THE HUMAN ERROR
STRESS BY GORDON DUPONT
Stress can and does kill, but it is also a necessary part of life. In fact the only time we have no stress is when we are dead, so give me some stress. Stress is simply the subconscious
response to the demands placed on a person. The key word is response. How we react to a situation determines one’s stress level. Post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an example of the inability to deal with the stressor. The stress that never lets up is the one that kills. In the U.S. an average of 22 war veterans commit suicide per day due to stress. Let’s look at and see if we can understand this potential killer that we all need in our lives. First: stress is diff erent things to
diff erent people. By that I mean what may be stressful to you might not bother me at all. It is a defensive mechanism that has existed from early caveman days when one of our ancestors walked around a rock and came face to face with a hungry sabre-toothed tiger. He had only two choices: run like hell or fi ght like hell. Thus, the body prepared him for either response with the following reactions. a) Adrenaline (“go juice,” if you like) and other chemicals are dumped into the bloodstream
b) Heart rate and blood pressure increase
c) Breathing becomes rapid and shallow
d) Skin becomes cold and clammy as blood leaves the outer skin for the major muscles
e) Person becomes pale as blood leaves the skin area — if the person were to be cut at this time, there would be less blood fl ow because of this defense mechanism
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f) Muscles tense as they prepare for action
g) Pain is deadened by endorphins that are dumped into the bloodstream
h) The mind becomes a one- channel processor, thinking only of the hungry stressor
i) Digestion stops — it takes energy to digest food and the body is saving all energy for the fi ght of one’s life
Modern man is not usually fi ghting for his life under high stress, yet these symptoms are occurring as he/she has a heated argument with the boss or spouse. Without a letup, this will wear the body down to an early death. Stress comes in two varieties. Acute
stress is intense but short in duration, like when a car suddenly pulls out right in front of you and you have to slam on your brakes to avoid a collision. Chronic stress is frequent in occurrence and/or long duration. This is the stress that can kill, but the body’s physiological reactions are the same for both. The following are some of the
results from the chronic stress. a) High blood pressure b) High incidents of heart attacks, to be expected with the stress of frequent high blood pressure and other eff ects of chronic stress
c) Depressed immune system - this will lower the body’s ability to fi ght disease
d) Increased chance of stomach ulcers, to be expected with digestion stopping and starting on a regular basis
e) Poor work performance - known as burnout, the person fi nds that what was once easy to do is now more diffi cult and even irritating
f) Inability to laugh and enjoy life - a person might begin to withdraw from society as the stressor occupies more of their thinking
g) High incidents of marriage/ relationship breakups - this person is not the happy person he/she used to be
h) Nervous breakdowns might occur - with the stressor taking greater control, the person becomes unable to function normally
i) S uicide - death appears to be the only way to escape the stressor Let’s look at a model that I adapted
from an arousal versus performance curve.
It is also much like an angle of attack versus lift curve, with the peak where the stall occurs.
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