Stress Symptoms
Stress symptoms - How does stress affect us in this age of anxiety? The Age of Anxiety is what the twentieth century has been called. A time where achievement and growth is forever sought creating in its path an existence of anxiety. Stress is known as the dis-ease of today’s society and the symptoms of stress can be detrimental to our health and wellbeing. Stress symptoms are the cause of many illnesses and diseases that we suffer from today. We might live longer lives than those in the past, but how many of us live in a stressful state where we’ve forgotten how it feels to leave in a peaceful state of mind?
Fear, worries, concerns, responsibilities, deadlines, striving for more, the pressures of life, crime, AIDS, unemployment, divorce, living alone, – we live with stressful situations and anxiety everyday. And our bodies suffer from it. When situations and events are too much for you to handle your nervous system releases a large amount of stress hormones to protect the body. This in turn reduces certain systems such as the digestive system. Prolonged stress results in your body's systems not functioning properly which affects your immune system. Anxiety and stress has been linked to a higher incidence of the symptoms of stress such as headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, asthma, ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease, and coronary heart disease. Chronic, prolonged stress affects our body negatively and could result with illness and disease. Physical stress is different than emotional stress. Physical stress is the result of our bodies reacting in ‘fight or flight’ to protect itself. Emotional stress is when we indulge in thoughts about what did or could happen. Our continual thinking about what we perceive to be threatening our situation keeps our body in a state of stress. We now know that a prolonged state of stress has many detrimental affects on our health and wellbeing.
Psychological symptoms of stress. When we are psychologically stressed out, our bodies are also worn out. The signs and symptoms of psychological stress are indicators to you that your body is run down. Stress symptoms affect the way we think and feel about situations. If you are finding it difficult cope emotionally you may be experiencing a sign of psychological stress. Our individual personality type is a large influence of how we deal with the symptoms of stress. Personality traits develop mostly through our childhood upbringing and the social and cultural environment that we were raised in. We can alter how we we've learned to deal with situations by being aware of our reactions, and then altering our thoughts and behaviours.
Sometimes the symptoms of stress can last longer than days or weeks. * Recognise that you are experiencing stress symptoms.
* Acknowledge that your experience to life's situations will be different from others.
* Remind yourself that you are capable of coping.
* Avoid the use of alcohol or drugs to help you cope.
* Consider your daily and weekly routine from a 'bigger picture'.
* If necessary, change your routine. You might need to do less activities so you have time for yourself to relax.
* Talk to someone you trust about what you are experiencing. Let them help you think of ideas for unwinding and time for yourself.
* Remember that exercise is important and releases endorphines to help you feel good and relax.
* Allow yourself time to rest during the day if you are experiencing fatigue or insomnia.
* Make time to practise a relaxing meditation. You might like to try progressive muscle relaxation. * Make time to absorb yourself in an activity that helps you relax: such as scrap booking, gardening or listening to music. * Check out other helpful relaxation techniques.
Stress symptoms - How does stress affect health and our body?
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