Stress – What and How to reduce Stress  

Stress is the body’s reaction to a primary stimulus …

According to World health organization , Stress can be defined as a state of worry or mental tension caused by a difficult situation.Under stress peole can experience confusion , loss of control , abnormal behaviour and irrational fear .

According to American Psychological Association Stress is a normal reaction to everyday pressures, but can become unhealthy when it upsets your day-to-day functioning.

There’s a fine line between stress and anxiety. Both are emotional responses, but stress is typically caused by an external trigger. 

Anxiety, on the other hand, is defined by persistent, excessive worries that don’t go away even in the absence of a stressor. 

Although  stress is usually considered a negative response, stress actually constitutes a key process for ensuring our survival. However, when a stress response is repeatedly triggered in the absence of a challenging stimulus, or if there is constant exposure to challenging situations, stress can become harmful.

Stress generates flight or fight response , and since persons cannot run or fight in normal situations the hormones stay in the body altering behaviours . Examples of Stress hormones are cortisol, catecholamines such as adrenaline and norepinephrine, and  vasopressin.

Most commonly, stress originates from work, financial pressures, family responsibilities, relationships and personal health concerns. Although Stress is a commonly used word it Ironically negatively impacts the aspects of people’s lives that cause it in the first place. For instance, 70 percent of individuals who are stressed experience physical symptoms, lower productivity at work, and disruptions in their family and social lives.

The effects of stress on the nervous system have been investigated for 50 years (Thierry et al., 1968[115]). Some studies have shown that stress has many effects on the human nervous system and can cause structural changes in different parts of the brain (Lupien et al., 2009[65Effect of Stress can impact Hippocampus area of the brain. Stress can result in memory disorders . Also , it is interesting to note that under some conditions stress can improve memory .

There is impact on cognition , and learning due to stress due to changes in the pathophysiologic changes in the brain, and and these changes can be manifested as behavioral, cognitive, and mood disorders .

The relationship between stress and the immune system has been considered for decades (Khansari et al., 1990[50]; Dantzer and Kelley, 1989[21]). The prevailing attitude between the association of stress and immune system response has been that people under stress are more likely to have an impaired immune system and, as a result, suffer from more frequent illness.

The initial effect of stress on heart function is usually on the heart rate , blood pressure , an increase in blood lipids, disorders in blood clotting,  (Vrijkotte et al., 2000[120all, of which, can cause cardiac arrhythmias and subsequent myocardial infarction ( Heart attacks )

 How to reduce stress :

• Emotion Regulation
• Mindfulness
• Yoga
• Mobile Relaxation
• Peripheral Vision activity
• Colouring