Introduction of Stress effects and Management
With the latest advancement of technology,
the life has become far easier and comfortable. But on the other hand such
advancements had made the human life more stressful and problematic. In the
modern era of technology human life is always looks in a rush. From this
mechanical and fast life style one can easily get frustrated and exhausted.
There is a very rapid increase in the patients of stress and depression in last
few years. Normally we do consider the stress as a negative factor which
minimizes the performance and efficiency of an individual. But those who learn
the art to handle the stress can produce wonders. Normally man puts his extra
efforts to fulfill the tasks when the conditions are not very much favorable.
If we learn the art to diagnose the stress and handle it properly we can get
rid of the negative effects of the stress (Charles, 2013).
Stress is that condition from which every individual is
suffered due to this modern and advancement of the technologies that created
pressure on the humans as they develop the effective strategies for the
development of the organization and it leads towards the stress which effect
the performance of people at their work place. Furthermore, traumatic stress
also occurred due to some negative events like rape, accidents, war, abuse and
many other events that disturb the emotional feelings of the person and the
person is unable to perform its responsibilities and enjoy the good and
happiest moment of the life (Caggianiello & Spano, 2016).
Actually stress does not means that everything has gone and
cannot be corrected. Stress is just the indication of unfavorable
circumstances. If we consider the stress as a harmful thing, we can never give
our full devotion to the work and cannot fulfill the demands of the society and
market (Javidi, Hojjatollah, & Yadollahie, 2012).
Few decades back people were unaware of the word stress. With
the development of modern technology we were introduced the word stress.
Previously this term was only used in physics to demonstrate effects of any
force or pressure applied on a substance. But now a day stress is being considered
as a serious mental issue, which may induce other medical problems as well. But
in reality stress is just an indicator of unpleasant conditions and test how
strong are nerves actually are. It is very important in our life like other
factors we have to stay as positive as possible in the matter of stress (Jonathan, 2014).
Stress should be taken just like an opponent in a game. We
nor ignore the opponent in the game neither we can afford to be horrify from
it. Stress initiates from the challenges. If we face the challenges manfully
and handle the situations intelligently then we can eliminate stress from our
life very easily. But if we fails to respond accordingly then the stress will
persist and can lead to serious physiological issues like anxiety and
depression. Any physical or mental issue if new, is called acute in medical
term. But if the issue or problem remains untreated then the problem may converts
from acute to chronic that leads to metabolic and other hormonal issues like
hypertension and diabetes (Pitman, 2012).
The research on the stress is wide by the neuroscientist and
some psychologists that develop the effective results for the reason of the
stress and its related harmful effect on the health and emotion of the human
being. Moreover, the results of the research on stress described that chemical
formation within the brain that has effect on the stress and the work on this
research is in progress for the effective and accurate causes of the stress
prevailing within the human body and emotions (Persson & Rossin-Slater,
2018).
However, the stress is not good for the human beings as they
suffered from it for the long period and reduce the level of energy, absorbance
capacity of the pressure which is not good for the life of an individual. The
scientific research described the stress is started from the unwanted
happenings and then lead towards the mental disorder that is the great loss for
the humans. The mental health which is affected by the stress leading towards
the chronic and sometimes acute disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and
many others that reduce the efficiency of performance of human beings.
The stress and mental were previously not being take that
seriously. Not much of research has been done in this field around the globe in
last few decades. The reason was that people were not suffering from
psychological problem as much in recent past.
With very rapid rise in the mental and psychological issues scientists
have started to research in this field and find out the answers of some
mysteries related to mental health and stress. Stress can be of different type
depending upon the socio-economic status of the sufferer. Stress can be due to
work place tension, or it could be related to domestic problems. But whatever
the stimulus of the stress is, we have to learn the art to counter the stress
and its causes. We should not consider stress as a careless disease but on the
other hand we cannot afford to leave the stress untreated. We have to get rid
of it as soon as possible. if we do not treat stress in its acute state then it
will persist and can be transformed into life threatening chronic state, which
may cause other health issues.
The study described the term stress, its effect on the human
health, mental disturbance and other factors that are the reason of stress. The
scientific study by using scientific models on the psychological related
problems of the stress that also effect the health of brain and its efficiency
due to its persistent nature. The stress also has effect on the emotions and
working ability which is the great loss of human being. Moreover, this study
focused on the different types of stress which are chronic stress, traumatic
stress and post traumatic stress which should be treated for the better life of
a person (Knight & Mehta, 2017). Furthermore, by focusing on the types of
stress is the way to treat the stress in a better way that improve the brain
efficiency and also the routine life of the human being as they addicted and
not considered it as the major problem and sometimes threat for life.
