About Stress

The stress response is a normal, biological reaction to situations that feel threatening.  That said, we should be concerned about the detrimental impact stress can have on us mentally, physically and emotionally.

 

A little pressure can be motivating. It can help us to focus and get something done. 

 

However, excessive pressure or demands can quickly become overwhelming and, experiencing such situations for too long will have a negative impact on both our mental and physical health.

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In short, no amount of stress is good for us.

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What do we mean when we say stress?

Just like the word mind, there is no single definition of stress.

 

Generally when we talk about stress we mean circumstances that put pressure on us and/or our reaction to being under pressure, especially when we feel that the demands made of us are beyond our ability to cope.

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Here is the Health and Safety Executive's definition:

Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them

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Each of us responds to challenging situations differently.

 

You might say each of us has a personal stress threshold, the point at which things start to feel too much for us.

 

This explains why what might cause an issue for one person may not bother another. 

 

I liken it to carrying a backpack.

 

If it feels light then you can walk for a long while but as it gets heavier you are going to need to rest every now and then and, if it’s really too heavy for you then you will struggle to move forward at all. 

 

If we can learn what it feels like when the backpack is getting too heavy (recognise our personal symptoms of stress), we can find ways to manage the load and look after our mental and physical health.

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LEARN: Simple ways to lighten the load

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What happens inside the body?

It's helpful to view the stress response - also called the fight or flight response - as the body's alarm system.

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Made for survival, when we feel we threatened (psychologically or physically) this inner alarm is triggered and it rings throughout our body, preparing us for action. It continues to ring until feel safe again.

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Whether it’s positively motivating us to meet a deadline, encouraging us to rise to a challenge or exciting us to try something new, we will feel it in both body and mind as it readies us for difficulty.

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No matter the trigger, our system floods with hormones – adrenaline and cortisol – in preparation to fight or flight.

 

These hormones cause our heart rate to increase, blood pressure to rise and our breath to quicken delivering extra energy to our muscles.

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At the same time, other functions which are not needed but using energy we need to mobilise, like digestion, are switched off.

 

That’s why you might feel butterflies in your stomach or lose your appetite, when you are feeling under pressure, worried or nervous.

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Astonishingly too the thinking, problem-solving part of the brain is turned off. Who needs to think when there's a tiger around? You just need to run.

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Once the threat or difficulty has passed, the stress response is switched off and the physical effects fade.

 

But if you are constantly stressed, the body stays pumped up in a state of high alert and over time you will develop stress-related symptoms and illnesses.