Understanding Stress

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We commonly talk about ‘having too much stress’ in our life or having people around us who ‘stress us out’, or we may be concerned about global issues that ‘worry’ us. All these external factors can be very persistent and insistent – and they just won’t go away! We feel that if only life would run smoothly, if only all those difficult people would disappear, if only there were world peace, if only....... then we wouldn’t be stressed and we could get on with enjoying life! Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work like that.

All life events are simply that – life events. Stress is not the life event, but our reaction to the life event. It is important to be clear on this – events, people, and things in our life are the stressors – and they carry the potential to stress us, but we always have the choice as to whether we give them permission to do so.

The triggers that may cause our stress reaction can be many and varied. For instance:

Time deadlines
Work overload
Unemployment
Difficult relationships
Financial hardship
Divorce
Noise/pollution
Work conditions
Change
Illness
Bereavement

And there are no doubt many others that will be very specific to your personal experience.

Reactions to stressors such as these will vary according to the individual and the circumstances; different people will cope in different ways and to different degrees. The same life event will not necessarily bring the same levels of stress.

However, no matter what our stressors turn out to be, when we do react to them, we will experience several physical, mental, and emotional consequences.

Stress Outcomes

Some of the common results of feeling stressed might include:

Muscle tightness
Headaches
Nausea
Indigestion
Palpitations
Fatigue/ exhaustion
Shortage of Breath
Hyperactivity
Restlessness
Insomnia
Inability to concentrate
Depression
Negative expectations
Anger
Aggression
Loss of self-confidence
Cravings and/or substance dependency

The inability to let go and relax keeps us in a state of stress. This undermines the body’s defences, weakens us, and exposes us to the development of any one of the increasing number of stress-related diseases. So, if stress causes all sorts of physical reactions and problems, how does this happen?

It all comes down to something called the Fight-or-Flight Response which is the body’s immediate response to feeling fear or threat. At such times, the activity of certain internal physiological functions is heightened so that physical strength and motor power are at maximum capacity for fighting or fleeing. This is perfectly fine if defused after the initial recognition and management of the threat, but continual or chronic stimulation of the Fight-or-Flight Response has damaging effects on health.

As we shall discover, relaxation is the key to disarming the harmful consequences brought about by prolonged maintenance of the Fight-or-Flight Response. Release of anxiety and tension through the use of relaxation successfully elicits the Relaxation Response, the effects of which are to counteract and neutralise inappropriate use of Fight-or-Flight.

Review

So, to return to our definition of stress: it is our reaction to events, people, and situations; not the events, people or situations themselves. Our perception of these external factors determines the level of stress we experience.