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Stress,
the gift that keeps on giving…. by Susan Eskdale Stress, the gift that keeps on giving. We may not realise that we are experiencing stress on a daily basis, but our bodies sure know whenever we come into contact with stress.... |
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Okay, we all experience stress, pretty much on a daily basis, but do we understand what is happening within our bodies as a result of that stress. My guess is that most individuals do not have any real idea of how stressors, positive or negative, impact on the body. There are hundreds of books available in self-help sections of your local library or bookstore dealing with the topic of stress. Stress Management by doctors Edward A Charlesworth and Ronald G. Nathan is a really good resource for individuals wondering if stress is causing difficulties within their lives and how they can handle that stress. The thing that we need to remember is that stressors can be of two types: (i) positive stressors and (ii) negative stressors. A positive stressor is what we would consider to be a happy life event, for example the birth of a baby or the wedding of a close friend or family member. A negative stressor, on the other hand, would be a life event that caused a sense of sorrow, concern or aggravation such as death of a loved one, loss of a job, or even sitting in traffic. Of the utmost importance is the fact that the body cannot identify positive or negative stressors. The same body chemicals are released regardless of the positive or negative connotations. So, if you think about your stress in terms of life changes or major events, you will be better able to understand the cumulative affect stress can have on your health and wellness. |
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Stress related disorders are on the rise. North Americans, in particular, have adopted a lifestyle that is very fast paced and flanked by expectations for individuals to achieve the very most in the least amount of time. Do it faster, do it better, do it under budget have become frequent refrains in business meetings across North America. What then is the result? Those in the workforce have a continual feeling of expectations resting on their shoulders and begin to take the burden of things that are truly beyond their control. For instance, a worker may be responsible for the building of a widget, but until the parts supplier for the widgets ships the right parts in the correct quantity the worker will be unable to meet his deadline. The worker begins to worry about the completion of the project, how his being behind schedule will affect the bottom line and how he will explain the delays. |
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This worker may handle the stress one of two ways: (i) internalises anxiety or (ii) expresses anxiety. For those individuals that internalises the causes of their stress, health concerns will often become a reality. For many, they were brought up believing that bellyaching doesn’t solve anything and that nobody likes to hear a whiner, just live with whatever the problem is. As a result, these individuals try to suppress the stress or may even allow their worries to grow in size and proportion resulting in illness. The healthy way of dealing with stressors is to release the associated anxiety, this can be accomplished by sharing your concerns with others that may be able to assist you with the situation or can commiserate with the events causing stress or perhaps you would rather undertake a five-mile run when you got home from work. For information on stress related disorders please consult your family physician. The following resources are a good place to begin your research, but please remember that self-diagnosis can have negative consequences.
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