Stress and Us

"The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." Lily Tomlin

Everyone related to stress in their lives in different ways. For some it becomes a positive driving force, wherein productivity increases with stress and the rest of the time is spent either procrastinating, overcompensating or recovering. But regardless of this, psychologists and doctors agree that stress has a huge negative impact on our bodies and minds - which, more often than not, we notice only when the problem has become larger than we can control or do anything about. In this post I'm going to explore some of the impacts of stress on the mind, body (and sanity!) of an individual.
Firstly, psychologists have found that there are three major kinds of stress, and they all impact the human body and mind in different ways, to different degrees and extents.


1. Acute stress - This is the most common form of stress, it comes from demands and pressures of the recent past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. Acute stress is thrilling and exciting in small doses, but too much is exhausting. Because it is short term, acute stress doesn't have enough time to do the extensive damage associated with long-term stress. The most common symptoms are:

• emotional distress-some combination of the three stress emotions - anger or irritability, anxiety, and depression;
• muscular problems including tension headache, back pain, jaw pain, and the muscular tensions that lead to pulled muscles and tendon and ligament problems;
• stomach, gut and bowel problems such as heartburn, acid stomach, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome;
• transient over arousal leads to elevation in blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, heart palpitations, dizziness, migraine headaches, cold hands or feet, shortness of breath, and chest pain.
  
  Acute stress crops up in most peoples lives, and is relatively easily manageable and treatable. 

2. Episodic acute stress -  This kind of stress affects people who experience acute stress on a daily basis, are always late or in a rush, Type A personalities, people who are "Worry warts" etc. They take on way more than they can handle, and are always 'preparing for the worst'. This causes them to be in 'overdrive' at all times and they show symptoms of extended over arousal - persistent tension headaches, migraines, hypertension, chest pain, heart disease etc. Sometimes stress is so deeply ingrained in their personality and lifestyle that thy cannot even see that it is the cause of most of their trouble.These kind of 'sufferers' can be very resistant to change. Only the promise of relief from pain and discomfort of their symptoms can keep them in treatment. Treatment requires interventions on several levels and may even need professional help for several months.

3. Chronic Stress - This is the grinding stress that wears people away day after day, year after year. Chronic stress destroys bodies, minds and lives.It is the prolonged stress due to being overworked at a job, being in a violent/broken marriage, living in poverty or during a war etc. Chronic stress is the inability for a  person to see their way out of a difficult situation.
Some chronic stresses stem from traumatic, early childhood experiences that become internalized and remain forever painful and present. Some experiences profoundly affect personality. A view of the world is created that causes unending stress for the individual (e.g., the world is a big bad place, people will find out you are a pretender, you must be perfect at all times etc). When personality or deep-seated convictions and beliefs must be reformulated, recovery requires active self-examination, often with professional help.
The most dangerous part about chronic stress is that people get used to it and forget it is there. They may also use it as a crutch and depend on it as a way of looking at their lives.
Chronic stress kills through suicide, violence, heart attack, stroke, and, perhaps, even cancer. People wear down to a final, fatal breakdown. Because physical and mental resources are depleted through long-term attrition, the symptoms of chronic stress are difficult to treat and may require extended medical as well as behavioral treatment and stress management.

Here I find it important to state some of the "stress-busting" techniques/skills that have been found to be effective in dealing with the daily stressors of a fast city life.

•  Prioritizing 
• Collaborating and Co-operating
• Exercising daily, playing a sport...
• Listening to music
• Writing a daily journal
• Having small daily self-care rituals after work. for eg: having a hot water bath, aromatherapy, taking a walk...
• Meditation and deep breathing techniques
• Eating meals on time
• Reflexology
• Drink plenty of water
• Stress ball 

References:
1. http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/research/psychosocial/stress.php
2. http://drbidani.com/diseases-and-conditions/stress-checklist/
3. http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/StressTipSheet.pdf