WHAT IS STRESS ?
STRESS
Is a reaction / Response to any kind of change
Is physical and emotional responses to situations which are perceived as novel, frightening, confusing, exciting, or tiring.
Gets precipitated by external demands
Can also be generated from with in by our fears, hopes, expectations and beliefs
Acts like a signal for body and mind to get ready to rise to an occasion. It is an alarming reaction.
Can’t be avoided. It is every day fact of life.
Creeps in stealthily and has potential to either make or mar us.
Affects our mood and behaviour.
Produces tension and pressure on bodily systems.
Accelerates aging process.
Reduces immunity to illness.
Final effect may be serious illness of body or mind or even death.
So what? Is all the stress bad?
Good verses bad stress
No, all stress is not Bad.
It can be positive or Negative.
Positive situations like, promotion, a new job, marriage prove to be stressful but these increase our resistance to stress on account of positive feelings like pleasure, confidence, and happiness generated by them.
Negative situations like illness, interpersonal problems, financial losses, death of family members having been associated with negative feelings, like sadness, conflict, dissatisfaction lower our resistance to stress and make us more vulnerable to diseases.
A certain amount of stress is essential for health, and to stimulate us to do simple day to day tasks. Absence of stress in life makes our lives monotonous and dull.
More and more negative situations, in quick succession and negative perceptions about our existing conditions make it difficult to adjust or adapt. Then we feel anxiety, tension, worry and uneasiness. At this state good effects of ‘positive stress’ in our lives are over powered, by effects of negative stress. We start imaging all bad things that are likely to happen in our lives. We drive our elves to illness.
So, let us develop our capabilities to utilize good stress to our advantage and to prevent bad stress from spoiling our lives.
ROLE OF PERSONALITY FACTORS AND BEHAVIOURAL PATTERNS:
Every one responds differently to a potentially stressful situation. It is not only the outside stressor alone that causes stress, but also our response to that stressor. Let us note here that ‘what happens to us is not important, but how er react to what happens to us that is important.
Some PERSONALITIES SUSCEPTIBLE TO STRESS are
a)
Suspicious
:
Hyper vigilant, guarded, cold and unemotional by nature, uneasy in social interactions. He causes stress to himself and also to those who deal with him.
b)
Asocial
:
Eccentric, isolated, lonely , aloof and uninvolved, lacks concern for others, engages excessively in day dreaming, lack of expression of appropriate anger, Introvert. For him performing day to day functions is of too much burden. It is difficult to handle such person at work and in house.
c)
Volatile
:
Excitable, emotional, extrovert maintains deep long lasting attachments. Highly demanding in inter personal relations, irrational behaviour, angry out bursts under stress. Uncontrolled emotionality is stressful to him and those around him.
d)
Antisocial
:
In conflict with acceptable social norms, rules, regulations, constant marital tensions, repeated physical fights, wife or child abuse, very unpopular, repeated lieing, drunk driving offenses appears stressful and hardy, underlying stress and frustration takes form of aggressive and antisocial behaviour.
e)
Hypersensitive
:
Extreme sensitivity to rejection, socially withdrawn, low self esteem lack of self confidence, seeks jobs on the side lines, shy and eager to please others, creates stress in interpersonal relations. These are handle with care variety.
f)
Inadequate
:
Loves to sit back and enjoy life, passive. Pessimistic, fearful about expressing fearful and aggressive feelings, avoids positions of responsibility, anxious and stressful to face responsibility. Indecisive cause great stress to other family members.
g)
Obsessive
:
Stubborn, insists on things being done in ways and suggested by them, preoccupied with order and detail, serious, formal, highly stressful to others.
h)
Passive
:
Procrastinate, justifying their unreasonable behaviour , lacks assertiveness, critical of those on whom they depend on, don’t directly state needs, confused are mostly under stress.
Thus, personality determines how we perceive life events, how we behave in responsive to stress encounters and how quickly and how easily we handle stress.
STRESS PERSONALITY – ILLNESS
Understanding personality types help us to modify our behaviour patterns in order to relieve stress symptoms and thereby prevent related illness.
Type A: Ambitious, impatient, competitive, always struggle to achieve, irritable and annoyed if any thing gets in their way.
Those who don’t show above characters are type ‘B’.
