Stress is probably the most commonly used word today. There are umpteen courses on how to deal with stress. Every magazine comes up with some new concept and wonder drugs for stress. All systems of medicine compete with each other for the cure of this horrible modern disease. Stress seems to have become the plague of today’s society.
Here we will talk stress in a little different way. The approach here is to deal with stress as it seen in one’s different zones of life. Simple methods of show to deal with it will be discussed. The practical methods of tress management may not be discussed extensively because they need to be learnt personally from people who are trained to use these process and methods.
What is stress?
Stress is a non-specific response of the body to can external stimulus or demand. Every person goes through stress, irrespective of age and sex. Even school-going children are known to have successful responses. Babies too can be stressed. Probably cavemen also had their share of stress.
Stress is a series of physiological response of the body and mind to a stimulus from outside and it is absolutely natural or normal. Stress is natural and necessary for a living being to survive. Then what is all this hype about stress? Stress becomes harmful when it becomes disproportionate and choric.
Good stress vs bad stress
Stress which is useful for the protection of the human being is called good stress. When the same stress becomes harmful to the human being, it is called bad stress. Let us see the difference between the two.
Good stress
Fright
Protects and helps growth of the human being
Bad stress
Freeze
Incapacitates and destroys the human being
Types of stress
There are different types of stress. These are briefly discussed in what follows.
Acute stress: this type of stress lasts for a short duration, and fades away in a few hours to a few days.
Chronic stress: such stress lasts for weeks to months and varies in intensity.
Situational stress: this is a stress precipitated by a certain situation. For example, if one is scared of travelling by air, every time one travels by air, the stressful experience is felt.
Anticipatory stress: here the anticipation of an event induces stress. The best example is the examination stress, the interview stress or stress executives and managers feel when they have to make a presentation.
Residual stress: this is peculiar situation where the events of the past lead to stress. A person is just not ready to forget or let go of some painful event in the past, and every time the mind goes over the incident, the same experience is relived. This is common in people who have had bereavement in the family, recent accidents or any other traumatic experience.
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