Understanding
Stress
What is Stress Copyright 2009. Performance Development Pty. Ltd.
Hello. My name is Brian Carroll and I have been working as
a psychologist in the field of enhancing workplace performance and well-being for more than twenty-five years. In this
brief article I would like to share with you some of the practical dynamics around the nature of stress, as I have come to
understand it.
"Fight or Flight"
Stress is a natural reaction that is triggered within the body in response to feeling threatened.
The body gears itself up for “flight or fight” – in other words, there is a physiological and bio-chemical
reaction in the body that is designed to enable it to confront the threat, or to get away from it.
The cause of
the stress (the stressor) could be for example, a tight deadline on a project at work, the boss criticizing some aspect of
your performance, a customer making an unrealistic demand, or it could have been an argument with your partner that morning.
The
reaction of the body making itself “alert and ready for action” is accompanied by physical changes such as a tendency
to breathe more rapidly, and muscles in the body tensing up – so as to be able to move and respond more quickly. These
physiological changes consume a lot of energy – and that is why sustained periods of stress will produce physical fatigue.
Some other physical symptoms that can be associated with prolonged stress include by way of example - headaches,
digestive difficulies, hypertension, sleep disorder, inability to concentrate, lethargy and skin rashes.
Stress and emotions
In addition to physical effects, as we all know, stress can be accompanied
by a range of different emotions. Depending upon the nature of the “stressor” that is causing us to feel “threatened”,
emotions could be fear, anxiety, embarrassment, guilt – or even excitement. Yes, even positive events such as Christmas
or taking on a job promotion have the potential to trigger some stress.
A degree of stress is inevitable in life because, whether
we like it or not, each day we face is different and there will always be some uncertainty in the world around us. That is
why many decades ago, one of the leading researchers in the field of the physiology of stress, Dr. Hans Selye, coined the
terms “eustress” and “dystress” to differentiate healthy and unhealthy levels of stress.
Good
and bad stress
Eustress refers to positive levels of stress that come from challenges that we welcome
into our life - enabling us to learn, grow, evolve and perform at our best. Dystress refers to excessive levels
of stress that are counter-productive to our performance and undermine our sense of well-being.
So in a nutshell, stress is a natural
part of everyday living. We cannot eliminate stress from our lives - the key is learning to positively manage the levels
of stress and the volume of demands that are placed upon us. There are strategies that we can learn and apply, that can help us deal with
stress.