None of the above two types is type ‘B’
Type A is more prone to heart attack and other heart related problems / disorders. In case of loss of control over SITUATIONS ‘A’ type falls into state of collapse.
Cancer Prone
:
Severe emotional disturbances before 15 years as children felt sense of loss, loneliness, anxiety, rejection, try to please people to win their affection.
Migraine prone
:
Feels sense of unworthiness, accepts greater burden than they can cope, easily given to frustration, sudden outbursts of anger, poor judgment.
Other uncertain, qualities : concerned above neatness, morality, conformity, can’t express anger / hostility. Therefore, facts are given not to threaten readers, but to encourage them to take positive preventive action to deal with stress.
Not only personality facts, but also a host of other factors also determine stress to individual. We may not be able to change stress situations or our genetic inherent characters but, we can change our reactions to stress and how we perceive it.
STRESSORS
Life events cause stress. No. of life events in particular period of time can lead to increased ill health.
These are birth, death, marriage, divorce, job, retirement, moving house But what is important is how often we experience them. All of them need social readjustment to a new change.
Greater the amount of readjustment required, greater the likelihood of developing illness. Loss events like death or loss of job cause more stress induced illness than gain events like birth or new job. In addition to daily events our beliefs and attitudes, unrealistic expectations and negative self-talk lead us to stress.
The stressors can be classified as Domestic, occupational and social
Domestic
:
Marriage, children divorce
Occupational
:
Physical environment, job structure, Interpersonal relations, Burnout unemployment, Role o f working women.
Socio-economic
:
Tax problems communal tension, over population, strikes etc come under political stress.
HOW TO RECOGNIZE STRESS
The body has its own ways of signaling that it is in discomfort. Whenever it is subjected to prolonged stress. Presence of symptoms is suggestive of the fact that some thing has gone wrong some where in body.
But, some people are so externally oriented that they are not aware of their own feelings. Until and unless we recognize our sysmptoms of stress, we can’t prevent/minimize them. Let us try to recognize “BAD STRESS SYMPTOMS” are:
Mental
:
Increased irritability and angry out bursts. Lack of concentration, Indecisiveness, Forget fullness.
Emotional
:
Becoming fussy, suspicious, touchy or weepy, feeling anxious, hopelessness, guilty, insecure, increased moodiness.
Physical
:
Tense muscles, irregular breathing sweaty palms, cold fingers dryness of mouth, palpitations, Diarrhea. More urination, Restlessness, shaky hands / legs.
Behavioural
:
Increased smoking, drinking, increased/decreased eating, sleep, nail biting, hair pulling, not mixing with others, neglecting looks, tapping fingers, lipsmacks, mannerisms, non stop talking, workholism/absenteeism.
Recognizing these symptoms and having appropriate timely intervention can prevent us from falling prey to severe stress related disorders/illness.
HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF STRESS
Reaction to stress occurs in four ways
Normal
:
Alertness followed by action of defense
Neurotic
:
Alert/anxiety is so great, that defense becomes ineffective.
Psychotic
:
Alert is mis-interpreted or ignored.
Psychosomatic
:
Defense by mind fails, alert is transmitted to bodily system causing changes in body tissues and leading to several health problem as shown here under:
Prolonged alertness / tension / stress can produce physiological disorders, which includes, tension headache,back ache, migraine and triggers off asthma, eczema, arthristis, palpitations indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, disturbed sleep.
It can also increase our succeptability to High Bold Pressure, Heart disease, Diabetes or Cancer. Even though, certain level of stress is needed in the life, but prolonged pervasiveness and high level of stress can ruin our physical as well mental Health.
So, recognize early signs symptoms and timely intervention can prevent future health hazards.
How to prevent / overcome?
COPING WITH STRESS
Stress is inescapable. So, it should be maintained in manageable levels. For this, every one develop his own strategies… coping is nothing but think strategies to handle stress. Coping with stress means the ways and means to be adopted to keep stress in manageable levels. For managing the stress, we shall bring CHANGE in 3 areas of ourlife. Self, others environment.
