Stay Healthy With Stress Management

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Nowadays with the fast-paced and highly demanding lives that most people lead, it is no wonder why most they feel a great deal of stress and fall sick most of the time. Stress is a condition that is experienced by everyone at one point in their lives. Feeling stressed is the body’s defense mechanism toward an actual or perceived threat or difficulty in life. Once this happens, it can lead to a disruption in the overall balance of one’s psychosomatic system.

The perception of stress is highly individualized. This is the main reason why different people react in a distinct way towards an adverse situation. For instance, your friend may find it very thrilling and exciting to ride a roller coaster. You, on the other hand, is sweating and constantly praying for the ride to end. Indeed, there are times when it is not the external events that are stressful, simply your perception makes them seem that way.

Why is stress management really crucial to one’s health? The main reason for this is to keep your sanity in check, due to the myriad of negative effects caused by stress that is not dealt with properly, or ignored incessantly. Stress can take a toll on your mental, physical, and emotional health. Initially, the effects of stress on the body can be somewhat restrained, but over time, they can be fatal. Some of these are the following: sudden surge of blood sugar, blood pressure, and heart rate—all of which are needed by the body to confront or avoid an impending danger (fight or flight response).

Moreover, there are a number of complications that are caused by chronic stress. In fact, according to the American Psychological Association, stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.

The multitude of negative effects of stress can be best explained by the hormonal changes that occur when one faces a stressful situation. Each person has a stress system in the body which is generally responsible for coordinating all the chemical and physiological processes that occurs as a response to stress by releasing hormones.

However, there is more to the system than just that. The hormones circulating in the body are very much regulated to affect our other body. For instance, stress alters a person’s serotonin levels. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that is responsible for the regulation of sleep, mood, and one’s wellbeing, in general. Once the normal levels of serotonin are disrupted due to stress, there are reduced feelings of pleasure which ultimately leads to a poor quality of life.

Despite stress sounding scary, a good amount of stress is beneficial in the sense that it primes the body to be ready for any adverse situation. Thus, it is best to manage stress to keep one motivated and self-driven rather than overwhelmed, worried, and anxious. When one is in tip top shape mentally, he/she will be as fit as a fiddle too.