It’s Entirely Natural – Articles

Stress can hit a person from many different directions. It can creep up on you, slowly, and catch you off guard; or it can loom large on the horizon like a beacon ever present and demanding. Stress can be financial in nature, or related to your job. Stress can occur at home in your personal relationships or it can stem from dealings with your neighbor. You can experience physical stress, and mental anguish. Long-term stress can cause physical illness. Stress makes us do things we may not ordinarily do and stress can motivate us to make necessary changes in our lives.

Stress can be stimulating and even exciting. There are those who seek stress out, like those who are risk takers or ‘adrenaline junkies’. Stress can be work-related, can be something that is triggered by a person or event in your life, can be caused by someone or something, can affect our health and can rob our brain of all reason and sensibility.

Stress can affect our health and it can prevent happiness. It can lead to unhealthy behavior that can ruin lives. Stress can be debilitating, and can change your body image. Stress can lead to depression and depression can destroy families. Stress is serious business and needs to be addressed when it happens to you or someone you love.

We can experience stress from others, or from situations; we can even create our own stress by putting unrealistic expectations on ourselves. Therefore stress can have external and internal causes.

Learning how to manage stress relieves stress. When stress is managed it becomes more bearable and can be handled with purpose and clarity.

Stress can be experienced by adults, children, even babies. It can happen to any of us. Our pets can also become stressed when owners leave them in a kennel while on vacation, or when a family experiences a move, or new family member.

The first step in managing stress is identifying it. You have to name and claim your stress before you can manage it. Hiding from it or ignoring it will only give it more strength.

Calming down can reduce stress; changing the environment can also reduce stress. Stress can also render some to be unresponsive and unable to function.

Stress and how we deal with it can separate the men from the boys. It can also empower executives to lead their company from the brink of disaster to the pinnacle of success.

Stress can motivate you to reexamine a decision or investigate a situation that may be harmful to someone. Our bodies have a fight or flight reaction to stress.

Once we recognize these stress triggers and indicators we can immediately start to do quick methods of reducing stress; like deep breathing, or doing a physical activity like taking a walk. Knowing the physical signs of stress and identifying stressful situations in our life can help us to be healthier as we learn to reduce our stress levels.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more informaton on Stress Management.

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Tags: Depression, job stress, Stress Management, stress triggers

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Stress is a term that is used often to describe a wide range of feelings and emotions. Anxiety, depression, distress, fear, and exhaustion are just some of these and are all feelings that can be described as stress. Stress is something that occurs all the time and affects everyone one way or another at least some of the time. Stress can be a positive thing. It can be a source of motivation to help get something done or help one to react quickly to a potentially dangerous situation. The body reacts to stress by releasing more of the hormones cortisol and epinephrine. This stimulates the sympathetic nervous response or the commonly referred to flight or fight response. In some instances this is useful; however, if prolonged for too long or occurring too often, it can have negative effects on the body.

Stress that enhances physical or mental function, such as a challenging assignment that you need to complete, winning a race, or upcoming family events such as holidays or a major life event that is positive is referred to as eustress. This is helpful and often rewarding stress. Stress caused by adverse events or negative feelings of suffering or feeling like in harms way or under threat of being harmed is called distress. Both positive and negative stressors can lead to stress. These stressors can be physical or psychological. They themselves may not be the exact cause of stress as stress is more of a personal interpretation as far as adaptation resulting from personal experiences and the difference between what one might accept and what is expected. One may have preconceived notions on how things are supposed to be and a variance can cause one stress. Many people often internalize events that occur even if they are not personally affected.

Stress has many contributing factors. Contributors to stress or stressors range from environmental factors like noise and light to world events such as war and natural disasters. Relationship troubles, work and school and lifestyle choices can all lead to stress. Major life events or changes to ones life are the leading causes of stress as they are the most demanding on personal resources. Such changes include marriage or divorce, pregnancy or the death of a loved one, moving to a new location, changing jobs, etc. Stress can result from feelings or thoughts that one has. What one considers stressful, another may not, and this is why stress is highly individual and personal in nature. Everyone has differing opinions, different ideas about the way things are or are supposed to be and various methods of coping.

Stress affects behavior, the mind and body in many different ways both negatively and positively. Symptoms of stress vary from person to person in how they are observed or recognized. While stress can be positive and negative, no matter who you are too much stress can cause harm both emotionally and physically.

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Scott Meyers is a staff writer for It’s Entirely Natural, a resource for helping you achieve a naturally healthy body, mind, and spirit. You may contact our writers through the web site. Follow this link for more information on Stress Management.

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Tags: exhaustion, Stress Management, time stress

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