Too much stress affects our emotional and physical health. But understanding our reactions to stress and how we respond when we're stressed is a good first step to taking back control of our lives.
Stress is an inseparable part of modern life. There’s stress from living in today’s fast-paced society, stress from work (or lack of work), and stress from commuting in traffic. There’s stress from caring for children or sick and elderly relatives. On top of that, there are financial worries, social pressure, meeting the expectations of others (and ourselves), and relationship challenges—the list goes on. All of these demand our mental and physical resources, and that’s normal. But when these demands feel greater than what we can handle, we start to experience excessive stress.
Stress can also be caused by a lack of stimulation and challenges. Boredom and disappointment—the feeling that we can’t reach our full potential—can be extremely stressful as well.
Chronic stress effects
When you’re under high stress, you may find it difficult to concentrate or make simple decisions, get easily distracted, and feel insecure. Your sleep may suffer, and you might become irritable, tense, or tearful. You may even notice unusually aggressive behavior. Stress can also affect you physically, causing discomfort such as headaches, digestive issues, or frequent colds. Over time, it can even lead to serious health problems like cardiovascular disease. Additionally, stress can trigger or worsen mental health issues, including panic attacks, anxiety, and depression.
Is there positive stress?
But stress isn’t inherently bad: a small or moderate amount can actually be beneficial. It can make you feel excited, creative, and more productive. It can help you tackle a challenge. For example, during a job interview, the stress hormones your body produces can actually make you more alert and help you perform better. Some people enjoy the huge adrenaline rush they get from stress in extreme sports or other risky activities. But when stress becomes too much or lasts too long, it stops being helpful.
Why and how our bodies react to stress?
Stress response
The physical and mental changes we experience under stress—known as the “stress response”—are a way of coping with life-threatening situations, like facing a wild animal. Within seconds, our ancestors had to decide whether to stay and fight or to flee, and their bodies produced hormones to prepare them for both options. Our bodies still enter this “fight or flight” mode when faced with a threat or challenge, real or imagined—whether it’s a quick reaction to a potential car accident, pressure from your boss to meet a deadline, or a feeling of helplessness at work.
What happens in the body?
The moment you sense a threatening situation, your body releases adrenaline and noradrenaline to raise your blood pressure and heart rate, delivering oxygen and glucose to your brain, muscles, heart, and lungs—preparing you physically to defend yourself. This is why your pulse quickens under stress—and why stress can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems and stroke.
Less blood flows to the skin, digestive system, and kidneys—which is why you might feel cold and get “butterflies” in your stomach. Noradrenaline sharpens your senses to make you more alert, causing facial muscles to tense, teeth to clench, and hair to stand on end. Cortisol converts fat stores into energy to fuel your muscles. But too much cortisol can weaken your immune system, which is why people under chronic stress often suffer from frequent colds and infections.
Turning the stress response on and off
The problem is that the more often the stress response is triggered, the easier it is to activate the next time—and the harder it becomes to turn off. If these hormones are released too frequently, they start to cause harm. It can reach a point where even the smallest thing upsets you, and you’re constantly in a state of high anxiety, with a racing heart and on edge.
Common reasons for stress
Anything that triggers the stress response in the body is called a “stressor.” These stressors are often negative—but anything that requires energy from you can be a stressor.
External stressors
For example, in a list of the most common stressful life events compiled by American researchers, marriage and reconciliation with a partner appear alongside the death of a spouse, job loss, or imprisonment. Sometimes, the source of stress cannot be traced to a single event but results from the accumulation of many small things in daily life. Almost without realizing it, the demands on you begin to exceed your ability to cope—and before you know it, you’re genuinely stressed.
Stress overload can also occur when you have to deal with a series of stressful situations or events happening too close together. For example, going through a breakup and then losing your job. Our relationships with others—whether family, friends, or coworkers—are a major source of potential stress, as they are closely tied to our sense of self and our ideas about our value as individuals.
Internal stressors
But just like external events, what happens in your own mind can also create stress. Unrealistic expectations, a negative outlook, an inability to accept uncertainty, or perfectionism can put significant pressure on you. People who are always rushing and struggle to slow down or relax create stress for themselves—reacting too strongly to challenges and threats that often don’t actually exist.
It’s all about perception
It’s important to note that the way we perceive these stressors or demands, and how we assess our own ability to cope with them, affects our body’s “fight or flight” response and determines whether we feel stressed or not. What causes stress to one personmay have no effect on someone else at all. For example, some people get very angry in traffic, while others turn on music and wait patiently.
How much is too much?
There’s no precise or quick rule for how much stress is healthy—what feels overwhelming for one person may be beneficial for another. Factors that influence how well you tolerate stress include:
- Having a supportive social network.
- Your relationship with loved ones.
- Believing you have control over your life.
- The ability to manage your emotions.
- Information you have about a stressful event.
- Your way of life.
Since it’s so individual, it’s important to recognize your own limits—when the stress you’re under is too much for you—rather than comparing yourself to others.
What can you do?
The first step is to recognize the warning signs of stress we listed earlier. The second is to accept that you need to do something about it.
No matter how out of control your life may feel, there are many things you can do to reduce your stress levels.
- Pay attention to what causes you stress and how you respond to it.
- Take steps to prevent or reduce stressors.
- Understand how your thinking affects the way you handle potentially stressful situations or people.
- Learn healthy ways to cope with stress.
If you need guidance and support in managing stress, check out our products and services or contact us.