What we all think about stress...
The word 'stress' is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as "a state of affair involvingdemand on physical or mental energy". A condition or circumstance (not alwaysadverse), which can disturb the normal physical and mental health of an individual.In medical parlance 'stress' is defined as a perturbation of the body's homeostasis.This demand on mind-body occurs when it tries to cope with incessant changes inlife. A 'stress' condition seems 'relative' in nature. Extreme stress conditions,psychologists say, are detrimental to human health but in moderation stress isnormal and, in many cases, proves useful. Stress, nonetheless, is synonymous withnegative conditions. Today, with the rapid diversification of human activity, we comeface to face with numerous causes of stress and the symptoms of stress and depression. At one point or the other everybody suffers from stress. Relationship demands,physical as well as mental health problems, pressure at workplaces, traffic snarls,meeting deadlines, growing-up tensions—all of these conditions and situations arevalid causes of stress. People have their own methods of stress management. Insome people, stress-induced adverse feelings and anxieties tend to persist andintensify. Learning to understand and master stress management techniques can helpprevent the counter effects of this urban malaise.
"Nothing gives one person so much advantage over another as to remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances
."—Thomas Jefferson
In a challenging situation the brain prepares the body for defensive action—the fightor flight response by releasing stress hormones, namely, cortisone and adrenaline.These hormones raise the blood pressure and the body prepares to react to thesituation. With a concrete defensive action (fight response) the stress hormones inthe blood get used up, entailing reduced stress effects and symptoms of anxiety.When we fail to counter a stress situation (flight response) the hormones andchemicals remain unreleased in the blood stream for a long period of time. It resultsin stress related physical symptoms such as tense muscles, unfocused anxiety,dizziness and rapid heartbeats. We all encounter various stressors (causes of stress)in everyday life, which can accumulate, if not released. Subsequently, it compels themind and body to be in an almost constant alarm-state in preparation to fight or flee.This state of accumulated stress can increase the risk of both acute and chronicpsychosomatic illnesses and weaken the immune system of the human body.
Top Stress can cause headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, eating disorder, allergies,insomnia, backaches, frequent cold and fatigue to diseases such as hypertension,asthma, diabetes, heart ailments and even cancer. In fact, Sanjay Chugh, a leadingIndian psychologist, says that 70 per cent to 90 per cent of adults visit primary carephysicians for stress-related problems. Scary enough. But where do we err?
Just about everybody—men, women, children and even fetuses—suffer from stress.
More defination about Stress
People have very different ideas with respect to their definition of stress. Probably the most common is, "physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension". Another popular definition of stress is, "a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize."
Most people consider the definition of stress to be something that causes distress. However, stress is not always harmful since increased stress results in increased productivity. A definition of stress should also embrace this type of healthy stress, which is usually ignored when you ask someone about their definition of stress.
Any definition of stress should also include good stress, or eustress. For example, winning a race or election is just as stressful as losing, or more so. A passionate kiss and contemplating what might follow is stressful, but hardly the same as having root canal work. Any definition of stress should similarly explain the difference between eustress and distress.
The definition of stress for most people tends to focus on the negative feelings and emotions it produces. Almost every definition of stress also discusses certain resultant physical, physiological or biochemical responses that are experienced or observed. A very comprehensive definition of stress that includes these and more is the biopsychosocial model, which, as it name suggests, has three components. This definition of stress distinguishes between an external element, another that is internal, as well as a third that represents the interaction between these two factors.
In the biopsychosocial definition of stress the external component is made up of elements in the external environment. The internal component in this definition of stress consists of physiological and biochemical factors in the internal environment or body. The interaction between these two components in this definition of stress represents the cognitive processes that result from the interaction between external and internal components. Some of the physical reactions experienced during stress include hypertension, headaches, gastrointestinal and skin complaints, etc. Any definition of stress that does include these potentially dangerous physical responses is incomplete.
A definition of stress that does not refer to the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis or stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system and adrenalin secretion in the "fight or flight" response should also be considered to be a deficient definition of stress. Since stress is such a subjective phenomenon that differs for each of us, there really is no satisfactory definition of stress that all scientists agree on. The original definition of stress by Hans Selye, who coined the term as it is presently used, was, "the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change". This definition of stress was confusing when Selye's experimental animal results were extrapolated to humans and stress became a buzzword. For some, the definition of stress was something external, like a bad boss, for others the definition of stress referred to chest or stomach pain or some other disturbing reaction you experienced, but the definition of stress could also be the end result of these responses such as a heart attack or peptic ulcer. Selye subsequently had to create a new word, stressor, to distinguish between stimulus and response. He struggled unsuccessfully to find a satisfactory definition of stress and in his later years suggested that the best definition of stress was "the rate of wear and tear on the body". He was also unaware that the definition of stress in physics that had been in use for several centuries was the degree of distortion in a malleable metal when it was subjected to an external load. Thus, his original definition of stress was really a description of strain.
Regardless of what definition of stress you find relevant, reducing stress can provide considerable health rewards. You can find out much more about this and the definition of stress in Topics Of Interest and other www.stress.org or sites such as Reminiscences of Hans Selye.
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