Many people undergo stress,which end up bringing health issues.It is good to realize when you have normal and acute stress and the solution for the condition.
First and foremost, what is stress? Have you ever asked yourself what it means? Well, it is state of mental or emotional strain or tension all of which arise from adverse, very difficult or extraneous circumstances.
Now we have various form/types of stress just to mention the most common ones; we have; acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress. Therefore, we are going to analyze each one at a time, causes and how to handle it.
Acute stress is known to be the most common of all. It arises from the pressures and demands of the future anticipations and the recent ordeals. It manifests itself in different ways, and at times it thrills and excites, but too much of it is exhaustive. However, it’s fortunate enough that its symptoms are easily noticed and recognized by the majority of people. This is because it’s just a big pile of what has just gone awry in their lives. For example; an accident, the loss of an important contract, a deadline they’re rushing to meet, school problems for their kids, etc. The symptoms are; emotional distress, which portrays anger or easy irritability, anxiety and depression. The three stress emotions, muscular problems that includes tension headache, back pain, jaw pain and the muscular tensions which leads to pulled muscles and tendon and ligament problems, stomatal, gut and bowel problems such as heartburn, acidity in stomach, flatulence, diarrhoea, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome and finally transient over- arousal that leads to elevation in blood pressure, increased heartbeat, sweaty palms, heart palpitations, dizziness, migraine headaches, cold hands or feet, shortness of breath and chest pain.
Most people do not require treatment for acute stress, the reason being; it subsides after a short period. Adequate procedures and techniques for coping with acutely stressful situations can help reduce the likelihood of developing harmful or problematic symptoms. First become aware of your stress triggers in that this can help you recognize when to fight and when to flee from a stressful situation. Also, learn specific relaxing techniques such as meditation or yoga which will prepare you to handle acute stress when it occurs. Engaging in regular exercise, following a healthy diet can help you deal with effects. And finally steering clear of alcohol, caffeine and tobacco will help increase your resistance to acute stress.
If you are unable to effectively manage acute stress on your own, certain psychological and medical interventions can help. Don’t suffer in silence, seek help.
Secondly, we have episodic acute stress. It arises when one takes on too many tasks, becomes overwhelmed by all the demands with an inability to meet those requirements. They seem to have many different disastrous situations, living in a chaotic and disorganized state. It involves being late for things like meetings, work, or appointments or forgetting to refill the cooking gas etc. One misplaces things because they are preoccupied trying to fix an episodic event that occurred before the next one. It seems like one lives under a philosophy that what can go wrong, will go wrong.
Just like acute stress, episodic stress will make our bodily organs become strained and overworked, soon one starts to develop heart disease, high blood pressure, compromised immune systems, and possibly suffer a stroke.
One becomes short tempered, experiences high irritability, anxiety, and tension. Always hurrying, appears abrupt and hostile towards people. Relationships become strained and consequently, our loved ones start to feel the stress and irritation, one initiates a negative atmosphere at home, work or other social settings. This can continue and establishes itself as a norm that one cannot do without. Family are always the most victims of episodic stressed persons. One always portray and believes that his/her lifestyles and personalities are so ingrained with his/her behaviour that there is nothing wrong with the way (they) live.
Just like any other, there are ways to cope up with it. Firstly, Medication and Therapy; If you feel like you are suffering from episodic acute stress, see a doctor as soon as you can. This will allow for a proper diagnosis. There are medications that can help you feel better in case you are confirmed. It is also advisable to see a therapist. This will help you to talk through the problems and see if there is a way to solve them without medication. There are also other ways to try and deal with stress.
Secondly, deep breathing; it helps in reducing stress by letting your bloodstream receive a balanced amount of gases and oxygen. This gives the brain the signal to begin releasing the mood-enhancing endorphins, thus helping with reducing stress, creating better moods, and increasing your motivation. With the combination of all of these, you will start to feel better. Deep breathing is great to try when you are under a great amount of stress and feel like you cannot deal with it anymore.
Thirdly, eliminate the Stress; you may not always be able to eliminate the cause of the stress, but if it is an option it will help you to feel a lot better. Try not to take on as much work. Do not over-volunteer yourself.
Finally, take a little extra time for yourself: Take a little extra time for yourself by taking a longer bath or shower. Enjoy a quiet drive on your way home from the market/shopping mall. These are easy ways to make extra quiet time for yourself that may pay off in the end.
Lastly, there is chronic stress. This can wear one down making them feel burned-out; it’s what one feels when he/she can’t see a way out of the demands and pressures that are making them feel depressed, miserable and disheartened on a continual basis.
It can be associated with the feeling of being trapped in an unhappy marriage or career and tends to relate to ill health, excess consumption of alcohol, violence and can migrate to suicidal thoughts and trends.
Chronic stress can only be helped with effective professionalism through a highly skilled and talented therapist by deploying special forms of counselling and targeted behavioural therapy.
It is advisable to avoid stress as much as possible, it can lead to devastating mental illness.