Stress
is no respector of
persons, it affects men, women
and children alike and can have devastating affects if left untreated.
It can have repercussions in all areas of our lives and even
lead
to obesity and other disabilities.
Once
we understand the causes of stress in our lives we will have a lot
better chance of learning how to deal with it. Each one of us
have the ability to analyze our individual weaknesses
One
of the more common definitions
of
stress is "mental or emotional strain.
Stress can be
created when we receive good news or bad. We can be overcome
with stress with the birth of a new child or the graduation of our
youngest daughter from college. As we become more exposed to
stressful situations we become aware of the benefits of stress
management.
The important thing to know
is we can learn to cope with stress.
Of
course we
are faced with stress in our
everyday lives in America such as long commutes to work in bad traffic,
too much debt load that results in collection calls, stress due
to health problems that tend to affect us all at one time or
another and many other areas including family disputes. Stress in
America is rapidly becoming a way of life.
We will need to program our
minds to learn to cope with stress.
Stress
is the result of a imagined or real threat to our physical or
psychological integrity. Essentially
this means we will encounter stress with any change in our environment
that creates a reaction from us.
An example of
this could be if you are a type A personality and you work with members
of a team that really are not driven or motivated to excel, this would
most likely create a lot of frustration in your life and lead to
stress
for you.
We all have our stress
limits and we all have a learning curve when it comes to coping with
stress in our lives.
As
we have mentioned stress in America can be the result of many different
scenarios that we may find ourselves in. A lot of times we
have no control over these factors.
A
prime example would be
if we are involved in a serious accident that leaves us
disabled and
put in a position of having to learn all over again how to speak or
walk. Because of these factors we must learn to use stress management
to our benefit.
Stress
management is just another way of stating that we must learn to deal
with and cope with our stress if we are to live a happy and productive
life
We
could spend months or even years in rehab and this would take its toll
on all your family members and some of your close
friends
What
this means is one moment you are perfectly healthy and happy
and the next moment you are faced with severe changes to your lifestyle
that is beyond your control that will aggravate stress in our lives.
Stress
in America can be as simple as just being late for work or as serious
as losing a loved one due to an unexpected death. In either
case we are all exposed to stressful situations on a daily basis. It is critical
that we learn to cope with our stress and learn to recognize what
triggers the stress in our lives. We
will need to adjust our attitudes and learn how to live with
stress . Learning to live with and cope with stress
can be a
challenge but can be achieved with motivation and education.
Hostility is another prime cause of stress in our lives and is
associated with the Type A personality. Some of the traits
are impatience, irritability and quick tempered reaction to a situation
without thinking about the subsequent consequences.Here
again we must see and act upon the causes of stress in our lives and
embark on a dedicated course to change those factors that affect us.There
are many sources of information available to us both online and off in
coping with the stress that creeps into our everyday lives.One
thing is certain, unless we adapt and learn to deal with the things in
our lives that create stress for us we will undoubtly
encounter
detrimental health issues.- You
may ask how does stress affect health ?
These can include high
blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and any many other health issues that
only increase as we age.Stress
can
actually be more detrimental to your health than high cholesterol.
Stress
can increase your blood pressure which will ultimately affect
the health of your arteries. Amino acid homo cysteine blood
levels can rise as stress is induced and can be a major contributor to
heart disease.
Your
medication for heart health problems can be affected by stress thus
reducing the results of your medication itself. ! Exposure to
long term stress is a disaster just waiting to happen. Coping with
stress is absolutely critical if we are to live a meaningful happly
life.
When we are
put in stressful situations we are less likely to eat a well rounded
meal but rather we have a tendency to substitute junk food of
all types and of course we are exposed to all kinds of fast foods which
are generally high in fats and
cholesterol.
Of
course if you are also a smoker and obese then things
really get complicated in a hurry.
Stress has a
tendency to affect us in ways we are not even aware of at times.
Sometimes we are over argumentative with friends or co-workers.
We
have a hard time dealing with traffic and other negative
things that enter our lives. Stress in our lives can even lead to
depression if left untreated over a period of time. In general stress in our
lives can actually change
the way we look at the world and events around us. Stress can
make us more negative and cynical about events around us.
We
all have make decisions that will affect us in a negative or positive
manner. We should decide to make a concentrated effort to cope with
stress in our lifes which will certainly enable us to have a positive
outcome in the way we view our lives.
In
addition stress in our lives can have an adverse affect in every single
area of our lives including our jobs and home life and personal
relationships and in a lot of cases to marital strife leading to
divorce.
Because of this it is critical that we all learn to adapt to the high
paced world we live in today, this will go along way in coping with the
stress that we face on a daily basis.
