Stress - The Story

Stress is a fact of life - but it's not necessarily a bad one. Sometimes it is positively good for us to experience stress because it stimulates excitement or action - that 'buzz' many people talk about after they have won a race or made a good presentation at work. Going through a full, natural cycle of stress, release and relaxation, enables us to cope with many temporary stressful situations and come out feeling fine.

However, if that cycle is not completed, the effects of stress start to adversely affect the body and send things out of balance. Tiredness, irritability, headaches, digestive problems, insomnia, skin problems and a general increase in the frequency of minor illnesses are all the potential results of not de-stressing our stress.

Clearly, there are some stresses in life which we either can't control or are less able to control because they are connected to long-term problems which need specialist help. However, there are many more day-to-day situations which cause temporary stress and which we can try to do something about. Today, when a 'normal' day is far more complex than it was for our grandparents or even parents, it is often the build-up of the little things that make the difference: a bad day at work; the children playing up; a traffic jam; locking yourself out; a parking ticket; a noisy neighbour - even a missing button - can lead to a build-up of tension and some unpleasant and debilitating physical symptoms which, in turn, make it harder to cope with what is happening to us.

So what is stress?
The word stress is derived from the Latin stringere, meaning to 'draw tight', which accurately describes some of the major effects of stress on the body, e.g. being "uptight". However, it is possible to "pull your own strings" and use stress positively to your own advantage, making it work for you and not against you.

Despite all the current glamour and 'hype' being attached to it, stress has been with us since the beginning of time. Earlier in our evolutionary history a caveman's ability to channel the "fight" or "flight" response could mean the difference between life and death. It is unlikely today, that we will be faced with such potentially dangerous and life-threatening situations, but the body's 'Red Alert' system remains the same and the same bodily changes occur as they did all those many years ago.

The last fifty years have created new pressures that test our ability to survive and it is important for us to discharge the energy and tension that is generated through the adrenalin response. Stress in itself is not dangerous, it is the build-up of repeated and persistent situations that produce unused energy that can be harmful to our bodies. It is therefore very important that we adopt a releasing or a relaxing strategy that will enable us to turn off the arousal response.