What is Stress?
The question ‘what is stress?’ is a difficult one to answer. Everyone experiences different levels of stress and deals with stress differently. Because stress is so personal, it is difficult provide a definition which covers all the meanings of stress but stress can be broadly defined as: a feeling of anxiety about a particular trigger which may relate to personal difficulties, work pressures or general worry.
Stress can show up in any aspect of our lives and understanding what stress means to each of us and learning the skills required in managing stress will be critical to live a long and happy life free of undue worries. Managing stress is an important skill to learn from a young age.
The first day of school can be a particularly stressful day and every day each and every one of us will experience some degree of stress in our lives. Are we running late for work? Should we have eaten a healthier breakfast? Is the sun going to burn my skin if you do not put sun cream on? Is our partner happy? Are we making the most of our lives?
Types of Stress
Tiredness
It’s surprising how many people don’t realise how much of an impact tiredness can have on their lives. When you’re constantly pushing yourself to get things done, you can quickly get run down and in a lot of cases that can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome. Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterised by tiredness symptoms such as extreme exhaustion and weakness. Other symptoms include neurological problems, difficulty sleeping, pains, a rise in heart rate and/or drop in blood pressure when standing, nausea, palpitations, shortness of breath, twitching and/or tingling of muscles, allergies, sensitivity to light, sound, noise, odours, medication and/or tastes, gastrointestinal problems, extreme weight loss or gain, flu-like feelings and an inability to cope with extreme temperature changes.
Headache
There are a range of different causes for headaches, just as there are a range of headache remedies. If you have an occasional headache you shouldn’t be worried, it is quite unusual for people to not have a headache every now and then. A migraine headache is a more serious condition and can last anywhere from four to seventy-two hours. It can also be accompanied by nausea, vomiting and increased sensitivity to light and sound.
Anxiety
We all know what anxiety feels like. Anxiety is a human emotion – It is a normal reaction to stress. It helps people deal with difficult situations. Everyone has experienced it at some time or another in their lives, but for some people anxiety symptoms are a part of their everyday life. It can be such a problem that it can create serious difficulties. Some individuals with anxiety symptoms are constantly scared and worried. They can be so deathly scared of certain situations that they can't face them at all. Severe anxiety can also lead to other problems such as depression and drug and alcohol abuse.
Depression
Depression could mean losing a night's sleep, taking one's own life or manifest itself in a myriad of other ways, either mental or physical. Depression is more than just being or feeling sad and does not necessarily follow a tragic period. Some people who suffer from depression may be unaware that they are depressed, putting their feelings down to being sad or emotional. Depression can affect men or women, boys or girls and without suitable treatment, may linger for months or years at a time.
Depression is a very broad term which covers clinical depression, reactive depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder, adolescent depression and postnatal depression. Hard to categorise, it is a condition which is frequently ignored and often derives negative connotations.
Insomnia
To really simplify what insomnia is, it is when you have trouble initiating or maintaining sleep. Sometimes you might be able to fall asleep, but the quality of sleep may be poor. This usually leads to a further impairment when that person is awake! So it’s really a vicious cycle. The illness insomnia can affect anyone. People of all age groups can suffer from insomnia, but it is usually more common in women.