Definition of Stress
A large number of scholars, psychiatrists, psychologists and
other professionals have defined stress in slightly different ways and
following are some of the definitions of stress;
The stress is defined in many ways. It is defined, as stress
is a complex phenomenon. It can also be defined as the tear and wear of
everybody life (Blum, 2015).
In the normal routine, people have to pass through wide
range of pressure. Same like this there are also a wide range of strategies and
resources for adapt with pressure. In few times people adapt well and did not
feel that the pressure is having any unfriendly impact upon them. Then term
“stress” is used when the person fails to deal with the situations at the time (Bessel, McFarlane, & Weisæth, 2012).
A situation that technically puts pressure on humans mind
and body is called a stressful situation. Stress is not really horrendous or
destructive. People find the stress in a positive effect when they are able to
adapt satisfactorily with stress, stimulation or challenge are the words used
at that time. With respect to this the accurate and simple definition of stress
is (Dhabhar & Firdaus, 2014);
When the pressure upon us surpasses our assets to adapt up
with pressure then stress occur.
Stress effects
Effects of chronic stress
Many of the studies are available
that shows the research result about the effects of chronic stress on the body
and mind. The effects and causes of chronic stress, which are on the body as
well as on the brain or mind of a person are given below in detail (Charles, 2013).
Stress Effect on physical health
Stressful activities are almost
present at everywhere also around us but almost all people can make a way to
deal with the stress or to go through the stress in an effective way. If the person
is in the stress due to the problems like pressure of work, deadlines to meet
or any other thing like this then the body of the person always reacts in the
same way. The chronic stress responds when the release of the stress hormones
from the body of a person takes place and it goes on until it is resolved (Bessel, McFarlane, & Weisæth, 2012). The prolonged
chronic stress releases more and more hormones in the body if the stress
increases and this continuous flow of hormones are harmful to the body. The
continuous flow of hormones disturbed the body system and causes, a rise of heart
attacks, strokes, blood pressure level. The physical effects that are usually
seemed due to the cause of chronic stress are weight losing, insomnia, skin
conditions like eczema and pain. Dr. Richard Weinstein who is the member of
American Chiropractic Association’s Council on Nutrition and the National
Institute of Chiropractic and a private chiropractor says that the effects,
which are due to the cause of chronic stress, can return, “If the cortisol
imbalance is not addressed” (Charles, 2013).
Stress is that term which is avoided by the individuals due
to its negative effects and consider as the disturbing agent in the life.
Stress has many routes that come from the home, work place and from
institutions. The challenges raised from these places lead towards the stress
and illness of the individuals. The stress contains different categories due to
its problems in which the major stress is chronic stress which is prevailing
for long period. It is also defined as that stress which is prevailing due to
unwanted happenings and events and it becomes involuntary that is out of the
order of the individual. In the chronic stress the corticosteroids releasing
from the human body that trigger the high level of stress as well as the role
of endocrine system is prominent in the stress. These hormones are beneficial
for the human beings for short period but it may harmful when they are
releasing continuously and long period causing severe and fatal side effects
that may lead towards the death of the human beings.
Effect on behavior on Stress
Behavior pattern can also be disturbed due to the effect of
chronic strain. Many changes are detected in the behavior of the peoples who
are affected by the chronic stress. It is seemed that the patient that are
suffering from the chronic strain on the daily basis they have particular
behavior and habits (Javidi, Hojjatollah, & Yadollahie, 2012). For example, their
behavior and habits are like irritability, isolation from friends and family,
moodiness etc. The people who are the victim of the chronic stress may
sometimes become anger to almost everything. These people are unhappy about everything that
is available around them and these people are prone to impulsive decision and
angry outburst. They develop the bad habits like smoking, drinking alcohol,
pacing and biting nails and their eating and sleeping pattern also changed.
These things also effects on their personal and social lives.
Effect on brain
According to the researches and studies of University of
California, certain permanent changes occur in the brain of a person due to the
chronic stress and with the continuous flow or excessive release of hormones,
through which the people becoming prone to other mental diseases. UC Berkeley
associate professor of integrative biology, Daniela Kaufer and her colleagues,
after conducting a series of experiment, has concluded that fewer neurons than
acceptable and the generation of more myelin-producing cells are the causes of
chronic stress. Chronic stress may often leads to an increase of white matter
or myelin in certain parts of the brain, which can cause a negative effect in
the critical function of the brain such as nervous system or neuronal system (Charles, 2013).
