Stress Management: What Is Stress?

Stress Management:

What is Stress

Stress is a huge term, in this article, we will let our readers learn what is stress? It is defined as a response by a body due to stimulus. This response is usually non-specific. Stress can be in various forms which can harm an individual if coping style is not effective. It is basically a physical response against the stressful situation.

It can be taken both as positively and negatively, it all is solely dependent on the respective person that how he/she perceives it. When we say we are in stress that simply means that an individual is having changes in physiological response which are adaptive and solely occur as a reaction to that stressor. Whenever in stress, a person’s flight or fight response get activated. Under many circumstances, a stress is said to be beneficial which simply means that it helps us to get more focused and increase our attention span. 

It has various kinds. It can either be physical i.e. a person is feeling afraid due to some stimulus or it can be an emotional too which is usually due to some unpleasant situation about which a person constantly worries. Proper identification of the stressors is very crucial as it enables a person to learn how to deal with it. 

There are some of the common sources of stress, let's discuss it here:

1.    Internal stress 

It is usually when a person occupies himself with all the thoughts and possibilities which are not practical apparently and a person doesn’t have any control over it. By thinking and persistent over thinking they make their lives miserable and constant worry make them vulnerable thereby, can affect their health.

2.    Survival stress: 

This type of stress is said to be due to a life-threatening situation which can harm a person badly. Under such kind of physical stress person needs to take immediate measures to protect himself. Under such condition, body’s flight or fight response gets activated so that a person can increase their focus and take prompt actions to get them out of that situation.

3.    Environmental stress: 

Pressure due to the environment such as excessive work, noise or some unpleasant situation.

4.    Fatigue and over-work: 

This sort of stress is very common especially in today’s time when everyone is so much overloaded with work and loads of commitments. This stress usually results when an individual is not able to manage his/her time effectively and they pile up their work.

It is very much important to learn how to cope and get rid of the stress because if coping strategies are not effective then long-term exposure to stress can negatively affect the health of an individual.

What we have discussed earlier is all about stress taken in a negative way which is usually regarded as a distress. However, there is another kind of stress that helps a person to perform effectively. This is called as eustress. It is usually when a person takes the stress positively and works in a better way.