What is stress?

Absolutely any person, animal, and even the simplest living body are affected by stress. Joyful and sad events are equally significant for a man in terms of stress factors.

In general, there are a lot of terms and definitions of it.

The term “stress” was introduced by the scientist, physician Hans Selye in the first half of the twentieth century. He was the first who noticed that there were common to most people response features under the influence of stress factors. Selye also found that under some stressors the human body produces a large amount of adrenaline, which was called the stress hormone.

Stress is a set of adaptive and protective reactions of the organism in response to some effect (positive or negative). It is a response of the human body to overvoltage, negative emotions or simply monotonous bustle.

Stress in small doses is necessary for all because it makes you think, seek a way to get rid of problems. Our life would be boring without some tension. But on the other hand, if stress is constantly in our life, the body weakens, loses its strength and the ability to solve problems.

A huge number of scientific papers are devoted to this matter. Mechanisms of stress have been studied in detail and they are quite complex: they are connected with our hormonal, nervous and circulatory systems.

It should be noted that emotional tension affects health. Stress reduces immunity and is the cause of many diseases (cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and others.). Therefore, it is necessary to be able to resist it and to create positive attitudes.

Symptoms of stress

Let’s look at the main symptoms:

• Constant feelings of anger, depression, and moreover, for no apparent reason.
• Bad, restless sleep.
• Depression, physical weakness, headache, fatigue, unwillingness to do anything.
• Reduced concentration, which makes it difficult to study or work. Memory problems and slow thinking.
• Inability to relax, throw aside the affairs and problems.
• Lack of interest to others, even to the best friends to the family and loved ones.
• Constant desire to cry, tearfulness, sometimes turning into sobbing, anguish, pessimism, self-pity.
• Loss of appetite – although sometimes vice versa: the excessive food intake.
• Often there are tics and obsessive habits: man bites his lips, bites his nails, and so on. There are fussiness, distrust of all and everyone.

If you are stressed, it means one thing: your body reacted to any external stimulus.

Causes of stress

Anything that touches a person and irritates him can be the cause of stress. For example, the external reasons include anxiety for any reason (change of job, death of a relative)

The internal causes of stress include the values of life and beliefs. It also includes self-esteem.

Women and men are almost equally can be vulnerable to stress and depression. However, each body has its own peculiarities. If you begin to notice the signs, which are talking about stress voltage of the body, first of all, it is necessary to identify their causes. It is quite clear that to eliminate the causes is much easier than its consequences.

Clinical observations have shown that minor stressors are not harmful, and even useful. They stimulate the person to find a way out of the predicament. Each of us must be engaged in self-education, the development of will power to prevent prolonged and chronic depression.

Many people try to cope with stress by using antidepressants, drugs, and alcohol. They say: “Why, should I spend time on the development of my willpower if there is a simpler way?” They do not think about that they may become addicted to it, and then they will not be able to cope with it without the help of professionals.

Crying helps: Stress Relief Videos! Take a Tissue

Consequences of stress

When a person is exposed to emotional tension for a long time, it can lead to:

• Strokes.
• Gastrointestinal diseases (ulcers, appetite disorders, constipation, diarrhea)
• Sleep disorders (insomnia, somnolence).
• Impotence and other disorders.
• Accelerated aging, a sharp deterioration of hair, skin and nails.
• The appearance of cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, tachycardia)
• Certain skin diseases such as eczema.
• Stress can cause cancer

Treatment and prevention of stress

It is known that there is no better remedy than good sleep. So you should think about how you sleep. Here are some guidelines that can help make your sleep better.

• Regular physical exercise is good for normal sleep. It is advisable to carry them out in the open air for a few hours before bedtime.
• Before going to bed, you can take a warm bath; listen to calm and quiet music. If it is possible, combine these two activities. Try to do it every day.
• For strong and healthy sleep, our body needs the hormone melatonin. Its content is increased when we take B vitamins, which are found in rice, wheat, barley, sunflower seeds, and dried apricots. There are no such vitamins in the refined products, so try to eat organic foods, preferably with a high content of carbohydrates.

It should not be stuffy, noisy and light in your bedroom: it  is not conducive to restful sleep.

• Even calm breathing can help cope with stress. Breathe deep should be done through the nose. Exhale slowly through the mouth.
• It is also important to eat properly, being stressed. Food should be light and well digested. Eat slowly, and small portions. After a meal, you should relax a bit.

In conclusion:

Everyone can overcome emotional tension and control a difficult situation, you should focus on the existing problem, and not on your protective emotional reactions. The control over your own consciousness brings only positive results, giving you a sense of dominance over the stressors, and strengthens the sense of self-worth.