What is stress?

Alvin Toffler states in his book "Future Shock" that people experience more stress whenever they are subjected to a lot of change in a short span of time. If anything characterizes our lives these days, it is an excess of change. We are in a continual state of flux. We have less control over our lives, we live with more uncertainty, and we often feel threatened and, at times, overwhelmed. The following sections explain some of the more common sources of stress in our lives.

And defining stress should be relatively easy, right? Seeing that we all experience it to one degree or another throughout our lives and in different areas of our lives, work, home, relationships, life-changing events etc. Even though most people experience stress and know intuitively what stress is... it is sometimes hard to capture it in an all-encompassing description.

"Stress is what you experience when you believe you cannot cope effectively with a threatening situation"

What this means is that you experience stress whenever you are faced with an event or situation that you perceive as challenging to your ability to cope. If you see the event or situation as only mildly challenging, you will probably feel only a little stress; however if you perceive the situation or event as threatening or overwhelming your coping abilities, you will probably feel a lot of stress. So, having to wait for a bus when you have all the time in the world triggers little stress. Waiting for that same bus when you are late for a plane that will take off without you triggers much more stress.

This difference between the demands of the situation and your perception of how well you can cope with that situation is what determines how much stress you will feel.

How do you know if you are Stressed Out?

The signs and symptoms of stress range from the benign to the dramatic - from simply feeling tired at the end of the day to having a heart attack. The more serious stress-related problems come with intense and prolonged periods of stress.

Below are some commonly experienced signs and symptoms to help you to know whether you are stressed out:

Physical signs of stress

• Tiredness, fatigue, lethargy
• Heart palpitations, racing pulse, rapid, shallow breathing
• Muscle tension and aches
• Shakiness, tremors, tics, twitches
• Heartburn, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, nervousness
• Dry mouth and throat
• Excessive sweating, clammy hands, cold hands and/or feet
• Rashes, hives, itching
• Nail-biting, fidgeting, hair-twirling or hair-pulling
• Frequent urination
• lowered libido
• Overeating, loss of appetite
• Sleep difficulties
• Increased use of alcohol and/or drugs and medications

Psychological signs of stress:

• Irritability, impatience, anger, hostility
• Worry, anxiety, panic
• Moodiness, sadness, feeling upset
• Intrusive and/or racing thoughts
• Memory lapses, difficulties in concentrating, indecision
• Frequent absences from work lowered productivity
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Loss of sense of humour.

The above lists of symptoms are just general symptoms of stress. Prolonged and/or intense stress or stressful periods can have far more serious effects on our health and well-being, and cause many stress-related health problems. We take the symptoms of stress very seriously with our clients and make it our business to focus on Self Care with anyone we see as clients, by asking one simple question... "Are you taking your MEDS?"

We are not actually talking about medication here, although medication could certainly have its place. We have put together a FREE eBook and mini Video series for you because we are so passionate about helping our clients to get a good solid Self Care regime. If you are interested in learning an easy 4 step system to create a daily Self Care regime, click on the link below where you can sign up for FREE.