Stress is an integral part of life; it leads to a combination of reactions called ‘fight or flight’ response. These responses evolved as a survival mechanism that helped the human race survive through eons by reacting quickly to dangerous situations.While warding off threats from the wild are no longer a cause of stress, modern life brings its own brand of unavoidable stressors from the everyday hassles of work and homelife. The stress arising from the ongoing pandemic is a recent example of how unexpected stresses are often inescapable in modern life.
While a little stress is known to boost responses and is considered beneficial to health, long-term, or chronic, stress is linked to several health conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression, and anxiety. Efficiently managing stress so it does not overwhelm you has become a critical skill to have in today’s world.
When the body senses a threat (or stressor), it goes on high alert, and once the threat passes, the body quickly recovers. However, with too many stressors, your body might go into a state of constant high alert, leading to poor concentration, bad moods, professional burnout, and mental and physical health problems. When stress becomes chronic, the body cannot return to normal functioning. Chronic stress has been linked with health conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and anxiety.
Stress affects women and men differently. Many conditions associated with stress — such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety — are more common in women than men. Besides sex and gender differences, there are individual differences, too. Some people are more resilient than others to stress and it affects them less or only temporarily, and there may be others who even perform better under stress. The good news is that resilience, to some extent, can be learned and can help build the emotional, intellectual and physical strength that comprise resilience. A few simple and practical measures that can be taken to build resilience to stress include:
Recognize stress: The first step to managing stress is to recognize the signals coming from your body. including difficulty concentrating, headaches, cold hands, tight muscles, a nervous stomach, clenched teeth, feeling on edge, fidgety, irritable or withdrawn. Once you identify the signs, you need to work on countering their effects.
Find what relieves stress for you: Different people respond to different stress relievers; you need to find what works for you. Some people benefit from deep breathing, going for a walk, or writing a daily journal of their thoughts. Whatever you do, make taking care of yourself a part of your daily routine, even if it requires saying “no” to requests from others. Prioritizing your responsibilities so that you have enough time to exercise, eat healthy foods, and get good quality sleep.
Reframe situations: Changing the way we think about and respond to stress is referred to as ‘reframing’ the situation, or seeing things through a different lens. For instance, if you are stuck in traffic on the way to work or an appointment, instead of panicking, think of it as an opportunity to listen to some music or catch up on a podcast. Or, reduce anger in response to rude or aggressive behavior by imagining what might be happening in that person’s life. Keeping situations in perspective is an important way to boost stress resilience. Practice reframing the situation and you will likely get better at it over time.
Stay connected and make new friends: Stay in touch with family, friends and groups in your life — technology makes this easier than ever. Having or being a person to talk with can be reassuring and calming.
Seek professional help: Despite the above tactics, if stress continues to overwhelm and affects your well-being, it is then time to talk to a health professional specialized in stress management who can help guide you through times of severe stress.