The Webster dictionary defines stress as a physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation. Stress results when where an environmental demand, pressures, challenges,being faced exceed the natural regulatory capacity or one’s coping ability.
Stress has two basic components: the stressor and the reaction to the stressor; but it is usually defined by the reaction.
The two basic components of stress are stressor which is the agent or factor that can cause stress and the reaction is people’s responses to the stressor; which may be affected by their beliefs or interpretation .
stressor or stress agent can be a threat, a challenge, a loss or any kind of change which requires the body to adapt.
Some stress related Questions and Answers
How do responses form a component of stress?
• It is the reaction to a factor in the body of an individual that makes the factor stressful.
• Different people react to the same stressor differently because the reaction depends on their belief about the stressor.
• Some people make very hopeless interpretations of everything. Consequently, these people tend to experience stress more often.
• On the other hand, some seem to be able to assess most situations positively and seem to be balanced emotionally most of the time.
• If a particular situation/factor is viewed as enjoyable and does not create undue pressure, then that factor may not cause stress in that individual unless it takes all his time and prevents relaxation.
How can I know that I am stressed?
• When any muscle in any part of your body is tensed, it shows that you are under stress. This is because when the stress response is initiated in the body, the muscles contract, ready to fight or flee; but when eventually there is no need to fight or flee, it still remains under such tension. Symptoms and signs that can occur in different people depending on their weak area include the following:
• Head & Neck: Pain or tight feelings in the neck and shoulder, teeth grinding, jaw joint pain, bulging eyes, tight jaws or flared nostrils.
• Muscles: High and low back pain, generalized pain or tight feelings in arms, legs and buttock, slouched shoulder, curled toes.
• Hands and skin: Increased sweating, skin eruptions, cold hands and feet.
• Brain: Generalized panic and anxiety, memory loss, migraine or tension headache.
• Heart & blood vessels: Rapid heartbeat, raised blood pressure, dizziness, etc.
• Lungs: Fast breathing, shortness of breath
• Stomach and intestines: Feelings of desire to vomit, distress in the stomach, acid stomach and heartburn, ulcers, diarrhoea, inflammation of the colon, indigestion, constipation, churning.
• Skin: Stress stain on the eye lid, frown lines in the forehead, around the eyes or mouth.
• General: Feelings of trembling, fatigue, dry mouth, fear of impending doom or death, restlessness, pacing, squirming, nervous habits like nail-biting and foot-tapping, irritability, anger, racing thoughts, day dreaming, lack of concentration, indecisiveness, change in eating habits, smoking, crying, yelling, throwing or hitting things, pains in different aspects of the body, compulsive behaviour, lack of motivation, sleeplessness or sleep disruption, feeling of going crazy.
Kindly Note that the body registers stress before the conscious mind does, don’t let your mind deceive you that you are not stressed, ‘listen to your body’.