Essays

Stress is unavoidable and it is not possible to eliminate it from our live entirely. Life is full of challenges, and a life without some turmoil is not only impossible but is also undesirable. The hassles, deadlines, frustrations, and demands of modern life have made stress so commonplace that it has become a way of life for many people. In small doses, stress can help people perform under pressure and motivate them to do their best. But it is not desirable to constantly be in an emergency mode as the mind and body would have to ultimately pay the price.

Stress is a normal physical response to events that make us feel threatened or upset our balance in some way. When a threat is perceived, our nervous system responds by releasing flood of stress hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones rouse the body for emergency action. As a result, our heart pounds faster, muscles tighten, blood pressure rises, breath quickens, and senses become sharper. These physical changes increase our strength and stamina, speed our reaction time, and enhance our focus, thus preparing us to either fight or flee from the danger at hand. This reaction to a real or imagined danger is called the stress response.

The stress response is the body's way of protecting us. When working properly, it helps us to stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save our life by giving us extra strength, in for example, spurring us to slam on the brakes to avoid an accident.  The stress response also helps us rise to meet challenges. It keeps us mi our toes during a presentation at work, sharpens our concentration when attempting the game-winning free throw, or drives us to study for an exam when we would rather be watching TV. But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to our health, mood, productivity, relationships, and our quality of life.

It is important to understand that our body does not distinguish between physical and psychological threats. When we are stressed over a busy schedule, an argument with a friend, a traffic jam, or a mountain of bills, our body reacts just as strongly as if we were facing a life- or-death situation. If someone has a lot of responsibilities and worries, chances are that their emergency stress response may he 'on' most of the time. The more our body's stress system is activated, the easier it is to trip and the harder it is to shut off.

Leading a long-term stressful life can even rewire the brain, leaving ns more vulnerable to anxiety and depression. Chronic stress disrupts nearly every system in our body. It can raise blood pressure, suppress the immune system, increase the risk of heart attack and stroke, contribute to infertility, and speed up the aging process. Problems related to sleep and digestion, obesity, autoimmune diseases, and skin conditions such as eczema are some their health problems that or caused or exacerbated by stress.

The ability to withstand stress differs from person to person- While some people seem to thrive on the excitement and challenge of a high- stress lifestyle, others crumble at the slightest obstacle or ration. The ability to tolerate stress depends on many factors, including the quality of a person's relationships, general outlook on life, emotional intelligence, and genetics.

The situations and pressures that cause stress are known as stressors. We usually think of stressors as being negative, such as an exhausting work schedule or a rocky relationship 01 death of someone close.  However, anything that puts high demands on us or forces us to adjust can be stressful. This includes positive even is such as getting married, buying a house, going to college, or receiving a promotion. Also, to an extent, what causes stress depends on our perception of it. Something that is stressful to a person may be enjoyed by someone else. For example, a person may get stressed while going to office due to his anxiety that traffic will make him late, while another may find the trip relaxing and enjoy listening to music while he drives.

Stress can also be self-generated. It may occur due to children and family, being too busy, inability to accept uncertainty, pessimism, perfectionism, lack of assertiveness, unrealistic expectations, etc. The most dangerous thing about stress is that it can easily creep up on us, to the extent that we get used to it. We start to feel familiar, even normal, and it takes a heavy toll without even our noticing how much it is affecting us.

The signs and symptoms of stress overload can be almost anything. Stress affects the mind, body, and behaviour in many ways, and everyone experiences stress differently. So, it is important to team how

To recognize when our stress levels are out of control. Some of the common warning signs and symptoms of stress are cognitive symptoms (memory problems, inability to concentrate, poor judgment, constant worrying), emotional symptoms (moodiness, irritability or short temper, inability to relax, sense of loneliness and isolation, depression or general unhappiness). physical symptoms (aches and pains, diarrhea or constipation, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, loss of sex drive, frequent colds) and behavioural symptoms (eating more or less, sleeping too much or too little, isolating yourself from others, neglecting responsibilities, using alcohol or cigarettes to relax, nervous habits like nail biting).

The more signs and symptoms, the closer one may be to stress overload. However, the signs and symptoms of stress can also be caused by other psychological and medical problems. While unchecked stress is undeniably damaging, there are many things that one can do to reduce its impact and cope with symptoms. Managing stress is easy if one learns to handle his thoughts, emotions, schedule, environment, and the way he deal with problems. Stress management involves changing the stressful situation when you can, changing your reaction when you cannot, taking care of yourself, and making time for rest and relaxation.

Stress can be reduced and managed to healthy levels through regular meditation. Relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing activate the body's relaxation response, a state of restfulness that is the opposite of the stress response. When practiced regularly, these activities lead to a reduction in our everyday stress levels and a boost in our feelings of joy and serenity. They also increase our ability to stay calm and collected under pressure.

A considerable amount of research has shown that meditation ha benefits on mental health, including a reduction in proneness to depression, an increase in emotional positivity, and an increased ability 10 deals with life's inevitable stresses. Meditation not only involves relaxation (the cessation of unnecessary effort but promotes mindfulness, which helps the stress-sufferer to recognize unhelpful patterns of thought that give rise to the stress response. It also involves the active cultivation of positive mental states such as love, kindness, compassion, patience, and energy.

Meditation means awareness. 'Watching your breath' or listening to the birds is meditation. As long as these activities are free from any other distraction to the mind, it is effective meditation. Meditation means 'a cessation of the thought process'. It describes a state of consciousness, when the mind is free of scattered thoughts and various patterns. The observer (one who is doing meditation) realizes that all the activity of the mind is reduced to one.

The benefits of meditation are manifold. When practicing meditation, our heart rate and breathing slow down, blood pressure normalizes, sweat less, and we use oxygen more efficiently. Also, our adrenal gland produce less cortical, and our immune function improves. It leads to an increase in creativity. In short, meditation is wonderful—it is free, always available, and amazingly effective in short-lei-m stress reduction and long-term health.