Another deadline passed, another ugly breakup, another pending bill: all scenarios stipulated above leads to stress. Stress is a term so common in our day-to-day life that we don’t think twice about using it. Not able to complete a deadline at work, unable to meet the client’s expectations, not at par with your family’s ever-growing financial needs, had an ugly breakup, dealing with a death of a loved one, appraisal conflicts at work – all these situations are common in our ever growing demanding life and we can say that a person encountering any of the situation mentioned above is stressed.
The experts at Capitol Hospital will shed some light on this and will tell you how best to handle such stressful situations.
WHAT IS STRESS?
Stress in our body is the ‘fight-or-flight’ response which is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to some danger or threat as perceived. It is also called acute stress response.
Not all stress that you encounter is bad. Stress is a way in which body perceives itself to be under some kind of attack and tries its best to handle it. This is done by releasing stress dealing hormones like adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine. Adrenaline is the hormone which helps a racer deal with the stress before a race or helps you when you are being chased by a dog.
This fight or flight mechanism is essential in many situations. It motivates us and helps us decide how best to handle situations.
Stress is beneficial to you but an excess of everything is bad. This happens to be true about stress also. Excess stress can harm your body. You can become sick mentally as well as physically.
TYPES OF STRESS
- ACUTE STRESS
Had a fight with your loved one and couldn’t sleep. This means you are stressed
It is one of the most common stresses that is encountered and is a short-term stress. It is a short-term issue or problem. For instance, you get stress after a fight with your friend. This stress gets resolved as soon as you talk to your friend and solve your issues. Then take a stress about some work deadline. As soon as the deadline is passed and the work is done, you feel stress-free again.
This type of stress doesn’t have any long-term effects. You may feel lack of sleep, headache or upset stomach but nothing much long term. But if you are encountering these acute stresses repeatedly, it becomes harmful to you.
- EPISODIC ACUTE STRESS
Not able to meet deadlines. That too regularly late at presenting your work and this is stressing you a lot. This is episodic acute stress.
When the frequency of acute stress experienced by a person increases a lot, then a person is said to experience episodic acute stress. This type of stress is common among people who tend to worry too much. This can lead to heart diseases and also high blood pressure.
- CHRONIC STRESS
This is the most dangerous stress. People facing chronic stress are prone to heart attacks, strokes etc. It is a long-term stressor. Aging, depression, cardiovascular diseases can be encountered by a person suffering from chronic stress.
Death of a loved one can lead to a stress which may result in depression.
Stress can lead to cardiovascular diseases and affect your heart and damage your health. We will be discussing this in the subsequent blogs.