How Does Stress Affect Mental Health?
What Is Stress?
Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or threat. Basically one can term stress as a rather normal or natural biological response to any situation consisting of pressure or anything that you might take as burden or threat, enabling that flight-fight act.
Stress is an integral part of our daily life and we acknowledge it on a regular basis donning different attire every time. You stress out when you are tired, sad, scared or overworked etc. Though, what is to be questioned is the fact that if we feel stressed recurrently then why is it that sometimes we confront it as valid and at other times as false? Cause and stressor involved is the bedrock of this question’s answer!
Types And Causes Of Stress
A mental health disorder and that too with a vivid bar of description, categorizing stress is indeed not possible. But we can look up on some of the types of stress so as to crave a design of the issue.
1. Acute Stress- The most commonly witnessed and felt stress type includes our body’s reaction to any kind of challenge or immediate trauma faced by us. Approaching exams, sudden situation with a colleague, near miss accident or a tiff among friends can act as a stressor.
Acute stress’ response is not always negative; even those butterflies in your stomach or that brainstorming ride at the amusement park which leaves you soberly dizzy are also one of those stressors turning on that biological response. It is temporary and you should be able to feel normal again, your breathlessness and that increase in frequency of your heart beat should subside.
Long term acute stress caused due to a particular trauma or exaggerating situation can be dangerous and may lead to acute stress disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder.
2. Episodic Acute Stress- Rather than mental one can characterize it as a behavioral type. When acute stress happens recurrently or for long period of time it is known as episodic acute stress. People dealing with crisis, pessimistic approach, and those who worry a lot are generally affected by this. It is rather difficult to help them as it involves one’s perception towards life theories which is an innate characteristic.
3. Chronic Stress- A continuous and prolonged state of being in stress is termed as chronic stress type. This includes rather serious experiences like that of bankruptcy, divorce etc. This can leave eternal marks on one’s mental health and needs professional help so as to recover.
Stress is a rather confusing word. This word makes it difficult to understand the exact definition and leads one to a fogged meaning of stress. Many people confuse stress with anxiety and depression. We need to focus upon the causes of stress so as to get a clearer picture as these causes are the common link between all these three mental disorders.
1. Work Stress- You are running late for work, your boss passed you another stack of files just before break; your senior stole your idea and what not? Whether you are working in a multinational company, at a local factory or are a student you always do come across such situations. Following causes fall in this sector-
- Being unhappy in your job.
- Fewer expectations from you.
- Having a heavy workload or too much responsibility.
- Working for long hours.
- Lack of appropriate or regular wage.
- Having no say in the decision-making process.
- Working under uncomfortable and risky conditions.
- Being insecure about your job’s consistency.
- Facing discrimination or harassment at work.
2. Life Stress- You stress out over many things happening in your life which may be of considerably low importance to others but you. This sector can involve a variety of causes. Here are some-
- Death of a loved one.
- Divorce.
- Loss of a job.
- Increase in financial obligations.
- Moving to a new home.
- Chronic illness.
- Taking care of an elderly or sick family member.
- Traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, theft, rape, or violence against you or a loved one.
How does stress affect you?
Stress not only affects your mental health but its symptoms have a great deal of effect on your daily life too. These effects at the beginning may seem trivial but in the long run it turns out to be a salient feature.
1. Effects On Physical Aspects-
- Physical pain.
- Chest pain.
- Fatigue.
- Insomnia or excessive sleeping.
- Loss of appetite.
2. Effects On Behavioral Aspects-
· Angry outbursts.
- Drug or alcohol abuse.
- Social withdrawal.
- Exercising less often/ Accepting a lazy routine.
3. Effects On Emotional Aspects-
- Anxiety, sadness or depression.
- Restlessness.
- Lack of motivation and concentration.
- Worrying excessively.
- Irritability or anger.
1. Locate The Root Cause- First of all figure out the stressor involved. Examine your routine and locate the situations and times when you felt stressed out or any such symptoms. Work on finding the baseline issue.
2. Seek Family And Friend’s Help- Once you figure out the cause or even if you are having trouble getting to the raw material; you can always share with your loved ones or trusty. Talk about your feelings or reactions that you find foreign or exaggerated. Having someone to back always helps you and calms you down.
3. Meditation And Exercise- Indulge yourself into physically healthy habits. This will help you in concentrating and letting go of negative mindset.
4. Relax And Eat Healthy- Go to massage parlors, hair salons, eat healthy and nutritional food, take some days off work, read a new book and take adequate rest. A healthy lifestyle always helps in having a healthy mental health.
5. Seek Professional Help- If even after putting all the effort down nothing works out take professional help. Sometimes the matter at hand is too big to be cured by ourselves else why are professionals there for? Talk to a professional and get answers and cures for all your mental health issues.
Stress is a very common mental situation which with even a little focus can be treated easily. Keeping the calm of your mind is of utmost importance no matter what. Knowing that each situation will pass out and reflecting upon it should be your life story’s cover.
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