About Stress and Health Management

I am not a medical professional or qualified to give medical advice, I will be linking to all of my sources in this article, this article is for informational purposes.

As more and more information and opportunities become available, stress becomes a major topic and concern. Stress caused by indecisiveness is often referred to as ‘analysis paralysis’ and the solution is often to trust one's instinct and accept the situation. Stress can come from many places, some internal, some external. The best thing to remember is that there is almost always a solution.

While analysis paralysis is one type of external stress, an internal stressor can be remembering negative memories. The brain is very complicated, so much so that brain surgeons must prepare for each surgery differently because no two people have the same brain. This means that people have a hard time understanding how exactly negative memories work. Changing a person’s physical state or emotional state to match that of when the memory experienced has been shown to bring that memory back. The best thing to learn from that is to remember that every time you experience a negative memory it is only a reminder of a time that is gone and taking some deep breaths can relieve the anxiety induced by it. 

Types of stress and stress symptoms

Stress is a feeling of being overwhelmed or inability to handle pressure. It’s not necessarily a bad thing and should be short term. Any stress that lasts for long term can cause negative effects on your health, some of which can be long-term. Signs of stress can range from: Unexpected anxiety, fear, anger, aggression, sadness, irritability, frustration, or depression. Physical characteristics can also come from being stressed and could be: headaches, nausea, indigestion, shallow breathing or hyperventilating, sweating, increased heart rate, or unexpected aches and pains. These are all common for anyone who is under high amounts of stress and should only last a short time, if stress affects you for a long time your sleep and memory could be affected, your eating habits might change, and you could feel less motivated to exercise. Long term stress has been shown in studies to lead to IBS and Cardiovascular Disease.  

Effects of stress

Stress is not limited to mental strain, there are physical and behavioral changes that can occur when under stress as well. Stress can be categorized into three types: Chronic, Acute, and Episodic. Chronic stress is generally from long term triggers or stressors that last for a long period of time. Feeling out-of-control, helplessness, and low self-esteem can be related to chronic stress. Acute stress is generally a one time event that the person continues to feel stressed about for up to a month, any longer and it could be classified as anxiety disorder. Dissociation, startling easily, and amnesia from the event can all be related to Acute Stress. Episodic Stress is when a person feels that something is ‘life or death’ when it is not. This type of stress is often mistaken as being ‘overly dramatic’ but is a real emotional stress and a physical symptom of stress. Rapid heartbeat, panic attacks, and muscular strain are all related to Episodic Stress. These three types are disorders, but still give some clarity to signs of stress and types of stressors. 

Stress management and stress relief 

One of the best ways of coping with stress is exercise. Exercising increases blood flow which increases the amount of oxygen going to the brain, allowing one to think clearer. Exercise also allows the body to cycle faster, which raises endorphin production and chemically makes a person happier. Stress can lead to many problems like drug or alcohol use or misuse, social withdrawal, overeating or undereating, and lack of motivation or sleep problems. When in a stressful situation, try to keep your normal routine and don’t exhaust yourself. Deep breathing, keeping a sense of humor and staying in a light mood, being social and connecting with family and friends, and exercising or doing some stretching or yoga can all be beneficial ways to manage stress. 

Everyone has stress at some point, looking for signs of burnout and knowing how to reduce stress are the best ways to stay stress-free. There is no quick anti stress fix, but practicing patience and positive thinking while using strategies to reduce stress can make a difference.

Photos: 

https://pixabay.com/photos/stop-time-waste-ad-saying-set-3089945/

https://pixabay.com/photos/desperate-thinking-stressed-out-5011953/