Do you often suffer from bouts of headaches, anxiety, and restlessness, shortness of breath, back and neck pains, feelings of insecurity, irritability, irregular bowel movement, exhaustion and skin problems for no apparent reason?
Many of us misinterpret these conditions as symptoms of illness rather than as a sign of stress. They are very easy to misinterpret as symptoms of illnesses rather than as indicators of stress because very few people admit (even to themselves) that they suffer from stress.
Most people are affected by stress without their knowledge, some more so than others. However, stress is not dangerous or fatal. In fact, we all have the capability to deal with stress: the body releases adrenaline into our nervous system which helps us to deal with stressful situations.
Whether you are dealing with personal stress or in some other form, stress can take it’s toll. The coming years may or may not bode well for the economy, with this comes stress.
As human beings, we are hard wired both psychologically and physically, to have a very basic reaction to stress. It’s called the fight or flight response.
We tend to respond to stress by either fighting or fleeing from it. Since fighting is not a very adaptable or legal response in our society, we tend to flee instead.
We take flight and flee into anxiety, depression, hypertension, addiction and other unhealthy behaviors intended to run away from our stress.
Family physician Dr. Karl Hempel says that a significant number of his patients each week are dealing with a stress related or stress induced illness.Stress is the natural response of our body to an unfavorable situation and the symptoms of headaches, shortness of breath, skin itchiness are simply warning indicators we are getting affected by the situation. The unfavorable situation can be anything that we are having difficulties to cope with such as pressures from work deadlines, school assignments, financial difficulties or misunderstanding with a loved one. If we are successful in handling the stressor and have the presence of mind identify and resolve the situation, the symptoms go away. However, if we fail to cope with the situation then the symptoms persist and reappear every time we are in the exact same situation. This eventually develops into physical and/or emotional problems that prevent us from leading normal lives.
If not relieved, stress can affect and change a person’s life in the workplace, at home or at school affecting relationships and performance in general. Stress therefore should be managed so that we can lead a normal and productive life.