Stress; Signs and Symptoms and the Best ways to Manage Effectively

What is Stress

Stress is not an illness, but if it is ignored it can cause serious illness.

Is it necessary to experience some stress?: We are said to be stressed, when we display sign of being under too much emotional or mental pressure. We've all experienced some degree of stress in our lives, stress is the body's way of allowing us to adapt. One might even say stress is necessary in order to function properly in our work and daily lives. It is our mechanism for coping. In my experience some people seem to handle stress much better than others.

I've seen people who are highly stressed go to pieces, attempting to stand up before an audience to give a presentation, while others appear to be driven to perform, always at an optimal level, doing their best work under stress and pressure appearing to thrive on the rush of adrenaline that comes with a stressful situation. Stress hormones give them the edge, allowing them to perform better.

We experience a degree of stress from the moment we wake up in the morning, as we try to be on time for work and start to plan our day. For some, the major problem can be stress at work, causing dread and apprehension the moment we open our eyes.

More stress as we get the children fed and off to school trying to keep up with the daily routines, juggling our lives to maintain a good balance between work and home. Modern life is one of high pressure we compete at work, raise children and attempt to maintain the perfect home for ourselves and our families, we must find ways to relieve that pressure or we will pay the price.

Signs and Symptoms of Stress

Stress can affect different people in different ways, but there are some common symptoms.

Stress can influence your behavior, how you think and feel and the way your body functions.

When we're stressed we become easily irritated, display signs of anxiety with low mood and low self esteem, we worry more and seem to imagine the worst.

Some of us drink more alcohol and smoke more, change our eating habits, become much more erratic more of a loner, socializing less, we become forgetful, experience headaches muscle tension and pain, stomach discomfort, dry mouth, breathlessness and dizziness, excessive sweating, insomnia and sexual problems.

When we are aware of the way in which stress can affect us personally, we will be able to devise the appropriate coping technique and avoid the unhealthy habits which we resort to for comfort.

Stress hormones such as cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline are released in to the blood stream as a reaction to pressure or percieved threat, preparing us for fight or flight, these hormonal levels soon returns to normal when the threat has passed, however, if the stress or threat is sustained and prolonged, the hormones will remain in the body and can be damaging to our overall health.

Damage to the body's system which can be caused by stress includes;

• Anxiety disorders
• Depression
• Insomnia
• Hypertension (high blood pressure) can lead to stroke, heart attack and aneurysm
• Stomach ulcers
• Impaired immunity
• Loss of minerals from the bones
• Disease of the arteries
• Damages to the nerve cells in the brain
• Obesity

Managing Stress

Managing stress can be a difficult process. We need to develop a number of healthy coping strategies to protect our selves. The first step to managing stress is to recognize that there is a problem, that you are not coping as well as you should, know when things are getting on top of you.

There are many things that causes anxiety and stress, these are referred to as stressors, some common stressors are;

• Lack of money and debts
• Death of a loved one
• Moving home
• Problems at work
• Unemployment
• Divorce
• Relationship and family problems
• Difficulties with finding good child care
• Ill health
• Bad past experiences, which are unresolved and are still impacting on the present
• Bullying and harassment
• Experiencing discrimination

These are only a few of the things that can cause pressure and stress, I'm sure every one can add to this list, with so many things conspiring against us it is easy to believe that there is nothing one can do to combat stress and prevent the progression into depressive illness, but there are ways to help yourself as follows;

1. Healthy eating, when possible try sitting down to eat, join friends and family, reduce the amount of TV dinners, get your five a day fruit and vegetables, try cooking more meals from scratch. Make time to eat a healthy breakfast. consider cutting out alcohol and caffeine, if not reduce you intake.
2. Ensure you are getting sufficient good quality sleep, early to bed, early to rise, the old rhymes are still relevant and very sensible. lack of sleep can result in feeling low in energy, irritable and tired, conversely stress also causes insomnia
3. Maintain an active lifestyle, research shows exercise causes the body to produce more feel good hormones, also good for the heart and circulation, lower your cholesterol levels and helps to reduce incidents of obesity.
4. Make time to relax and have fun, try yoga good for the mind and the body
5. Think positively
6. Make changes in your life for the better, look at your life, identify where you can benefit from certain changed, if it helps, make a list of the changes you wish to implement.
7. Focus on small steps, make short and long term goals make them realistic and achievable, don't attempt to do anything that may be too difficult to begin with, remember small steps
8. Deal with problems that are causing stress, do not ignore financial problem. Contact your creditors make an offer to pay off your debts by making small installments that you can afford. Seek help and financial advice.
9. Discuss problems with your partner or spouse, family and friends may wish to help
10. Contact your doctor or health-care provider before symptoms become worst.

In conclusion, stress can be positive or negative, we can use it to work for us in the short terms, it can help us to be creative take risks, be productive it allows us to enhancing our performances but it should be managed and monitored.

Steps should be taken to relieve stress before it become a problem and work against us in the long term.