Each person reacts differently to stressors. For example, schoolwork can be an enjoyable challenge for some. Relationships may be stressful. Some people enjoy challenging situations while others feel anxious and upset.

To understand why, let's take a deeper look at stress, the causes of stress, and ways of coping with stress. Stress is a natural reaction that humans experience during changes in life when the demands exceed the available resources.

The things causing stress are called stressors. Sressors may come from any number of places, including jobs, deadlines, relationships, and environments.

Think of stress as similar to the "fight-or-flight" mechanism we all have built into us. When a threatening or stress-causing situation occurs, the body and senses go on full alert. Adrenaline starts to flow, awareness expands and intensifies, and the mind and body prepare to react. Everything is elevated. Once the threat, or stressor, goes away, the body relaxes, and everything returns to normal. The body doesn't always react in the fight-or-flight way. Sometimes, the stress just simply provides motivation. When stress becomes distress or is threatening, people often react with the fight-or-flight physiological reaction.

_{While some forms of stress are harmful, others are considered beneficial. Going to prom or getting accepted into
college would be considered good forms of stress. - Shutterstock by Jaimie Duplass}

Eustress. Eustress is stress that is pleasant or satisfying. It is the kind of stress that comes from excitement or from satisfying situations, like going on a first date or buying a new car. There is still the feeling of angst, but it's a good anxiety. The fear and worry is counteracted by a sense of anticipation.

Could this be a clue for how we can handle all stress, good and bad? Does part of the solution lie in how we choose to interpret the situation?

Distress. Distress is stress that is damaging or unpleasant. With distress, the anxiety doesn't lead to excitement, it leads to depression and possible panic.

So why is there good stress and bad stress? Perhaps it is a problem of interpretation. With distress, the problem just seems so overwhelming.

The fight-or-flight mechanism built into all humans is just one stage in the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), humanity's overall response mechanisms for dealing with stressful situations.

Stage One: The Alarm Stage

The body prepares itself for what is referred to as "fight-or-flight." When the person is threatened, the body's response includes:

• increased adrenaline flow;
• increased heart rate and blood pressure;
• increased supply of blood sugar, energy for the muscles; and
• heightened focus on the threat.

It is in this state that we become excitable, anxious, jumpy, and irritable. We have trouble working with other people. We can become irrational and clumsy. Our ability for rational thought and analysis is hindered and our decision making process suffers.

Although the fight-or-flight response is beneficial in life-threatening situations, it is not a particularly effective way of addressing many of the stressors we encounter in modern life. Modern life demands communication in calm, rational ways. The more complex life becomes, the more we must find ways of maintaining our composure.

Stage Two: The Resistance Stage

The problem continues without a solution in sight. During this stage, we continue to resist the problem or stressor. We adapt to it in a way that allows us to manage the stress. But all the while we're managing, we're still resisting, still wanting a solution. It may not show on the outside, but it is wearing us down. Eventually fatigue sets in, and we move into the next stage.

Stage Three: The Exhaustion Stage

The exhaustion stage is often referred to as "burnout." People become "burned out" when they can no longer adapt to and manage the stress. Essentially, the ability to resist is depleted, and the stress becomes overwhelming.

In this stage, the body becomes susceptible to diseases that are associated with prolonged stress, including high blood pressure, asthma, chronic depression, panic attack, ulcers, weight gain, and diabetes. If the stress goes unresolved, the health problems can grow into serious, chronic diseases.

Causes of Stress

<sub>Stress can take many forms: difficulty in personal relationships, peer pressure, and academic
pressure are a few of these. In later life, financial worries and problems in the workplace can be causes of stress.
- Shutterstock by Tad Denson</sub>

Situations do not cause stress. Stress is caused by the ways in which we interpret our environment. Stress is often caused by our points of view.

Physiological Stress. Stress can have its roots in our own physical being. Physiological stress can be caused by injury or illness, diet, posture, and ergonomics.

• Illnesses, especially long-term illnesses, can cause great stress. Specifically, the changes in lifestyle caused by illness, uncertainty of the future, and financial and emotional costs of long-term illness can all be stressful.
• Diet can be another physiological stressor, especially diets that are high in caffeine and refined sugar and low in vitamins. This can lead to nervousness and the feeling of being on edge.
• Poor body posture and improper ergonomics (how you sit at your desk, for example) can lead to chronically stiff muscles, physical and mental stress.

Psychological Stress. Stress is a reaction to:

• our perception of the demands placed on us, and
• our perception of our ability to meet those demands.

Psychological Stress comes from personality, mental state, and emotional makeup, as well as how the psyche shapes a person's reaction to stress. For example:

• Are you a glass-half-full type person, or glass-half-empty? The optimist and pessimist will perceive the same situation differently and, thus, react differently.
• Are you self-confident, or insecure, or somewhere in-between? Your level of self-security will influence whether or not, and to what degree, you feel threatened by a new situation.

To a large degree, many of our psychological and emotional reactions are driven by our personality. Let's look at personality types. Look at the psychological makeup of each personality and see how that psyche shapes the person's reaction to stress.

