ARE YOU STRESSED OUT?
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Mindfulness...For Your Health & Happiness! “It is not our stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” Dr. Hans Selye
S
tress. You’ve heard the word and almost certainly have experienced it. You’ve probably also heard that there is ‘good’ stress; the kind that motivates action toward comple-
tion of a project, or that saves someone from imminent danger, and ‘bad’ stress; the kind referred to in the above quote. While the body is built to deal with stress in the short term, prolonged or repeated arousal of the stress response—an unfortunate con- sequence of modern life—can have detrimental physical and psychological consequences. But what is stress? According to an article in Psychology
Today, stress is two-fold: “the psychological perception of pres- sure, on the one hand, and the body's response to it, on the other, which involves multiple systems, from metabolism to muscles to memory”. Another article defines stress as the “psychological, physi-
ological and behavioural response by an individual when they perceive a lack of equilibrium between the demands placed upon them and their ability to meet those demands, which, over a period of time, leads to ill health”. (Palmer, 1989) When we experience a stressful event—whether it’s external,
like narrowly avoiding an auto accident or an internal one, such as an angry reaction to the driver who pulled out in front of us—a cascade of hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol surge through the body, quickening the heartbeat and blood circulation, marshalling fat and sugar for rapid action, and preparing the muscles to move. We all have a sense of how stress manifests in our life and
what we would like to change. Some people look for relief from the worries that trouble them, while others might point to their stiff neck, tight jaw, or headaches. However we experience it, stress impacts both our minds and our bodies. We might find our thoughts racing in seeming inescapable cycles. We might feel restless and anxious, unable to concentrate. We might become irritable, impulsive, angry, or aggressive. Over time, we might also experience insomnia, reduced pain tolerance, and hyper- vigilance.
What stresses us out? And what can we do about it? If we’re honest with ourselves, we will acknowledge that there are certain triggers; things that happen over which we have
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no control, such as actions or behaviors by others that annoy or anger us. By the same token, we likely do things or behave in ways that others find annoying. The causes of stress are as individual as we are, depending
on our temperament, our upbringing, or experiences we’ve had in the past. Stress is often subject to our perception of a situation; if we’re already nervous because of an upcoming job review or an important presentation we’re slated to give, we can react negatively to situations that wouldn’t normally bother us. Even waiting in a slow line when we’re in a hurry can cause us to feel stressed.
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