I’m feeling stressed out! How many times have you either said this to yourself or heard someone else say it? Stressors are all around us – they are a part of being alive. The trick to managing stress lies in understanding what it is, and the effects it can have on your body and your mind. Armed with this knowledge, it is possible to employ various techniques to effectively relieve your stress symptoms.
Stress is nothing more than an outside force or influence that causes you to react in some way. Both the outside forces and your reactions to them can be either physical, or psychological/intangible. For example, if you get knocked on the head the outside force (the stick) is a physical force and your reaction to it (a swollen bump) is a physical reaction. Likewise, if you get news that a loved one has been injured, this intangible outside force (bad news) causes you to have a psychological reaction (feelings of sadness, anxiety, etc.).
Stress can affect your health in a myriad of ways. Psychologically, stress ad anxiety can make you feel: fatigued, frustrated, angry, apathetic, depressed, and fearful. Physically, stress and anxiety can contribute to: high blood pressure, chest pain, difficulty breathing, heart disease, hair loss, obesity, and immune system related illnesses.
Understand that we are talking about prolonged exposure to fairly high levels of stress, but also understand that different people have different stress thresholds. Stress levels severe enough to make one person ill may be quite bearable for another person. Because the health effects of stress are strongly dependent on the physical and psychological make up of individuals, it is very important that you learn to monitor yourself for the stress symptoms discussed above.
Suffice it to say that whatever your stress threshold is, it is best to keep your stress levels below that threshold over the long term. Monitor yourself for stress symptoms and be prepared to take action when they are detected. Do some research and begin to practice stress management techniques that suit your personality and lifestyle.
Whether you choose to take up yoga, running, meditation, knitting, or singing to relieve your stress, it is important to realize that stress is more than just an annoying inconvenience. Stress and anxiety are serious health issues that you cannot afford to ignore for long. The good news is that there are effective techniques for managing stress that you can use to avoid its negative health affects.
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