Type A personality—ultra-competitive, controlling, impatient, aggressive, hostile

• Reaction to stressors: easily upset, reacts explosively

Type B personality—relaxed, contemplative, tolerant of others

• Reaction to stressors: calm, thoughtful

Type C personality—withdrawn, difficulty expressing emotions; anger suppression; feelings of despair

• Reaction to stressors: exaggerated stress response

Hardy personality—committed to activities, sense of inner purpose, inner locus of control

• Reaction to stressors: views problems as challenges and opportunities

Environmental Stress

Environmental stress refers to things in the environment that typically cause people to experience stress. Examples of environmental stressors include temperature extremes, noise, pollution, crowding, traffic congestion, and fear of natural disasters. Environmental factors affect people's moods, behavior, and psychological well-being.

Social Stress. Social stress is rooted in the relationships we have with other people. The social context includes all the people we interact with—friends and family, neighbors, co-workers, people we know from school or church, people we know casually, and those people we just bump into. Social stress can manifest itself in family problems, feelings of loneliness and isolation, and peer pressure.

Social stress can also come from our interactions with society as a whole, although this can overlap into other areas as well. Finances and money problems are probably the greatest source of stress in this regard. Career issues, housing problems, government policies, business and commercial concerns, schools, and social institutions would all have the potential to cause social stress.

Check over the list and see if you can identify which are physiological, psychological, environmental, or social stresses.

• Problems with school
• Peer pressure
• Death of a relative or close friend
• Family life and/or parental divorce
• Problems with the opposite sex
• Money, or the lack of it
• Problems with drugs
• Problems with authority figures, or problems with the law

Evaluating stress levels is typically done through stress evaluation surveys. An example of a common stress survey is the 10-question Personal Stress Scale (PSS-10). There are no established comparative scales for PSS-10. Generally speaking, the higher your score, the more you feel stressed. You can compare your score with others who take the survey, but there are no national or age group norms identifying "high stress," "normal stress," or "low stress," among segments of the population.

You can measure your levels of stress by checking your heart rate each morning and then again later in the day. If you notice an increase in 20 to 30 beats per minute it suggests that you have some undue stress in your life. Normally a person will experience an increase of about 10 beats per minute later in the day.

The Effects of Stress. When we're overloaded with stress, it affects the total being.

• Physical symptoms: dry mouth, perspiration, grinding of teeth, muscle tension, headaches, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, stomach problems, stiff neck, lower back pain, weakened immune system leading to frequent illnesses
• Emotional symptoms: anxiety, emotions on edge, depression, fatigue, impulsiveness, inability to concentrate, irritability, and memory lapses
• Behavioral symptoms: crying, insomnia, eating, overreacting, problems communicating, sexual problems, social isolation, and increased use of tobacco, alcohol, or other drugs

Managing Stress

There are generally five things you can do to either relieve stress or fight off the harmful effects of stress.

Exercise is one of the best things you can do during times of stress; it has some real, tangible benefits to offer as well.

Exercise boosts the production of endorphins, chemicals released by the brain that make you feel good. Endorphins help soothe some of the emotional symptoms of stress including anxiety, sadness, anger, and emotional fatigue.

Exercise also helps relax the muscles, reduces physical tension, and relieves pressure on the lower back. Remember when we said "tension keeps building up because it has no place to go; there is no outlet for the excess energy." Exercise provides an outlet for all the pent-up energy and tension.

Nutrition is another important stress-buster. Eating a well-balanced diet rich in fruits and vegetables provides the nutrients to boost our immune system and helps us fight off some of the physical effects of stress. A well-balanced diet also promotes mental energy and alertness and helps keep your weight under control. Drinking plenty of fluids fights off dehydration that leads to fatigue and a lack of energy.

Alcohol and drugs affect your psyche, which may cause a downturn in your mood. Worse, alcohol and drugs affect your judgment and behavior. Many people who use alcohol or drugs to deaden the pain wind up behaving in a way that actually worsens the situation that is causing the stress, especially if the stress is relationship or work- or finance-related.

Sleep, rest, and relaxation are integral to maintaining physical and emotional well-being. This is all the more true in times of stress. Sleep is the time that the body relaxes and restores its cellular balance and equilibrium. Sleep is also when the brain restocks on the chemicals, proteins, and hormones that it needs to function properly.

Social Support Networks. Social support networks are important tools for working through stress. Support networks are made up of close friends, family, and peers.

• Spending time with friends helps ward off loneliness.
• Having a good network of friends and family who care provides a sense of self-worth.

Communication. Communication is important in all areas of life and especially important in dealing with stressful situations. Obviously, you want to say what you want to say accurately and hear accurately what is said to you. You want to work to resolve conflicts in a positive way, not escalating the tension through poor communications.

Here are some tips for good communications in resolving stress:

• Talk in a calm, objective, non-accusatory manner.
• Avoid criticizing or blaming.
• Avoid yelling and aggressive behavior.

In this lesson, you have covered:

• the definition of stress
• the different stages of stress
• how the body responds to stress
• the four different types of stressors
• how exercise can relieve stress and depression