Stuck in a traffic jam and getting late for a meeting! Worrying about the sleeping and eating habits of your children! Trying to strike a balance between meeting official deadlines and spending time with your friends and family!
Do these situations make you feel STRESSED?
Stress is something that each one of us experiences in our daily lives. It can be viewed as a set of tendencies and physiological responses that take place in response to situations that we perceive to be stressful. When demands exceed our resources, we tend to feel stressed. People view different situations as stressful depending on how they perceive them. We must recognize our stressors and ways that help us deal with them to effectively manage stress.
Stressors
Stressors are stimuli that cause stress. They place demands on us that threaten our well-being. Stressors require us to adapt to the situation in some way.
Daily hassles or minor annoyances in our lives like problems at work, traffic jams, or deadlines are some of the things that may cause stress or add to it.
Uncomplicating and decluttering our lives can cause a great deal of stress reduction. These include managing time, organizing, and being proactive in our daily lives.
Major negative life events, like a perceived failure or the death of someone close to us, also lead to a great deal of stress. Coping with these stressors can be difficult. Events that cause great suffering at a large scale, like natural disasters and acts of terrorism, are some of the most severe kinds of stressors.
All of these stressors may harm our well-being. Other factors like whether the event is predictable or controllable and the duration of the event also affect the degree to which stressors impact us.
Response to Stress
There are various components of the way we respond to stress. Our subjective perception and interpretation of events affect our responses to situations.
These assessments influence the way stress affects us and how we cope with it. They can be realistic or distorted. When we make distorted assessments, we tend to perceive our resources as less or more than they are in real life.
I have realized through personal experience that we believe that everything we think is true. But in some cases, thoughts are not facts. An objective assessment of our resources is necessary to obtain a realistic estimate of them. Realistic appraisals help us cope with stress, remove mental limitations, and gain confidence in our abilities.
Physiological Reactions
Have you ever observed yourself or anyone else who is under stress? How does our body react to it?
As soon as we assess the situation, our body responds to it by giving a physiological reaction. Stress can cause excessive sweating, shallow breathing, headaches, stomach problems, and more.
We can manage stress by recognizing that we are stressed and controlling our response to stress through techniques that help us relax.
Behavioural Tendencies
Stress also affects the way we behave. We tend to become restless, short-tempered, irritable, and unfocused when we are stressed. We may also lash out at other people or withdraw from interactions of any kind. Support from other people may help us deal with stress, but sometimes we do not seek help. Our habits affect our responses to events and also affect how we choose to deal with them.
Effects of Stress on Well-being
Does your mind go blank when faced with a stressful situation? Do you feel that you can tackle the situation effectively and reduce stress? Do you wonder how stress may impact your well-being?
Stress may have an impact on our physiological and physical well-being. Major life events and the daily hassles of life can harm our physical and mental health. They can lead to anxiety and depression, affect the immune system, and increase the risk of illness.
Stress can also affect our performance on tasks. It can improve or deteriorate it, depending on factors like the complexity of the work and the characteristics of the individual.
Stress can interfere with task performance as it distracts the person and takes focus away from the task at hand. It can cause an inability to work or a need for perfectionism. It may lead to guilt if you engage in some other activities to relax. Eventually, it may cause feelings of sadness and helplessness.
Individual differences affect stress resistance. Some people tend to be more influenced by stress than others. Some people can cope with a great deal of stress, while it is difficult for others to do so. Learning to cope with stress in healthy ways can help us improve our lives. We can integrate many small changes in our lives to reduce the impact of stress on our health and well-being.
I hope you found this article helpful. Share with us some of your stressors and how they affect you.
Watch this space for our next article on coping with stress!
References
Baron, R. A., & Misra, G. (2016). PSYCHOLOGY Indian Subcontinent Edition, 5th edition. India: Pearson India Education Services Pvt. Ltd.
Passer, M. W., & Smith, R. E. (2013). Psychology The Science of Mind and Behavior, 5th edition. Greater Noida: McGraw Hill Education (India) Private Limited.
Great article!! Importance of mental health is more than physical health.
Thankyou. Recent times have brought about increased awareness regarding mental health, which is as important as physical health.
This article is like a mirror in which lots of people can see themselves.