How to manage stress
It is important for an individual to improve itself by
reducing the level of stress by develop effective strategies like self-talking
that improve the personality of individual and construct the flaws which
occurred due to the stress. This practice enhances the self-improvement and
reduce the level of stress by absorbing the pressure in an effective way. The
self-talk improves the thinking and idea of the individuals.
Stress is related to the different factors that enhance the
level of stress like external and internal factors. Many other factors that are
causing stress within the people are illness for long period, poverty, bad time
of life, work pressure and other negative factors that trigger the stress and
disturb the mental and body health of the individual. These factors have long
lasting effect on the emotional and physical life of the human beings which is
sometimes not recovered and become fatal.
It is the responsibility of human to avoid the stress that
badly effect the normal life routine and lead towards the abnormality if not
controlled on time. So, it is necessary for the better life of human being to
avoid stress by enhancing the stamina to absorb the pressure and resolve the
problems in an effective way. Otherwise
stress become persistent that disturb the life (Li & Sullivan., 2016).
So, it is our responsibility to develop learning techniques
that minimize the impact of stress that are prevailing due to the internal and
external factors. Moreover, these factors due to learning ability become the
strength that overcome the effects of stress on the individual mental and body
health.
Exercise to manage Stress
Another important stress reducing
method is exercise for those who are suffering from the stress for long period.
Exercise is important not only for stressor but also for healthy people. It is
the way that fit the person and reduce the stress and other negative impact
that disturb their thoughts and working performance. It is effective method to
reduce the stress but it is temporary method and its efficiency depends on the
condition and environment of the event.
Relaxation techniques and meditation for Stress
The therapy and mediation
techniques also way the reduction of stress and improve the physical
personality of the individual. It is possible to learn these different and
effective mediation techniques to learn itself or by the group of the
individuals. Moreover, to learn and obtain the mediation techniques by using
CD’s of audio and video to improve yourself that fit the person physically and
mentally. There are some programs that enhance the relaxation capacity that are
described below.
Autogenic training to avoid Stress
The autogenic training is developed
during the era of 20th century which is based upon the passive technique that
plays important role by aware the different sensation of body. However, the
autogenic is that term which focus about the awareness of the sensation within
the body repeatedly. This training is commonly used in Europe and now started
in the United States due to its efficiency. In this no physical exercise and
skills involved but this training is learned by using time and patience for the
effectiveness of human being. So, this training method is complex to some
extent because it is different from other relaxation method.
Imagery of Stress
In this method the treatment of the
individual is done by the usage of the calm pictures that relax the mind and
body. In this method, the stressor is treated by visualizing by controlling the
breathing. This method is easy to learn for the stressor and easily overcome
the stress. This treatment is also known as imagery method.
Other stress-management strategies
Time management of Stress
Another effective stress control
method is the time management which is important for the stressor as it focus
on its commitment on the workplace and ignore the negative thoughts that are
the reason of the stress.
Organizational skills to manage Stress
The organizational skills are also
stress reducing treatment because if your organization is managed properly you
are not under stress as managing tasks on time and no mess is creating. This
technique is efficient to minimize the stress.
Support systems of Stress
Strong social support is also
reducing the stress as people do not suffered from the negativity and improve
their living style as avoiding the stress that keep the mind and body of human
healthy.
References of Stress effects and Management
Bessel, McFarlane, A., & Weisæth, L. (2012). Traumatic
stress: The effects of overwhelming experience on mind, body, and society.
Guilford Press.
Blum, A. (2015). Stress, strain, signaling, and
adaptation–not just a matter of definition. Journal of Experimental Botan,
562-565.
Charles, F. (2013). Compassion fatigue: Coping with
secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized.
Routledge.
Dhabhar, & Firdaus. (2014). Effects of stress on
immune function: the good, the bad, and the beautiful. Immunologic research,
193-210.
Javidi, Hojjatollah, & Yadollahie. (2012).
Post-traumatic stress disorder. Int J Occup Environ Med.
Jonathan, B. (2014). Psychological therapies for
chronic post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults. Cochrane Database
of Systematic Reviews .
Pitman, R. (2012). Biological studies of
post-traumatic stress disorder. Nature Reviews neuroscience, 88-99.