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Internal and External Causes of Stress, What is Stress

Date: January 15, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
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Stress’ is a condition which can disturb the normal physical and mental health of an individual. It is defined in Oxford Dictionary as “a state of affair involving demand on physical or mental energy”.

Stress is a regarded as twentieth century syndrome. Modern life Daily hassles and demands, exhausting work schedule and major life events such as a divorce, death, midlife crisis, financial worries, persistent strain of caring for a chronically sick child, nagging health problems or managing a physically or mentally challenged family member can act as potential stressors. A sudden unemployment or lay-off from a job can leave you under tremendous stress.

Stressful depends on various factors, including your personality, problem-solving abilities, and social support system. Stress conditions can be real or just perceived by you. Our brain reacts to both causes of stress by releasing stress hormones equal to the degree of stress felt. The brain cannot differentiate between real and imagined stress. In challenging situations the brain prepares the body for some defensive actions—the fight or flight response by releasing hormones, namely, cortisone and adrenaline. These hormones raise the blood pressure and prepare the body to react according to the situation. It could happen while watching a movie or when one is apprehensive of some imminent danger.

Listing the potential causes of stress is tricky and highly individual. Stress factors react differently from person to person as Extreme stress situations for an individual may prove to be mild for another. Stress symptoms depend partly on the nature of the stressor itself and partly on your own personal and external resources.

Some External causes of stress.

An unsafe neighborhood, pollution, noise, and uncomfortable living conditions can produce a stress situation (flight response) the hormones and chemicals remain unreleased in the blood stream for a long period of time. It results in stress related physical symptoms such as tense muscles, unfocused anxiety, dizziness and increased rate of pulse. For people living in war-torn regions, the stress may be unrelenting.

Relationship demands mental health. Problems with friends and family members are valid causes of stress. Marital disagreements, dysfunctional relationships, rebellious teens, or caring for a chronically-ill family member or a child with special needs compels the mind and body to be in an almost constant alarm-state in preparation to fight or flee. This also can increase the risk of both acute and chronic psychosomatic illnesses and weaken the immune system of the human body.

Pressure at workplaces – In our career-driven society work can be a source of stress. Work stress is caused by things such as job dissatisfaction, insufficient pay, office politics, meeting deadline, and conflicts with co-workers. These factors can trigger stress conditions.

Social situations can cause stress. Poverty, financial pressures, racial and sexual discrimination or harassment, isolation, and a lack of social support all induced adverse feelings and anxieties.

Internal Causes of Stress

Stress can also be self-generated. Internal causes of stress include…Pessimistic attitude, low self-esteem, excessive or unexpressed anger, lack of assertiveness, unrealistic expectations from others and Self-criticism.

What is Stress

Date: January 9, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
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Be specific as to what is the definition of stress is almost impossible, as very complex to explain. Not all stress is bad for us – whatever many people may think

It is considered both normal and healthy to experience certain levels of stress in our lives. However, it is when stress starts to take control of our lives, or we feel as if we have become a different person, is when stress becomes both unhealthy and maybe even dangerous.

Basically the definition of stress is the emotional and physical strain caused by our body’s response to pressure inflicted on it from the outside world. This strain varies in terms of severity and impact from person to person, as each person handles stress differently and responds differently to separate stressors – stressors being the factors in our lives that cause us the stress.

Our bodies respond in different ways to different types of stress. When we feel stressed our bodies releases chemicals into the blood stream. Sometimes this has a positive effect, and provides us with more strength or energy. However, the bad stress can have the opposite effect, and the chemicals released can cause us to feel sad or depressed.

Causes Of Stress

There can be a variety of causes to stress and it all depends on what is happening in our life, and how we deal with it on a daily basis. For example, anyone working in a high powered environment in a fast-paced job where they find themselves constantly annoyed and frustrated will find themselves feeling a lot more stress than someone doing a job they enjoy, able to work at their own pace.

It is also important to realize that there are a few different specific definitions of stress, namely: survival stress, internal stress, environmental stress, and then the stress caused by fatigue and overwork.