Waiting for the follow up article on coping with stress.
Glad to know that you could resonate with the article.
Insightful write-up !
Thank you for sharing. It is wonderfully written and is relatable to us.
Glad to know that you found the article relatable.
Very insightful and helpful.
Happy to know that you found the blog helpful.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful article. It will help us to understand ourselves better. Waiting for your next article eagerly.
Great article and so true! Really looking forward to reading about coping strategies next.
This article is really helpful and informative. Waiting for more articles on mental health.
Very informative and helpful as we all experience stress in our daily lives and its important for us to know our stressors so that we can deal with them at right time to avoid the impact of stress in our physical & mental wellbeing.
Much required Article ! Well written article. If we get to learn more about handling these daily hassles peacefully, it will be of great help to many. Looking forward towards more such articles from you.
Thank you for sharing the reasons of stress.
Thanks for sharing .Deeply thoughtful and well researched content. The complexity of life definitely leaves us stressed and coping with the same becomes challenging. Moreover we are often mystified by the varied ailments that we suffer from but fail to see stress as one of the possible reasons. Thanks for unravelling the cause of such inexplicable pains. Highly reflective and thought provoking blog.
Thankyou for sharing your reflections.
Very informative and insightful article.
Stress management is the need of the hour.Meditation really helps.
Thankyou for sharing with us what helps you.
Wow! What a comprehensive view and so simply put.
Very informative and helpful article!
Will eagerly wait for coping up tips.
A very relevant topic in today’s times.
Thank you for sharing wonderful article ma’am. Worth reading.
Great article and very informative.
Really“Stress acts as an accelerator: it will push you either forward or backward, but you choose which direction.”
Thank you for helpful and very informative article.
Great article and very informative.
An excellent piece on stress triggers … yes, it is important that we prepare ourselves to handle it.
Very nice
Very well written. It’s a very thoughtful and practical approach.
I guess for senior citizens major stress is their medical issues.
Thank you so much for sharing
Thankyou for sharing your stressors with us.
Very relevant and informative! There is an urgent need to address this issue with all age groups..
Stress is really pervading our daily conversations today. It was insightful to learn how we assess stressful situations! My stressors clearly are unpredictable events and the feeling of lack of resources to manage them
Thankyou for sharing your stressors with us.
Hello Alka ma’am..i got to hear your wonderful speech in Splendor event..it was amazing and fun playing the quiz after many years..I’m Padma kumar ,59 years young I was into PR and after stepping down from regular job ..came across Cilre and it was a fascinating journey facilitating children on various topics viz theatre program etc..I have always been stuck with some stress or the other but when I spoke to people it wasn’t of much help as they felt either I’m exaggerating situation or adviced me to take medical help…this article of yours is amazing and is written in a layman language in simple sentences understand by everyone..after my dad’s passing away this year Jan I took to art,which is my passion… …In this article you have mentioned that”it will lead to guilt if you engage in some other activity to relax”..may I get clarity of this sentence as I have engaged myself few mins a day in Art as a therapy …Thank you ma’am.. your sweet face itself is a therapy for us…
Glad to know that you liked the article and find art comforting. Art brings me great joy too. At times, when some people are under stress, they may feel guilt when they try to relax.
Thank you Alkaji for the clarity.. looking forward for more of your articles
Dear Ma’am,
This article is so well written and it personally gives me an insight and I am able to relate to it so well.
Thank you Ma’am for sharing excellent and very relevant topic which is important nowadays. Stess is root case of many diseases. Stress seems to worsen or increase the risk of conditions like obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, depression, gastrointestinal problems, and asthma.
What an illuminating and thought-provoking write-up!
One thing that got me pondering and has stayed with me from this article is, “When demands exceed our resources, we tend to feel stressed.” This is very true for most of us.
At times, we do not understand our individual capabilities and keep pushing ourselves to meet the demands and expectations. This may lead to not just stress but also fatigue, ill health, irritability and poor social interaction; as our social, emotional and physical well-being are interconnected. Hence it is essential to be mindful of our capabilities and our resources along with having awareness of our stressors. This way, we can find effective and useful strategies to cope with stress.
Very informative article. We all feel stress in our life. This article will be helpful.
Thank you for sharing.