Stress is a very common word used by a lot of us on a daily basis. Traffic stresses us out, exams stress us out, relationship stress us out but what is stress and is it normal to be stress everyday? Are we really stressed or are we just saying it? So what is stress?

What is stress?

Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or scared in some way. When you sense danger of some kind whether it is real or anticipated danger our bodies respond by releasing stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones prepare the body for emergency action. This response is commonly called the 'fight or flight' response where you feel your heart pounding faster, your muscles tighten, your blood pressure rises, your breath quickens and your senses become sharper. These physical changes increase your strength and stamina, speed your reaction time and enhance your focus- preparing you to either fight or escape from the danger.

The fight or flight response is your body's way of protecting you. When working properly, this response helps you stay focused, energetic and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life- giving you extra strength to defend yourself or the alertness to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident. The stress response also helps you to meet challenges in life for example stress is what spurs you on to perform in times of extra pressure e.g. presentations at work or college, performing on stage or studying for exams when you would prefer to be relaxing.

So in a way stress can be beneficial in your life but only to a certain point. Beyond that point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing damage to your health, your mood, your productivity, your relations and quality of life. The key is knowing where this point of stress is for you, where stress starts to become a negative influence on your life.

Effects of chronic stress

The difference between physical and psychological threats can be difficult to distinguish. When you are stressed over a busy schedule, an argument with a friend, a traffic jam, or a mountain of bills, your body reacts just as strongly as if you were facing a life-or-death situation. If you have a lot of responsibilities and worries, your emergency stress response may be 'on' most of the time. This long term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. Chronic stress affects nearly every system in your body. It can raise blood pressure, suppress your immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stoke, contribute to infertility problems, sleep problems, skin conditions, obesity and speed up the ageing process. Long term stress can also leave you vulnerable to anxiety and depression.

How much stress is too much?

As stated earlier stress can have a positive impact on our lives but we need to know the point when stress starts to become a negative factor, the point when stress become too much in our lives. This level of stress is different from individual to individual. Some people seem to be able to tolerate a high amount of stress while others find it very difficult to deal with. Some people even seem to thrive on the excitement and challenge of a high-stress lifestyle. Your ability to tolerate stress depends on many factors including the following:

• Your support network - a strong network of supportive friends and family members is a protective buffer against life stresses. Having someone to talk to about the frustrations and stresses in your life has a positive effect on the amount of stress you cope with.
• Your outlook on life: Some people like challenges in life more than others, they feel that change is part of life and relish the challenge that change brings.
• Ability to deal with your emotions: You are more vulnerable to stress if you do not know how to calm and relax yourself when you are feeling sad, angry or afraid. To ability to bring your emotions into balance help you deal with stress better.
• Your sense of control: If you have confidence in yourself and your ability to influence events and preserve through challenges you are more likely to manage stress better. If you feel like your life is outside of your own control you may be more vulnerable to stress.
• Your experience of stressful situations: The more you know about a stressful situation such as how long it will last and what to expect, the easier it is to cope

Cause of stress

The causes of stress in our lives are numerous and highly individual. What causes stress partly depends on your perception of it. Something that is stressful to you may not faze someone else. Traffic may causes extreme stress for some people while others enjoy the opportunity to listen to music, think about their day or talk to friends whilst in traffic. The situations and pressures that cause stress are called stressors. We usually expect stressors to be negative but anything that puts a high demand on you or forces you to adjust can be stressful. This includes positive events such as moving house, starting a new job or starting college.

Stress can be cause stressful life events, internal and external factors and may also be self generated. Possible examples include:

• Death of a close relative, friend or partner.
• Divorce
• Marriage
• Fired from a job
• Retirement
• Injury or illness
• Financial problems
• Relationship difficulties
• Being too busy
• Children and family
• Inability to accept uncertainty
• Pessimism
• Negative self talk
• Unrealistic expectations, perfectionism

Stress warning signs and symptoms

Stress is something that can creep up on you without you always knowing about it. There are many symptoms and warning signs of stress and everyone will display these signs and symptoms differently. The important thing is that we learn to recognise how we react to stress in order to identify it and do something about it.

Some of the stress warning signs and symptoms include:

Cognitive symptoms
Memory problems
Inability to concentrate
Poor judgement
Negative thinking
Anxious racing thoughts
Constant worrying

Emotional symptoms
Moodiness
Irritability or short temper
Agitation, inability to relax
Feeling overwhelmed
Sense of loneliness and isolation
Depression or general unhappiness

Physical symptoms
Aches and pains
Diarrhoea or constipation
Nausea, dizziness
Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
Loss of sex drive
Frequent colds

Behavioural Symptoms
Eating more or less than usual
Sleeping more or less than usual
Isolating yourself from others
Procrastinating or neglecting responsibilities
Using alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to relax
Nervous habits e.g. nail biting, pacing.

Always remember that the signs and symptoms of stress can also be caused by other psychological and medical problems. If you experiencing any of the above signs or symptoms consult for doctor. See the outside help section for a list of G.P.'s in your locality.

How to deal with stress

It is impossible to eliminate stress from your life but you can learn how to deal with it. The following steps should improve your ability to deal with stress:

Learn how to manage stress

You may feel like the tress in your life is out of your control, but you can always control the way you respond to this stress. Managing stress is all about taking control, being in charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment and the way you deal with problems. Stress management involves changing the stressful situation when you can, changing your reaction when you cannot change the stressful situation, taking care of yourself and making time for rest and relaxation.

To learn how to manage stress go to the How to manage Stress fact sheet in mental wellbeing section. Click here

Strengthen your relationships

A strong support network of family and friends is our greatest protection against stress. When you have trusted friends and family members you know you can count on, life's pressures do not seem as overwhelming. So spend time with the people you love and trust and do not let your responsibilities keep you from having a social life. If you feel that you do not have any close relationships, or your relationships are the source of your stress, make it a priority to build stronger and more reliable friendships.

To learn how to build good relationship, go Building supportive relationships fact sheet in the mental wellbeing section. Click here

Learn How to Relax

Learning techniques that help you to relax can impact on how stress affects you. Relaxation s techniques such as yoga, meditation and deep breathing activate the body's relaxations response, a state of restfulness that is the opposite of the stress response. When practiced regularly, these activities lead to a reduction in your everyday stress levels. They also increase your ability to stay calm and collected under pressure.

To learn techniques that help you to relax go to the Relaxation Practice that reduce stress fact sheet in the mental wellbeing section. Click here

Invest in your emotional health

Most people ignore their emotional health until there is a problem. But our emotional health requires as much protective and maintenance as our physical health. By looking after our emotional health we impact on our resilience, our ability to bounce back from difficult life situations and events. There are many steps we an take to improve our resilience and overall emotional health

To learn how to improve your resilience and emotional health go to the Improving Emotional Health fact sheet in the Mental wellbeing section. Click here

How to support a friend who is stressed?

As stress is very common in our lives, we will undoubtedly experience your friends dealing with high levels of stress at some point. Stress is not something we can solve for our friends but we can support them by:

• Being their to listen to their problem
• Accepting that their moodiness is not designed to hurt you, you friend may not even know they are being moody.
• Encouraging them to take time out with you to do something fun be that going out, shopping, exercise to just chatting.
• Share any stress management tips that you find useful with your friend
• Share any relaxation techniques that you find helpful with your friend.

To get more ideas on how to manage stress, to the Managing stress fact sheet in the mental wellbeing section. Click here