What is Stress

What Is Stress?

As you know, when you begin to attend more tasks than you actually can, your body supplies stored energy. The same way, when you handle bigger challenges, your body copes with that by supplying its resources. It is your body’s response to these challenges that is known as stress. It is how your body copes with these demands. Stress can be positive or negative.

Stress is positive when it does not prevail for a long duration and also provides you with that extra push you need, to achieve something higher. It helps you to tap your potential efficiently.

It is this severe stress that becomes negative, when it prevails for a long duration and strains your body and mind. Negative stress has adverse effects on your body.

Stress is a part and parcel of modern lifestyle which is burdened with frustrations, expectations and demands. From children to adults, everyone faces some degree of stress in their life. In fact, for some people it has become a way of life. Stress is not always harmful. Some amount of stress helps you perform under pressure and provides you the needed motivation to give your best. However, when stress goes out of control, it adversely affects your physical and mental health. Excessive stress can damage your mood, health, relationships and quality of life. There is a need to know the signs and symptoms of stress to take the necessary steps to overcome it and minimize its harmful effects.

Our nervous system responds to stress by releasing a flood of stress hormones known as adrenaline and cortisol which rouse the body for immediate action. Stress makes your heart beat faster and your muscles tighten. It also raises your blood pressure, quickens your breath, and sharpens your senses. All these physical changes boost your strength and stamina, increasing your reaction time and enhancing your focus. This reaction, known as stress response, enables you to stay energetic, alert, and focused. However, when stress goes out of control, it can get the better of you.

What Causes Stress?

Stress is caused by factors that can put pressure on your body to keep up and perform. Most of these stress triggers are environmental. In response to this, your body’s sympathetic nervous system releases hormones that help you to either fight or take off. This is when you experience rapid heart rate, sweating, etc.

Chronic stress or stress that prevails for a long duration of time, demands a constant rush and flow of these hormones, causing a lot of wear and tear, aging of your body and also other complications.

The common stressful situations that we experience are:

Long working hours
Monetary insecurities
Relationship insecurities
Travelling and crowd
Harassment and violence
Traumatic incidents
Peer pressure
Performance pressure
Public speaking and influencing
What Are The Symptoms Of Stress?

When your body undergoes stress, there are certain signs that you encounter:

Inability to think clearly
Headache
Acidity, GERD
Restless
Palpitation
Sweating
Irritability
Panic
Hair fall
These are usually short term symptoms. But when stress prevails for a longer duration, more serious symptoms emerge and complications accompany them. They include:

Heart disorders like arrhythmia
Rise in the level of cholesterol
Blood pressure
Diabetes
Gastritis
Ulcer
Depression
Atherosclerosis
Arthritis and many more symptoms
🌿Yoga Artist 🌿 www.sdpsyoga.blogspot.in