Stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure.
Pressure turns to stress when you feel you are unable to cope.
People have different ways of reacting to stress situations, for some a stressor may motivate them.
Many of life’s demands cause stress, such as work, relationships and money issues.
Stress can effect how you feel, think and behave.
Common symptoms include sweating, difficulty concentrating; some people get irritable, others have physical tension or headaches.
Stress causes a surge of hormones in your body to enable you to deal with the threat: called the ‘fight-flight’ response.
Once the threat passes your hormone levels return to normal.
If threats continue and the stress is constant, these hormones remain, and lead to depletion in a range of areas of functioning effecting energy, mood, and immune system.
There is a wide range of approaches to help manage stress. We know regular moderate exercise is helpful, and finding balance in our lives, and healthy diet etc
Other approaches include Problem Solving, Time Management, Relaxation, Mindfulness, and Hypnotic techniques.
A key is to recognise your unique symptoms (stress reaction), the triggers, then find the approaches that help the most.