Some people try to choose to cope with stress NEGATIVELY. It is not good in long run. In negative coping one tries to manage or control stress by using methods, which on surface appear to be worthwhile efforts, but in reality only further add to increase stress levels in imperceptible ways. Negative coping strategies are smoking, Drinking too much coffee, alcohol, tranquilizers, eating too much, too little food. These habits rob away the resources from the body, which has already been stressed much. Managing stress is more than coping it is learning to cope adaptively, effectively.
POSITIVE COPING STRATEGIES includes
Nutrition
:
Healthy habits and supplementing body with vitamins/foods rich in vitamins like B complex, C and E protect body from stress.
Relationship
:
Developing meaningful relationship with others reduces stress.
Diversion
:
Theater, T.V. Amusement parks, provide a source of joy and entertainment and help us to tackle our problems in positive frame of mind. But diversion is a temporary escape from stress.
Removal
:
Temporarily getting away from stress situation resorts/beaches, gurus, Religious organizations. They give needed Relaxation, sleep and re-change body to meet stress situation again. But it fades away again after sometime of our facing stress situation. But his can’t give any direct solution.
Selecting a few of the techniques, which are most suitable to us land practicing them daily can give us direct solution to our stress.
WHAT ARE OTHER TECHNIQUES
Mental techniques
Breathing
:
There is direct relationship between mind and breathing. Out of the chest breathing and abdominal breathing, the later one is most efficient type as it enhances greater expansion and ventilation of lungs. Increases circulation and increases mental and physical relaxation.
The abdominal breathing also called as Diaphromatic breathing diaphragm is a sheet of muscle separating chest from abdomen. In abdominal breathing while we breath, Diaphragm contracts and pushes downward. This relaxes abdominal muscles. When we breath out, abdominal muscles contract, Diaphragm relaxes.This helps to reduce anxiety, depression, irritability, Tension, fatigue, Reduces shallow breathing. It can be learned in a few minutes. Do it five minutes at a time, twice a day.
PROGRESSIVE RELAXATION : Reduces muscular Tension, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, irritable bowls, muscle spasm, neck and back pain, high B.P. Mild phobias, stuttering.
Sit in a chair in a relaxed and comfortable way.. select a part of your body. Tighten the muscles of that part.. as tight as is possible. Relax muscles. Do it thrice. Then select another part. Tighten and Relax muscles. Like this do it in all the parts including face, scalp etc abdomen, back etc.
After the exercise is over raise slowly, to allow body to readjust.
Do it twice a day
Autogenic Training, Self Hypnotism, Visualizing (Guided Imagining), Positive thinking Meditation, Yoga are some other methods available. Learning them from some one who is eminent in them and practicing them regularly will help us not only from reducing stress in our lives but also prevent the health hazards we are likely to face. French pharmacist, emil coue commands his patients to repeat following phrase.
“EVERY DAY IN EVERY WAY I AM GETTING BETTER AND BETTER”.
This positive statement had cured many diseases under his guidance. So, why not say it to yourself everyday atleast 20 times immediately after getting up from bed.
BEHAVIOURAL TECHNIQUES TO COMBAT STRESS
Bio-feed back
:
Is use of instrumentation to observe bodily processes which are otherwise not visible or audible and to bring them under voluntary control. Information about your body is fed to you by means of a visual audio display. So that you are actually able to observe how your heart, breathing etc. behaves when you are stressed. Biofeed back machines serves as a an ‘inner eye’ offering. This is helpful in reducing Tension headache, Migraine, Hypertension, Insomnea, Muscle Spasm, Epilepsy, anxiety, Phobia, asthma and stuttering.
Thought stopping
:
Useful for getting rid of obsessive and phobic behaviour. Obsessive though are irrational, repetitive thoughts that worry a person leading to constant self doubt and severe anxiety, phobias are extreme fear reactions leading to avoidance of specific objectives or situations.
Thought stopping involves stopping a specific though chain. Concentrate on unwanted thought for a brief period and suddenly stop of empty your mind. A verbal command ‘stop’ or a loud sound are useful to interrupt unpleasant thoughts.
This is highly useful in treating obsessive thoughts of failures, accidents, death, sexual inadequacy, obsessive memorises etc. also useful in treating phobias like fear of snake, driving in the dark, lifts, fear of going mad, fear of diseases.
