Do you feel like you are constantly stuck in a loop of ruminating thoughts? Is it difficult for you to focus on daily life activities because you are preoccupied with your thoughts? Have you been feeling lower sex drive or anxious because of these thoughts? Do you feel like you are in an irritable mood constantly? Is it difficult for you to feel positive or energetic anymore?
There is an elephant in the room that is commonly addressed as “Stress” by people across all age ranges. Stress is defined as emotional tension or mental strain. It frequently occurs when we go through new, unexpected, or self-threatening experiences and when we feel powerless to manage a circumstance. The frequency of emotional stress could range from short-term or long-term aka Chronic Stress. Stress could be a savior in helping us to deal with a new situation effectively without embarrassing too much. On the plus side, it keeps one alert, motivated, and open to facing danger. However, short-lived feelings and emotions are fleeting and commonly accepted as normal but if they gradually become long-lasting, or chronic, then they might severely impact an individual’s mental and physical health.
Do you need help learning skills to de-stress? Speak to our mental wellness experts at Ganeshaspeaks.com.
Causes of Stress
Have you ever considered sitting with your feelings and thinking what could be the exact cause behind this? An individual might feel stressed because of multiple factors all ranging from quite miniscule to a vast range of situations in your life. When an emergency is called for, our brain’s little control center (i.e., hypothalamus) decides to send in the “fight or flight” response. Their breathing quickens, muscles tense up, and also the heartbeat increases. If this stress reaction is triggered throughout the day, it could seriously jeopardize one’s health. Given below are only a few of the many causes that induce stress in different areas of one’s lives. These may include:
- Personal– Bereavement, Experiencing abuse, Illness or Injury.
- Social– Having a conflict with a loved one, going through a pandemic.
- Educational– Examinations, Giving presentations, Peer Pressure.
- Work– Promotion, appraisal period.
- Housing– moving house, poor living conditions.
- Economical– managing debt, poverty.
- Psychological– Past experience with trauma, PTSD, etc.
Our wellness experts at Ganeshaspeaks.com can help you identify your stress triggers.
Effects of Stress
Having tapped into various causes of stress, it is essential to also pay attention to the side-effects of experiencing stress, both on a minimal (daily life stressors) as well as extreme level (chronic stressors).
Did you know that extreme levels of stress can manifest into various physical symptoms if help is not looked out for and the situation is not dealt with? Stress can minimally be manifested in all three aspects i.e, physical, emotional and behavioral, which may or may not resolve itself with time. If prolonged periods of stress occur it leads to serious effects.
• Physical– Nausea, vomiting, fatigue, excessive weight gain/loss, dizziness or lightheadedness, high blood pressure, loss of appetite, heart diseases, muscle aches and headaches, chest pains and high blood pressure, etc.
• Psychological/ Emotional– Irritability, panic attacks, sadness. Extreme stress can also exacerbate mood disorders, depression and anxiety, impact cognitive functioning and cause personality changes and behavioral problems, etc.
• Behavioral– Unable to concentrate, Unable to remember things or make one’s memory feel slower than usual, feeling restless, cry or feel tearful, snap at people and so on.
Preventing Stress
Do you feel like there is a persistent feeling of sadness? Is it difficult for you to put a finger on that feeling and it feels like a fireball in your chest which is ready to explode?
There are numerous ways for reducing the emotional symptoms of stress and that starts with reducing the sources of stress in one’s life.
Finding approaches that works for an individual is crucial, even if there are many different ways to reduce stress.
• Exercises like running, jogging, and aerobics are excellent for releasing physical stress and tension.
• Practicing yoga or tai chi, can help to work your body while calming your mind.
• Mindfulness practices like meditation can improve the way your body reacts to stress.
• When possible, reducing stress in various aspects of your life might assist to limit your exposure to persistent stressors and distancing yourself from the trigger source and take a detour.
• You can manage stress and anxiety by using mobile apps that can help you relax and provide guided talks.
• Sometimes minor changes in diet can also lead to release of feel-good hormones.
• Inner voice and self-talk should be a positive one instead of engaging in a negative one.
• Writing about thoughts and emotions that have been bothering, like Journaling provides a way to express anxiety and stress.
• Going out for therapy and venting out about the problems provides catharsis, i.e., emotional release and helps one to feel much lighter towards the end of it.
“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.”
—Najwa Zebian