In this modern era filled with technology and people with busy life we must have come across the word “stress” very frequently and even have experienced it ourselves. We might have experienced many such situations like when tests are approaching, when we have to speak in front of a group and we are unprepared, when our boss reprimands us at work, when we feel we are not good enough, and any other event that brings uncertainty and goes beyond our expectations when we are unprepared to confront it, we suffer stress.

Even when someone is getting married, having a child, getting promoted, or winning the lottery, they still face stress. So we can argue that stress isn’t just caused by unpleasant news and situations; stress also happens when we lack the skills or aptitude to handle things that we find worrisome. It is merely an extra burst of energy and attention.

Definition

According to WHO, Stress can be defined as “any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain.” Stress is your body’s response to anything that requires attention or action. Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way you respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to your overall well-being.

When we are unable to handle certain changes, demands, and occurrences that are perceived as a challenge or a burden to a person, we experience stress, which is any bodily, emotional, or mental strain. Our bodies’ reaction to pressure of any type is stress.

Causes of stress

The stress might be brought on by a wide variety of situations or life events. Stressors are any situations, things, or occurrences that leads to stress. Each person has a unique set of stressors. Thus, it is clear that stress levels can vary even in the same situation.

A person may not experience stress from a scenario that another person does not experience stress from. For example a public speaker will not be stressed to speak freely in front of public spontaneously but a normal person can be stressed by this situation. Some of the common stressor can be categorized in the following factors;

Social frustration:

Discrimination that exists in society, a lack of education and the discrimination that results from it, interpersonal harm among members of society, social misbehavior, and harmful customs that are ingrained in society can irritate a person and make them feel stressed.

Social pressure:

In this context, social pressure is the pressure we experience while interacting with or socializing with other members of society. When someone tries to affect our decision or work process without offering us a choice, we become uncomfortable. It causes the frustration and irritation leading a person to be stressed. The problems introverts have interacting or chatting with extroverts is a good example of this.

Environmental pollutions:

Environmental pollutions such as water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution etc. not only affect the physical and mental health of the person but also gives the stress to one and can decrease the stress resistance in person leading to experience chronic stress.

Internal pressure:

Without the assistance of an outside element, stress can be brought on by the pressure we put on ourselves to fulfill our own expectations and the irrational objectives we make for ourselves to have everything perfect.

Conflicts:

Conflict that can stress a person out can result from clashes in belief, thinking, or any other types of difference. This may result to minor disputes to great wars.

How stress affects your body?

Stress is simply our body’s instinctive or reflexive response to defend us from danger. However, when stress occurs repeatedly, it can interfere with our body’s normal functioning.

The stress hormones cortisol, epinephrine, or adrenaline, and norepinephrine are released by the adrenal gland in response to stress. As these hormones circulate through the bloodstream, they quickly reach the heart and blood arteries. Adrenaline speeds up the heartbeat and gradually raises blood pressure, resulting in hypertension. The inner lining of blood vessels, known as the endothelium, can become dysfunctional as a result of cortisol. Scientists now understand that this is an early stage in the development of atherosclerosis, or the buildup of cholesterol plaque in your arteries. All of them used together can raise your risk of a heart attack or stroke.

Your autonomic nervous system is activated when your brain detects stress. Your big brain transmits stress to your enteric or gut nervous system via this network of nerve connections.

In addition to giving you stomach aches, this brain-gut link can disrupt the regular rhythmic contractions that transport food through your gut, which can cause irritable bowel syndrome, and it can make your gut more sensitive to acid, which increases your risk of experiencing heartburn.

Stress can alter the makeup and function of your gut bacteria via the gut’s neurological system, which may have an impact on your digestive and general health.

In relation to digestion, how does long-term stress impact your weight?

Yes, cortisol might make you feel more hungry. It instructs your body to restore the energy it has stored by eating foods high in carbohydrates and energy, which makes you crave comfort food.

Additionally, a high cortisol level can make you gain visceral or deep belly fat in addition to the excess calories. This form of fat is an organ that actively releases cytokines, which are immune system chemicals, hormones, and other chemicals that can increase your chance of developing chronic diseases including insulin resistance and heart disease. As if that weren’t enough, chronic stress can harm our health in additional ways, such as by causing acne, hair loss, impotence, tense muscles, headaches, exhaustion, and irritability.

How stress can affect kidneys?

Blood sugar levels are raised by stress hormones, which also cause the body to reabsorb normally unused blood sugar. If you are constantly stressed out, however, you may not be able to cope with the extra glucose, which increases your risk of type 2 diabetes and, if not treated in time, kidney failure.

Symptoms

There are many factors that indicates that a person is having chronic stress or not handling the stress properly. Indeed stress symptoms can affect your body, our thoughts and feeling and your behavior. Being able to recognize common stress symptoms can help you manage them.

Physical symptoms of stress include:

• Aches and pain.
• Chest pain or a feeling or a feeling like your heart is shaking.
• Exhaustion or trouble sleeping.
• Headaches, dizziness or shaking.
• High blood pressure.
• Stomach or digestive problems.
• Weak immune system.
• Obesity
  
  
  
  

• Stress can lead to emotional and mental symptoms like:

• Anxiety and irritability
• Depression
• Panic attacks
• Sadness
• Emotional instability
• Difficulty in managing anger
  
  
  

• Stress management

• As we discussed earlier, everyone reacts to stress differently, as do their coping mechanisms.
  
  Not totally eliminating stress is not the aim of stress management. In addition to being impossible, stress can occasionally be beneficial in certain circumstances.
  
  You must first discover your triggers or the things that make you stressed out in order to manage your stress. Determine which of these may be prevented. Then, develop coping mechanisms for those harmful stressors that cannot be avoided.
  
  Figure out which of these things can be avoided. Then, find ways to cope with those negative stressors that can’t be avoided. Here are some simple strategies to reduce stress. The following list includes some of the activities that could aid you in stress management:
  
  
• Use guided meditation. Guided meditation is a great way to distract yourself from the stress of day-to-day life.
• Nature is the best cure for stress so try to be surrounded by nature.
• Maintain a healthy diet and good amount of sleep.
• Exercise and jogging can boost your mood.
• Take good care of your body.
• Minimize your use of caffeine and alcohol.
• Stay connected with people who keep you calm make you happy, provide emotional support and help you with practical things.
• Try other relaxation activities like yoga, breathing exercise or muscle relaxation.
• Accept the things and events that are not in your hand and don’t worry about the things that are out of your control.
  
  Stress itself is not harmful, but experiencing it frequently can result in chronic stress, which has negative effects on not only your physical and mental health but also those around you as well as the environment. Therefore, it is crucial to concentrate on and make efforts to reduce national-level stress in order to increase citizen productivity for national development.