What is stress? Stress • Is a term people often use to describe a feeling of pressure, strain, or tension. • Can be defined as the way you feel when you’re under abnormal pressure. People often say that they are under stress or feel stressed out when they are dealing with challenging situations or events. • Can also be defined as the brains response to any demand, including change, which can be positive or negative, real or perceived. What are the warning signs that youre under stress? When people are under stress, it affects them physically and emotionally. It also affects their thinking, mood, and behavior. Some people show only physical signs of stress, such as muscular tension, headaches or sleep problems. Others have trouble concentrating or become irritable, anxious or depressed. Still others may pace or bite their nails. Each persons response to stress is individual. Being aware of your own personal signs of stress can be very helpful, because once you realize that youre under stress you can start to do something about it. Physical and Mental Signs of Short-term Stress Often occurring in quick bursts in reaction to something in your environment, short-term stress can affect your body in many ways. Some examples include: • Making your heartbeat and breath faster • Making you sweat more • Leaving you with cold hands, feet, or skin • Making you feel sick to your stomach • Tightening your muscles or making you feel tense • Leaving your mouth dry • Making you have to go to the bathroom frequently • Increasing muscle spasms, headaches, fatigue, and shortness of breath While this burst of energy may help you in physical situations where your body needs to react quickly, it can have bad effects on your mind and performance if there is no outlet or reason for your stress. These effects may include: • Interfering with your judgment and causing you to make bad decisions • Making you see difficult situations as threatening • Reducing your enjoyment and making you feel bad • Making it difficult for you to concentrate or to deal with distraction • Leaving you anxious, frustrated or mad • Making you feel rejected, unable to laugh, afraid of free time, unable to work, and not willing to discuss your problems with others
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 18:58:32 +0000
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