Internal stress is the most commonly experienced form of stress, and is one of the most important kinds of stress to understand and manage. It basically occurs when people make themselves ill by being stressed out, when they worry about things that they cannot control or put themselves in situations that they know are just going to end up causing themselves even more stress.

Treatment

Regardless of how severe your stress is or how long you have been trying to deal with it you should consult a doctor as soon as you notice any symptoms you think may have been caused by this stress. He or she will be able to recommend a course of treatment, though this may involve you having to take some sort of medicine. However, if you would prefer to treat your stress using more natural methods there are several helpful websites to be found online.

Effects of Stress

Date: January 8, 2010
Author: Penny Pettman
Categories: Advice
Comments: Leave a reply

Before we have a discussion about stress, let’s define our terms. What exactly, are the kinds of stress that we are talking about? There are the physical stresses like lack of sleep or working nine hours digging ditches. There are the chemical or nutritional stresses that are becoming more common every day in America. Just have a soda and pizza and watch the people for a while. Then there are the emotional or mental stresses. I bet you’re talking about emotional stress.

Okay, let’s talk about emotional stress, but understand that all three kinds of stress can create the same effects of stress.

There are certain patterns that take place during times of stress, no matter what kind you want to talk about. Here’s a list of stress effects: circulatory changes, skin rashes, adrenal gland fatigue, lymphatic system slow down, intestinal track irritation…almost every symptom of the body will show the effects of stress.

So instead of looking at all the symptoms, which won’t do you any good anyway, let’s get to the cause and the correction of the cause of stress. Because no matter what the cause and effects of stress are, there are some powerful ways to reduce them.

Emotional Stress

Some people never “get over” a loved one’s death, marital breakup, or other severe stress. Never. These people live their lives in the constant presence of the past emotional stress. Even extensive counseling doesn’t help some people. Counseling at such times can be most important for a person, but counseling does not reset the emotional stress overload circuit breakers if they have been short circuited.

How many stressful life events can you think about which cause your “stomach to tie into a knot” or a queasy feeling to occur or tears to fill your eyes? The presence of these symptoms when thinking about an emotionally stressing event are a surefire indication that the emotional stress overload points need to be “reset” by you or someone close to you.

Have you ever seen a distressed person or a person completely frustrated, clap their hand to their forehead? Maybe you’ve done it yourself… recently. Why over the forehead?

It is no accident that placing the hand over the forehead is an instinctive reaction. Your body knows what it’s doing.

It has been discovered that on the skin of the forehead are located neurological “circuit breakers” which are associated with mental and emotional stress overload. The instinctive reaction of the person’s nerve system is to draw attention to these circuit breakers.

Think about the last time you went through a stressful situation. How about a school assignment that you had forgotten? What about that person you have to talk to but don’t want to? What about that event that’s coming up that you have to attend—and it’s the last thing you want to do? Think of “that one thing” that causes you stress.

In each of these situations, if you think about the one that causes you intensity, you may very well slap your hand to your forehead. You might even add a shake of your head.

The point is this thought is causing you stress and the job of your subconscious mind is to minimize the effects of stress by attempting to reset your emotional circuit breakers. So let’s do this for real. It will take 5 minutes and may very well change your life.

Find something moderately stressful. Think about it for ten seconds or to the point that this thought causes you a “gut feeling” of stress. You know what I mean? If it’s not there, add some sensations like movement, sound, color, or brightness.

Now, place your finger pads on your emotional circuit breakers; they are the two bony points on your forehead. Make sure you are thinking about that stressful episode at the same time you are touching your forehead. Hold these points with a slight stretching or tugging on the skin and you’re going to reset these circuits. The contacts should be held until a slight pulsation (like taking your pulse on your wrist or your neck) is felt in both fingers simultaneously. This usually takes from 30 seconds to two minutes. Once the pulsation is felt, the contacts may be held for a few more seconds and then released.

This is a simple but powerful way for you to reset your emotional circuit breakers in relation to a specific episode of stress. It will dramatically reduce the intensity of the event. If not, do it again. Do it until the intensity goes down to zero.

How do you feel? You have just removed a significant effect of stress from your life.