Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings. As a positive influence, stress can help motivate us in to action; it can result in a new awareness and an exciting new perspective. As a negative influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression, which in turn can lead to health problems. With the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, a job promotion, or a new relationship, we experience stress as we readjust our lives. In so adjusting to different circumstances, stress will help or hinder us depending on how we react to it.
The stress response of the body is meant to protect and support us. When we are faced with a threat, whether it be our physical safety or emotional equilibrium, the body’s defences kick into high gear in a process known as the fight or flight response. The sympathetic nervous system pumps out adrenaline, preparing us for emergency action. Our heart rate and blood flow to the large muscles increase, the blood vessels under the skin constrict to prevent blood loss in case of injury, the pupils dilate so we can see better, and our blood sugar ramps up, giving us an energy boost.
Stress response is what helped our stone age ancestors survive, enhancing their ability to fight or flee from danger.
However, most stresses today are psychological, rather than physical. For example caring for an ill relative and having work deadlines. These qualify as stressful situations, but they do not call for either fight or flight. Unfortunately our bodies don’t recognize this distinction. Like a caveman confronting a tiger, we go into automatic overdrive, releasing adrenaline around the body to enable quick and strong actions. When the danger of the tiger was no longer there, caveman could relax. During relaxation the body can regenerate itself and the whole system finds is natural energy flow again. Various hormones are released which help the parasympathetic nervous system, which governs all our organs and promote homeostasis – the natural ability of our body to balance and heal itself.
The problem with stress response is that the more it is activated, the harder it is to shut off. After various day to day stresses they pile up on top of each other, which means the heart rate and blood pressure remain elevated and repeated activation of this takes a heavy toll on the body and can cause damage to the cardiovascular and immune systems, and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression can arise. This is just to name a few.
Stress affects the mind, body and behavior in many ways. Each individual’s signs and symptoms to stress vary, but all have the potential to harm your health, emotional well-being and relationships with others.
There are many different forms of stress such as environmental stress (traffic, work), physical stress (sport), chemical stress (pollution), emotional stress (relationships) and mental stress (exams).
A person undergoing stress may experience Intellectual, emotional, physical and behavioral symptoms as per the following:
How stress can affect your mind; Memory problems, difficulty making decisions, inability to concentrate, confusion, negativity, repetitive or racing thoughts, poor judgment, desire to escape or runaway.
How stress can make you feel; Moody and hypersensitive, restlessness and anxiety, depression, anger and resentment, easily irritated on edge, sense of being overwhelmed, lack of confidence, apathy, urge to laugh or cry and inappropriate times.
How stress can affect your body; Headaches, digestive problems, muscle tension and pain, sleep disturbances, fatigue, chest pain, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, weight gain or loss, asthma or shortness of breath, skin problems, decreased sex drive.
How stress can affect your behavior; Eating more or less, sleeping too much or little, isolating yourself from others, neglecting your responsibilities, increasing alcohol and drug use, nervous habits (e.g. nail biting), teeth grinding, losing your temper, overdoing activities such as exercising, overreacting to unexpected problems.
Keep in mind that these symptoms of stress can be caused by other psychological or physical problems. Massage therapy is one of the best antidotes for stress. Massage boosts the body's immune system, which can become compromised from extended periods of stress. Tension can build up in the muscles, causing a decrease in circulation and nutrient delivery to tissues. Manipulation of the soft tissue decreases muscular tension, increases removal of metabolic waste and promotes nutrient delivery to healing tissue. With a therapeutic massage, stress can be significantly reduced. This, in turn, will increase energy, improve your outlook on life, and in the process boost your immune system function.
In my personal experience of massage, I had a client who arrived for her massage after a very stressful staff meeting – she is a primary school teacher. She arrived for her massage as if she had just run a marathon – her face was flushed, she was talking very quickly about all the work she had in front of her, her eyes looked tired and bloodshot and she was feeling and looked exhausted. As I massaged her, I did some visualization with her and she cried which helped her release emotions. She said it came from no where. After an hours massage, she came out a different lady as to when she came in. Her voice was softer, her face looked relaxed and she left in a completely different mind set. This is a very good example as to why massage is so beneficial for everyday life stresses. It is important to be able to identify when we are feeling stressed – what are the causes and what can be done about them. It is often not the stress itself which we need to fight; it is often the reactions to what causes stress that needs to be examined.
Here is an email I received and I wanted to include this information within this article:
STRESS MANAGEMENT
A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked:
“How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g. The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”
He continued, “And that’s the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.”
“As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.”
“So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.”
So, my friend, why not take a while to just simply RELAX.
Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.
Don’t pick it up again until after you’ve rested a while.
Life is short.
Enjoy it!
Some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life
* Accept that some days you’re a pigeon, and some days you’re the statue.
* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.
* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
* Drive carefully. Its not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.
* If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency of be vague.
* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.
* If may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
* Never buy a car you can’t push
* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because you won’t have a leg to stand on.
* Nobody cares if you can’t dance well – Just get up and dance.
* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.
* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.
* We could learn a lot from crayons… Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. some have weird names, and all are different colours, but they all have to live in the same box.
* A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.
