Everyone is stressed, talk to anyone of your friends or colleagues and that's the message you get back time and time again. Research suggests that a moderate amount of pressure can be positive, however, too much pressure, or prolonged pressure, can lead to stress. Stress can cause illness, physical and emotional problems. Symptoms often cause increased irritability, difficulty getting to sleep and early morning waking, indigestion, loss of concentration, tiredness, constipation or diarrhoea and loss of appetite. More seriously stress can cause palpitations, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. To help understand stress lets go back in time to our ancestors when a stressful day involved hunting lions or fleeing from attacking tribes from the next valley. It was important that they responded appropriately to life or death situations. The body and brain evolved to recognise stress and react by preparing for 'fight or flight'. At such a time chemicals and hormones are released enabling them to run faster and jump higher. And by doing so, the effects of those same hormones and chemicals are neutralised in the body. Today those lions have been replaced by traffic jams, heavy workloads and stock market crashes, but our response is still as if we were in a life or death situation. The main difference now is that we don't have the release mechanisms that we used to have, so the effects of stress build up in the body until we face overload. It's all about balance. We need to react and manage stress properly in our lives to ensure it works in our favour. Firstly, you can try to reduce your stress and secondly learn how to cope better, ideally a combination of both approaches. To reduce your stress it helps to identify the causes.
Stress caused by work is the second biggest occupational health problem in the UK (after back problems), money matters and family relationships caused either by major upheavals and life events such as divorce, unemployment, moving house and bereavement are also common factors. Relieving stress is simple. Try a relaxing bath add music, candles and a glass of your favourite drink. Close the door and forget about everything else for an hour or so. A comedy night is great stress relief; laughter will raise your spirits and is a great antidote to the pressures of modern life. Indulging in an aromatherapy massage is an excellent way to get stress relief, but be warned it's addictive! If you are feeling overwhelmed, get out of the firing line for some peace and quiet. Distancing yourself from problems can bring clarity and help you refocus on enjoying the world you live in.