An aid to improve effectiveness of thought stopping is wearing a Rubber Band around your wrist. When ever you say ‘stop’ stretch the rubber band and leave it, so that it inflicts a small degree of pain. This sort of little self punishment will stop the ongoing thoughts. The main idea is to stifle the each difficult thought as soon as it comes. Such thoughts will slowly decrease in frequency and eventually go away altogether.
STRESS INOCULATION/COPING SKILLS
Preparation for a battle is half the battle won. Similarly, awareness of what causes stress in preparation to combat its effects boldly. Our body responds to mental images we create within us. By relax the mind. We can prepare ourselves mentally and physically to face an anticipated stressful event. This is a rehearsal in imagination for real life event that are threatening or distressing. This is useful in situation like… appearing an interview, presentation of paper before audience, arrival of new boss at work, first day in college, giving important speech.
Steps involved in this are as under:
01.
Imagine forth coming event
02.
prepare adequately
03.
Rehearse before event
04.
Give a break to yourself with pleasurable activities
05.
Prepare for the worst.
06.
Relax before the event
07.
Expect some stress
08.
Take time to recover
09.
Reward yourself
10.
Tell yourself in the middle of stressful situations, anxiety conquering statements like… ‘stay calm’ ‘don’t loose your cool’. You have handled this before, Relax now, you cn surely do this, he can’t really hurt me’. More you concentrate on these coping statements, quicken the relief from stress.
Assertiveness training
Being assertive means being able to standup for your rights, needs and feelings without violating rights or sensitivities of others, without showing aggression. It is learning to communicate effectively in a polite firm honest and open manner. It is the only way in which you can have your opinion heard, feelings appreciated and rights honoured.. assertiveness involves communicating effectively both verbally and non-verbally. It is also a state of mind. It is having choice and exercising that choice.
First find out to which style of behaviour you belong to among aggressive, passive or Assertive. One should learn to behave in Assertive style.
In this process of learning we shall learn assertive body language, listening skills, getting compromise and being persistent.
Body language
:
Maintain eye cantact, erect body posture, speak clearly audibly, firmly. Don’t use apologetic tone., use gestures and facial expression of emphasis
Listening
:
Be ready, beware of your own needs and feelings give undivided attention to other person. Look at his point of view, let other person know that you are listening to him.
Compromise
:
Meet halfway, part of what I want with part of what you want etc.
Persistence
:
Don’t get put off by people who say things to anger you or distressed you. Don’t give up till you get satisfactory answer.
Avoid manipulation
:
learn to avoid being manipulated by others. When some one refuses to take ‘no’ as answer, use a carefully, chosen sentences to use it as a ‘broken record’ and say it over and over agin.
Learn can ‘Defuse’ anger of other one by putting of discussion when some body in salts or criticizes you, give appearance of agreeing without promising change. This is ‘clouding’. Assertive inquiry, Assertive delay will help us in calming down our critic.
Assertive behaviour reduces distress and induces a positive state of mind and general good health.
JOB STRESS MANAGEMENT
Overload of work, time pressures, deadlines, conflicting demands, job uncertainty, under utilization of skills, unsympathetic Boss, and work monotony are some of common sources of job stress.
The individual, organization and environment in which organization functions determine one’s vulnerability to job-stress. Management of this job stress is essential for healthy functioning of individuals and Institution.
Job Stress Management helps us to improve our ability to cope, gives sense of control at work, decreases feelings of guilt anxiety and low self esteem, improves relationships at work, increases problem solving abilities, reduces Psychosomatic symptoms, such as fatigue, insomnia Backaches, Ulcer etc.
How to Manage Job Stress:
01.
Identify your symptoms of Job stress
02.
Identify your sources of your job stress like lack of control, information gap, conflicts, over load under load, conflict in values etc.
03.
Identify how you are responding to your job stressors
04.
Set goals to change the ways of dealing with above job stress.
05.
Change your thinking. Make realistic appraisal of situation, Repetition of coping statements (I can handle it) don’t blame yourself or anyone else.
06.
Deal with your relationships at work.
07.
Learning skills of negotiation in dealing with trouble some people / situations artfully.
These steps followed with thorough consideration will enable us to reduce our Job stress.
STEPS TO PREVENT JOB STRESS:
01..
Having Rational belief and attitude towards job, yourself and job performance.
02.
Develop skills to develop behaviours need to do job effectively.
