STRESS

Contributed DHUNI SOREN (DR)

Stress is a normal physical and psychological response to daily activities of a person but can be harmful to health and well being if prolonged and frequent. It affects virtually everyone at sometime in their life and is increasingly becoming common in the modern world.

What is stress?

It is an inbuilt physical response of the body to stressful situations, like pressure of work, challenge and danger of any kind. When faced with such situations, the body responds quickly by releasing hormones called cortisol and adrenaline to help.

What causes stress?

Many things in the life or anticipation of them can lead to stress. Some of them are listed below;

• Worrying about reaching a place in time.
• Pressure to perform well at school, sports and work.
• Moving house.
• Arguments
• Family conflicts and misunderstanding.
• Relation problem and divorce.
• Unemployment.
• Money worries.
• Threats of physical or psychological violence.
• Sickness and poor health.
• Bereavement.
• Alcohol and drug abuse.

Sometimes, it arises out of series of minor episodes or without any particular reason.

The symptoms of stress?

It is important to recognise stress early, so that one can take steps to deal with it or avoid the stressful situations. Everyone reacts to stress differently and some people are better able to cope than others. There are some common effects that help people to recognise it. In times of extreme stress, some people may shake uncontrollably, breath faster and deeper than normal or even vomit. Some people suffering from chronic illness like Asthma and others, the stress can trigger the attacks.

Other symptoms are;

• Periods of irritability or anger.
• Loss of interest in the daily life activities.
• Loss of appetite.
• Comfort eating,
• Lack of concentration.
• Loss of sex – drive.
• Constant anxiety or depression.
• Excessive smoking, drinking or recreational drug taking.

Some physical effects include the following;

• Tiredness
• Aches and pains due to tense muscles causing neck and back pain and tension headaches.
• Worsening of pain from arthritis and other conditions.
• Heart palpitation.
• Skin problems
• For women, irregular or missed periods.

Post-traumatic stress;

It can affect anyone who has been through an extremely difficult or violent experience, like being mugged, witnessing an armed robbery, a violent death or disaster, being involved in a serious car crash or surviving a fire.
The people suffering from this condition can experience any of the above symptoms of stress. They may also feel mixture of emotions including fear, shame, guilt, depression and anger. They can also have recurrent memories or images haunting them and leading to nightmares. These symptoms can last for weeks, months or years and need specialist advice and therapy.

Who gets stressed?

Everyone is at the risk of being stressed and all have different mental response to the body’s natural reaction to a stressful situation. For some it can be a stimulus to motivate them to achieve more. In others it can have adverse and harmful effect causing a sense of not being able to cope and failure.

How to cope with stress?

First and foremost, it is important to differentiate between temporary stress that you know will go away when a situation is resolved and the long term or chronic stress.
Short term stress can often be relieved by relaxing, taking a walk, talking and discussing issues of concern to family and friends and having a good night’s sleep.
Chronic or long term stress is much harder to deal and can be psychologically and emotionally damaging to the individual, family and friends.

Identifying possible causes of stress;

Try to identify the aspects of your life that are causing it. Sometimes simple lifestyle changes can make all the difference. At others, you can try different ways and means to cope with stress. Some of them are described below;

• Talking to friends or family and sharing your thoughts and fears.
• Organising your time better to get as much done as possible.
• Delegate or share your responsibilities at work.
• Avoid confrontation with difficult colleagues and others.
• Learn to be more assertive.
• Take regular exercise.
• Practice yoga or any other relaxing meditation.
• Do not use alcohol or drug to cope.
• Eat healthy and balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
• Find humour or absurdity in stressful situations.
• Never take on more than you can cope.
• Tensing and then relaxing your muscles starting at toes and working up to the neck and head.
• Listening to the music or relaxing tapes.

When to see a doctor or therapist?

You should seek advice from your family doctor or any member of the primary health care team sooner rather than late if the following applies to you;

• Unable to identify the condition of stress.
• Unable to cope with the stress even if identified.
• Have physical symptoms associated with your condition.
• Already have pre-existing medical conditions.
• Have a family history of stress and other mental health related problems.

Further Advice;

Do not ignore the symptoms of stress and seek help and advice early as it can harm your health and wellbeing.

DHUNI SOREN (DR) 10-04-2007