 What exactly is stress?
Stress is a reaction to a given situation. It’s the response to a challenge or the body’s way of preparing for a difficult situation with alertness and focus. The events that result to the situation of stress are called “stressors”. These cover an array of situations – from appearing for an examination to making a presentation on a topic you dislike to perilous physical hazards.Reactions to stressOur body responses to stressors with releasing certain hormones and alerting our nervous system. These hormones are infused in the bloodstream which increases our heart rate, respiration rate and blood pressure and a lot of other physical changes. The body is poised to face the stressor. All these activities within the body are instantly performed so we are better prepared to handle the situation. This is the natural response of the body. This body’s response may be to either fight or flight. It is a spontaneous reaction to a given situation where the person instantly decides whether he is going face the situation or runaway from it. Stress can sometimes be good. It can give one motivation to stay focused and alert. Stress sometimes can make a person achieve what he/she wants to. Sometime the going gets really tough and the person cannot meet the demands, the pressures might exceed the mental and physical limits of the person, stress becomes a sort of threat to mental, social and physical well-being. The threat of a high level of stress is associated with mental health problems and, in particular, anxiety and depression. Here the relationship is fairly clear: the negative thinking that is associated with stress also contributes to these. There are many potential causes for stress. Meanwhile we can also say that the causes for stress are very individual. What is stressful can be very much enjoyable or something used to for other people. One’s personality, outlook, problem solving capability and social support system can determine the level of stress that one is going through.Stress managementStress can be managed if we understand the level and the main reasons for the stress. One must also try to evaluate if one can bring about some changes in the environment like not setting too much high standards that will be difficult to cope with, so that stress can be subsequently reduced. As one can see; Stress is all about awareness. Being aware of ourselves, our stressors, our thoughts, our strategies to cope with stress, their effectiveness and other strategies.Stress Control has become the need of the hour. Everyone today is stressed in some way or another. We can learn to enjoy a stress free live. This is done by the process of stress management. About your stress counselorTogether with your counselor, Annemiek, you will analyze your mental and behavioral state from this moment. The 2 main questions will be: Who are you and What do you want?She will use different approaches like the action-oriented techniques help us to manage the demands upon us and increase the resources we can mobilize; the emotionally oriented techniques help us to adjust our perceptions of the situation; and the acceptance-oriented techniques help us survive the situations that we genuinely cannot change.By using these different approaches she will guide you to turn the experience of stress or burn out into a learning experience, increased self awareness and growth! |
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