not responding well • More colds and flu • Arthritis flair ups • Chronic pain increased • Depression • Tissue repair suspended – the sore that never goes away.
Stress Prevention TipsObviously it is much better to prevent stress than coming up with a method of coping with stress. What are some ways to prevent stress before it happens? Here are some ideas that may help prevent having to deal with the fight or flight response to stress:• Identify the changes and situations that help cause stress. What do the changes mean to you? Try to identify and express the feelings you experience as a result. • Think of ways that you can best adjust to each change. • Take time making decisions. Don’t rush. • Anticipate changes coming up in your life and try to plan ahead for them. • View accomplishments as a positive part of everyday life, as opposed to a plateau or stopping point. • Acknowledge what you can control and what you cannot control. • Try different stress management techniques and use the ones that work best for you. Coping with stress is not merely reducing or eliminating stress. It is all about changing the way you look at things and increasing positive ways of coping with existing stress. Distress or negative stress happens when you constantly look at the challenges you face as dangerous, difficult, painful, not fair, or just plain overwhelming. You automatically think that you do not have the resources to cope with it. By changing the way you look at stress, you can create a more positive response – similar to the “I can do this” attitude. This type of response to stress does not set off the fight or flight mechanism, allowing your body to recover or prevent the continuation of chronic stress. It has been shown that people who develop this type of attitude, and who also have a good social support system, exercise regularly, and eat a healthy diet are better at coping with stress.
Stress Management TechniquesThere are many different techniques for managing stress. Some take the approach of changing the way you look at situations, some take on various forms of relaxation, some are basic self-care techniques. Try some of the different approaches and see what works best for you. It may be a combination of several techniques that can form your own individual stress management toolbox. Here are some of the techniques and approaches available:• Body awareness • Breathing • Progressive relaxation • Meditation/prayer • Visualization • Applied relaxation training • Self-hypnosis • Autogenics – a way to step by step tell yourself to relax • Biofeedback • Thought stopping (Rumination) • Refuting irrational ideas • Coping skills training • Goal setting/time management • Problem solving • Assertiveness training • Nutrition • Exercise From my own personal experience, being stationed in Korea ended up being a perpetual stressful environment. I used a combination of visualization, relaxation, and a lot of exercise! I have since learned that by creating a positive attitude, combined with the “can do” approach is very successful in coping with stress levels and keeping them below the fight or flight response, and in a place where I can deal with them on a daily basis. I have also found controlled breathing to be very successful in dealing with stressful situations. It is something you can do anytime, anyplace; it costs nothing, and can be done very quickly to head off that escalation of runaway stress. It is your very own portable coping with stress tool.
Stress TestHere is a link to a stress test that you can take right now. This is actually an inventory or schedule of your recent experience developed by Dr. Thomas Holmes at the University of Washington and shows the stressful effects of changes in your life over the past year. (It does require you to do some math, so use your built in Windows calculator – no stress! Go to Start – Programs - Accessories – Calculator) Click here to take this stress test.
Life Changes Stress Assessment
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