For this first blog post, I thought I would begin at the beginning, by answering this most basic question. The American Medical Association (AMA) defines stress as anything that “disturbs a person’s mental well-being.” Stress is not necessarily negative. For example, your mental well-being can be affected by a joyous occasion such as a wedding, vacation, or birth. For our health, short-term stress from these types of unusual events, is not an overall concern. Chronic (long-term, ongoing) stress is a concern because of its deteriorating effect on health. Studies have shown that high levels of adrenaline and cortisol (stress hormones) can cause deterioration in blood vessels; much like stomach acid wearing away at your stomach lining can cause ulcers. In addition, blood vessels can develop thickened areas that resemble scars, which can then lead to blockages. Long-term exposure to high levels of stress hormones has also been shown to shrink the thymus (the gland responsible for our immune response), making it more likely for us to become ill or develop a disease when we have been under constant stress for a prolonged period.
What causes stress?
Anything and everything can be a stressor, or cause of stress, and it’s largely dependent on the individual as to whether or not an event or situation is interpreted as stressful. What one person sees as a fun and relaxing activity could be incredibly stressful for another. Take the example of a performance in front of an audience. For the attention-loving drama buff, this could be the highlight of their year. For a shy, introverted person with performance anxiety, this could be the most stressful event of their life. It is a matter of personality, background, and to some extent, attitude and perspective.
Many people cause themselves even further stress by telling themselves that they shouldn’t be stressed about something, or telling themselves that it’s unreasonable, stupid, or childish to be stressed about what they perceive to be a minor event. Your stress response is not something that you should chastise yourself for. Whatever makes you feel stressed is personal to you, and if it activates the stress response in your brain, then is it real and it is important, and it should be dealt with to alleviate your stress.
So what is the stress response?
The stress response is your brain’s reaction to any situation that is perceived as stressful. Our amygdala, a small part of our brain that handles emotional response and the “flight or fight reflex,” is responsible for reacting to stressful events and revving us up to face them. The amazing and sometimes harmful aspect of the stress response is that it can be triggered by events that merely remind us of other more traumatic events from the past. To use an excellent example given in the book The Promise of Energy Psychology by David Feinstein, Donna Eden, and Gary Craig, the reminding event can be something as minor as your spouse saying something to you using a pitch of voice matches that of your parent just before you were punished as a child. You suddenly find yourself angry and upset with your spouse for absolutely no reason (or so it appears to your conscious mind), because your amygdala “recognized” that voice and prepared you for “fight or flight.”
In humanity’s distant past, this function of our brains was extremely useful. Not only did our bodies respond to the stress of, for example, being chased by a predator, but also the next time we encountered the same situation we were even quicker to respond, increasing our chance of survival. However, in the modern world, this has become more of a hindrance than a survival technique, and can even lower our life expectancies significantly. In America, over 70% of all doctor’s visits are stress-related or stress-induced, and we are over 4 times as likely to die of a stroke or heart attack when we live highly stressful lives. In a survey of American workers, almost 50% of interviewees said they regularly feel burnt-out. That percentage is simply much too high.
What can we do?
You can find some techniques that help you to reduce stress as you encounter it, and techniques that help to reshape the way you think about stress in your life. This blog contains both of these types of techniques. Read through them, try out the ones that call to you, and discover the techniques that work best for you. You may choose to read through every entry of this blog, or simply look through the "popular posts" or "blog archive" when you are feeling stressed and want to find some relief. Some of the techniques in these entries can be put to use and be effective immediately, while other require repeated use in order to train your mind to think differently about stressful situations. It is up to you to try techniques that sound helpful, and to implement them when and where you feel that they will be effective for you. Good luck, and remember to breathe!
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