03.
Develop support system at work.
04.
Learn to Relax and use leisure time constructively.
LIFE STYLE CHANGES
NUTRITION: Adopting healthy habits and taking proper Nutrition increases resistance to stress. Eat variety of foods, eat slowly, eat regularly, Don’t eat when feeling bored, or in angry or tired or anxious, eat smaller portions, Don’t see T.V. or Read News Paper when eating.
Avoid fats, particularly animal fate, avoid sugars, eat more lightly steamed fruits, whole grains cereals, avoid salt, alcohol, coffee, maintain vegetarianism, eat frequent small needs.
SLEEP:A sound sleep is one of the most important preprequisite for a healthy body and a healthy mind. So,
1.
Go to bed only when sleepy
2.
Have regular selling hours
3.
Take warm milk before sleep
4.
Don’t try hard to fall asleep
5.
Stop worrying about not being able to sleep
6.
Exercise during day
7.
Engage in quite pleasant activities before sleep
8.
Get massage for neck and shouders
EXERCISE:Jogging and waling are best exercises. Do this for 20 to 40 minutes daily. Indoor exercise equipment, yoga exercises, warmup exercises all help us in reducing stress.
TIME MANAGEMENT: Helps us in reducing Dead line anxiety. Symptoms of poor time management are avoidance anxiety and job fatigue. Constant rushing, Vacillating between unpleasant choices, missing deadlines. Not having breaks in between to Relax, sense of being overwhelmed by work demands.
Strategies For Time Management
Establish priorities, create time by eliminating low priority tasks, learn to make basic decisions, plan in terms of time rather than tasks don’t start number of tasks at a time. Complete a task before going to next task. Group similar tasks, allow some time for family, some time for yourself, you must have time to feel a sense of accomplishment and contentment.
OTHER STRATEGIES
LAUGHTER:
Improves breathing, lowers B.P. Releases healing harmones. When you smile whole body becomes calm-humor, which eliminates gloom and worry, improves the bodies natural resources. Laughter, the best medicine, can keep us healthy. So try to spend time with cheerful people. Try not to be too serious always, go through books, comedy videos/films.
ANGER:
Is acid which can do more harm to vessel in which it is poured, than to thing on which it is poured. It is normal human reaction.
We should learn to. Reduce it in a healthy way. Recognize the anger you feel, decide what makes you angry. Give the provoker the benefit of doubt, practice mental relaxation, listen, learn the art of forgiving…. Use anger creatively. Accept anger and handle it effectively.
MASSAGE:
Relaxes tensions from aching Muscles. Stimulates blood flow, eases stress helps fluid drainages, generates sense of whole someness and peace. Stroking, kneading, preasure and friction are four basic Manage movements.
SELF MASSAGE:
Can be done while watching T.V. or taking Bath. If necessary pleasant smelling oil can be used to lubricate. It’s helpful in relieving pains and aches. Start from face, to scalp , neck, shoulders, back, hands and arms, legs and thighs, feet, Massage helps to rediscover healing power. Get your mind of thoughts and concentrate on task of massaging.
Where to seek help?
PROFESSIONAL HELP
Some time it may not be possible to cope with stress despite using several strategies mentioned earlier. It such case we could seek the help of our doctor, Psychiartist or Psychologist or Trained Counceler.They would listen to you objectively, analyse problem situation more clearly classify your thinking and offer a course of action that is tailored to suit your individual needs.
MEDICINES:
Play a role in acute intense stress related symptoms to be used only as a last resort and for a short term.
SOCIAL SUPPORT
This plays an important role.
1.
Emotional support providing sympathy care and concern, love, trust.
2.
Instrumental support provides to needs, like money, looking after children.
3.
Informational support provides information helpful in coping with stress
4.
Appraisal support provides indirect support by approving and recognizing persons actions.
Social support reduces stress, impact of stress, improves resistance to illness, workplace friends, family members, clubs religious groups can provide social support.
HELPING OTHERS TO HELP YOUR SELF:
Regular voluntary service actually increases life expectancy. It is good for one’s mind and nervous system. Ultimately when going gets really tough, One should into shy away from seeking professional help or mobilizing social support in dealing with stressful time.
REMEMBER
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST
BUT
TOUGH PEOPLE DO
