Stress

Did you know that there is such a thing as good stress and bad stress? Stress is oftentimes a part of our daily life and dealing with it is important to prevent health problems such as weight loss or gain, ulcers, upset stomachs or other issues. Since so many different things can cause stress, and people deal with stress in different ways, it's often difficult to know what to do to relieve stress from your everyday life. Things that stress one person out won't affect someone else. Still others seem to thrive and grow on stress, while others fall apart at the least difficultly that throws off a daily routine or schedule.

Stress affects working adults as well as seniors and children. Both men and women suffer from stress, and it doesn't seem to matter what your job description is: everyone suffers from stress at one point in their lives, some on a daily basic, others less frequently. At the most basic physiological level, stress is caused by anger, anxiety and frustration, among other things. Stress is caused by a hormonal action that triggers an ancient 'fight or flight' response within the human body. Since the beginning of time, stress has caused adrenal glands to secrete epinephrine and norepinephrine into our blood stream. These hormones cause our muscles to tense up in preparation for flight, and our heartbeat and breathing accelerates. Blood pressure is increased and blood rushes to the surface of the skin and causes flushing. Today, especially since the stress we suffer from is rarely caused by physical danger, such constant responses by the body can produce health problems.

Learning how to deal with stress means determining what is stressing you out in the first place. Is it work? School? Husband or wife, children? Money or worries about finances? Once you determine what exactly is the basis for most of your stress, try to find ways to deal with it. Some stress can be alleviated simply by exercise. Exercise promotes 'happy' endorphins in the brain and makes us feel better, but forcing yourself to get up and exercise is the hard part. When dealing with stress, it's important not to allow yourself to get so deep in a slump that its hard to climb out. Stress can cause sleep problems that will in turn affect daily performance at work, which can contribute to the entire stress cycle.

Brief moments of stress are actually good for us and teach us how to cope and deal with a variety of situations. Dealing with stress with a positive attitude is a healthy way of gaining self-confidence and self esteem. Bad stress can lead to high blood pressure, heart problems and ulcers. In some cases, stress can lead to heart attack. It's the 21st century. Stress has become the norm for many different career fields and doesn't look like it will be going away any time soon. The most important thing that you need to realize about stress is that it doesn't have to be debilitating. Learn to identify and deal with the stress in your life and your heart, and your peace of mind, will thank you for it.