Stress And Life :: Part 1

Moirangthem Rachandra Singh *

Life is beautiful without drugs.
Life is more beautiful without stress.
"No man's life is free from struggles and problems, not even of the most powerful and wealthy, but everyone may build up his own happiness by making himself independent of outward conditions."
- HUMBOLDT
"Outer circumstances and events don't create stress. It is our response to them which creates stress"
- SWAMI RAMA

What is STRESS?

Technically, whenever we perceive anything as a threat to us whether physical or psychological, we are under the grip of STRESS. However from a practical or lay person's point of view, whenever our mind feels uneasy, restless, disturbed, agitated, tense, heavy, or strained, we are said to be under stress. On the other hand, when our mind is feeling light, easy, cheerful, calm, and quit, we are said to in relaxed state, opposite to that of stress.

Effect of Stress

Whenever we experience stress, a stress mechanism is activated which is also called 'fight or flight response or alarm response'. It is as if a red alert is declared in the body to meet the impending challenge or emergency. In this condition the sympathetic component of autonomous nervous system is aroused through an impulse from the hypothalamus leading to the following body response.
o Pituitary gland releases the hormone ACTH which triggers the adrenal glands.
o Adrenal glands produce another hormone cortisal which acts on the liver.
o Cortisol converts glycogen stored in the liver into blood sugar to provide instant energy.
o Breathing becomes faster to provide more oxygen to the body.
o Stress chemicals such as adrenaline and non-adrenaline are released directly into the blood stream to produce a surge of energy in the body.
o Heartbeat is increased to increase blood circulation.
o Blood vessels are dilated and blood pressure is increased.
o Sweating increases, skin resistance decreases.
o Muscle tightness and tension are increased to enable them to be ready for action.
o The process of digestion is shut down as blood is diverted away from stomach towards skeleton muscles.
o Dilation of pupils occurs to allow more light into the eye.
o Mouth dries up, because the salivary glands dry.
o The rectum and bladder muscles relax.
o Shaking of the limbs, cracking in voice.
o Blood is diverted away from the skin. Peripheral blood vessels are constricted giving a feeling of coldness in hands etc.
o Immune system becomes weak.

Stress and Diseases

It is said 80% of diseases are due to stress. They are either originated or aggravated by stress and are called Psychomatic diseases:-
a) Asthma
b) Back Pain
c) Arthritis
d) Digestive disorders, stomach ulcers, diarrhea
e) Diabetes
f) Headaches, migrane
g) Spondylitis
h) High Blood pressure
i) Muscular tightness
j) Various mental disorders

Effect of stress on Performance and Behaviour

One simple effect of stress on our general behavior is that we easily become upset, irritated and impatient. We become confused and fickle minded in taking decisions. Our concentration and memory weaken. Our anxiety increases other behavioural patterns include:
o Leaving important tasks undone until the very last minute, then panicking and being unable to complete them.
o Allowing insufficient time to get to work and to important appointments.
o Trying to do two or more things at the same time and always remaining under time pressure.
o Working and reading while eating.
o Talking too fast, too loud or too aggressively, swearing, interrupting others, or talking over them, not listening to what people have to say and arguing for the sake of it.
o Not able to sit quietly at one place for a long time, moving here and there in a tense jerky way.
o Losing sense of humour.
o Reacting nervously or irritably, loosing control over their reactions and unable to cope calmly, overreactive behavior.
o Accident prone driving on road.
o Sleeplessness and restless sleep.

Physical Signals of Stress

There are outward signs by which we can guess or judge that a person is in stress, for example:
o Biting nails
o Clenching fists
o Clenching jaw
o Finger tapping or chair/table
o Grinding teeth while sleeping
o Hunching shoulders
o Wrinkles on forehead and tense forehead muscles.
o Frequent sighing or yawning
o Tapping feet on the floor
o Shaking while sitting on chair
o Shallow breathing or upper chest breathing
o Tightness in muscles of various parts of body like lower back, neck, shoulders, upper back, thighs, calves and feet muscles, arm muscles, facial and forehead muscles.
o Tightness of stomach and reduced movement of diaphragm.
o Loss of appetite

One may exhibit some or many of these symptoms depending upon his stress prone habits to which he is hooked to.

Causes of Stress

Causes of stress (stressors) can be broadly placed in the following categories:
1) Psychological or Mental Stressors
2) Environmental stressors
3) Physical stressors

Psychological or Mental Stressors

Psychological causes of stress revolve around the fact as to how the mentally react to various events and problems around us with negative emotions like anger, fear, hatred, jealousy, revenge, worries, irritation, frustration, anxiety, they are bound to create stress. A simple example, suppose there has suddenly been some problem in your car. One way is to feel highly tense as to why it has happened. Another way is to take it as a way of life. That is, you are ready to accept any eventually in life. Events or various incidents themselves don't create stress, it is only our attitude and outlook towards them which create stress. If we can learn to view everything in a positive way, it is impossible to be in stress.



To be continued..