Learning More About Stress

Stress seemed to be a common word now that a lot of things become fast paced and too many things around to get busy with. How do we define stress?

Photo source

Stress can be defined as a high level of mental and body tension which exceeds someone's capacity to cope that can cause distress or illness. We do response to the stress such as physical responses, psychological responses and behavioral responses.
Physical Responses: These responses can include rapid pulse, fast heartbeat, perspiration, tightened muscles, shortness of breath, gritted teeth, tense arms, inability to stand still and clenched jaw.
Psychological Responses: These can include difficulty in making decisions on simple things, hard to concentrate, loss of self-esteem, frequent anger, panicking, irrational fear and frequent anger.
Behavioral Responses: These responses can include being absent minded, smoking, increase of medication use, becoming accident prone, hair pulling, sleeping disorders, excessive drinking of alcohol and using illegal drugs.


Photo source

It is really hard to totally remove stress in our daily lives. More for those who are multi tasking like single moms/dads and with stressful professions like teachers and laborers. But we can learn how to at least manage it or cope with it. Below are some of the ways.

• Take a break from the things that are stressing you. If possible, take a vacation to change your environment even for a while and have a relaxation. Or just simply go out and have a walk as walking can help relieve stress. Do things that could make you feel relaxed or happy such as going to the salon for a massage, eating your favorite foods, singing in a karaoke or watching a movie.
• Do some exercises. It will help us be healthier not only the body, but the mind as well. Exercising can help in clearing the mind as it was studied that physical activities can stimulate various brain chemicals which may make you feel happier and relaxed. After exercising, one can also feel better about their appearances which can boost self esteem or self confidence.
• Becoming more social like having good conversation with family and friends. Having a social support can help a person manage stress as she or he will feel that someone is there to help or at least listen. Having happy bonding moments could ease tension and can make the burden lighter. There are also some support groups that are organized in handling stress that offers stress management programs.
• Try to meditate. Meditation can relieve stress as it can improves your concentration. Can increase self confidence as well. Generally it is considered as a healthy practice and can make someone feel happy.