By
Marie Dalloway, Ph.D. www.stress-vacation.com
Reprinted by permission from Marie Dalloway.
Types of stress include short-term and long-term. Short-term stressors are ones that we are designed to manage. We share with all biological organisms a capacity to respond in a certain way to danger or to threat. As you are driving on the freeway, the car in front of you has a flat tire. To avoid hitting the slowing car as it pulls to the shoulder, you turn sharply into the adjacent lane. Instantaneously the body responds to this emergency situation with a stress reaction. Muscles tighten heart rate and respiration increase, blood pressure rises, adrenaline is released into the body, and blood vessels constrict to minimize bleeding. These signs indicate the triggering of activation system in the body, all of them adaptive and necessary when you are confronted with danger.
As soon as the car is passed safely, the body relaxes.
You encounter a stressor. Once it is dealt with, the body relaxes and returns to a balanced and normal state. This process typifies the normal, healthy way of reacting to stressful situations.
Long-tem stress does not go away as easily as safely passing on an expressway. Emotional conflicts, financial problems, tensions between co-workers can create on-going difficulties and worries. With long-term stress, there is no end point in view. These stressors lack clear resolution.
Physically, the body stays in an activated level as though there were an ever-present danger. With the chronic stress pattern, individuals continue at a high activation level that is unbroken by periods of relaxation. This stress pattern of continuous activation relates to onset of disease.
Certain individuals create unnecessary and chronic stress by their thinking. Human beings can recreate stress reaction over and over by their thinking. A person who narrowly misses the car with the flat tire can repeat the scene mentally again and again. Recreating the stress event mentally keeps the body in a stressful state with unnecessary wear and tear. Instead of returning to a more balanced state the high activation is maintained. Repeating the stress event mentally can increase and prolong the stress response.
Since the stress reaction is natural and adaptive, the fact that stress is experienced does not mean that an individual is overstressed. Experiencing chronic and unnecessary stress characterize the individual who is overstressed. It is important to break the buildup of chronic stress. Doing regular exercise, practicing relaxation techniques, and using problem-solving strategies on long-term stressors are ways to combat chronic stress. Take the necessary steps to ensure that chronic stress does not have a chance to reduce your energy, vitality, and sense of well-being.
Marie Dalloway, Ph.D. is President of Performance Media in Phoenix , Arizona which specializes in stress management solutions, products and training.
Copyright 2006 Marie Dalloway. All rights reserved.
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