Stress
All of us know what it feels like to be stressed, but what is it? Okay, first the facts, then how it feels. If you identify with the experience of stress and think you need some help them click on to our 'Create my Toolbox' page.
The facts...
Stress is the body's natural response to challenges or demands. It's a physical, mental, and emotional reaction to situations that require us to adapt or react. In small doses, stress can be motivating—like the excitement before an important event. But when it's prolonged or overwhelming, it can take a toll on our health and well-being. Constantly being stressed can lead to problems like depression or heart disease because of the release of stress hormones and changes in our nervous system that occur in the body to help us cope with challenges or threats.
Stress can show up in many forms. Common signs include:
- Irritability or anxiety
- Trouble concentrating or making decisions
- Disrupted sleep or appetite
- Muscle tension, headaches, or fatigue
- Emotional numbness or disconnection
- Increased reliance on substances or distractions
How Stress Works in the Body
Perception of Stress – The brain detects a stressor and activates the hypothalamus, which signals the pituitary gland.
Hormonal Cascade – The pituitary gland releases adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), prompting the adrenal glands to produce cortisol.
Fight-or-Flight Response – The sympathomedullary pathway (SAM) triggers the release of adrenaline, increasing heart rate, breathing, and energy availability.
Regulation & Recovery – Once the stressor is gone, the parasympathetic nervous system helps return the body to balance
Two broad categories of stressors
A stressor is anything that causes the release of stress hormones. There are two broad categories of stressors: Physiological (or physical) stressors and Psychological Stressors.
Physiological (or physical) stressors - These are stressors that put strain on our body?(i.e.: very cold/hot temperatures, injury, chronic illness, or pain).
Psychological Stressors - These are events, situations, individuals, comments, or anything we interpret as negative or threatening (i.e.: not being able to find a babysitter for your sick child when you cannot take time off work).
These could be further divided into:
Absolute Stressors - These are stressors that everyone exposed to them would interpret as being stressful. These are objective stressors that are universal (i.e.: earth quakes, a tsunami, or the events of September 11th 2001).
Relative Stressors - These are stressors that only some exposed to them would interpret as being stressful. These are subjective stressors that cause different reactions in different people (i.e.: time pressure at work, traffic, paying taxes, writing an exam).
These days, absolute stressors are less common in most parts of the world, however, our busy on the go lifestyles, paired with high expectations of ourselves and what our life should look like means that relative stressors have increased and can be multiple everyday, although highly personal because what we interpret as stressful is very individual.
The feels.....
So, we now understand what stress is from a biological perspective, and its safe to say that all of us have felt stressed, some more than others. What studies also tell us is that the type of stressors resulting in the release of stress hormones are different for everyone, however, there are common elements to situations that elevate stress hormones in everyone no matter your age, marital status, ethnicity, level of income, or level of education because of the characteristics of the situation that remain the same for everyone.
This is what was discovered, the common ingredients for stress to occur is in: N.U.T.S. (Lupiens, 2012), a handy acronym to understand what brings on our stress response:
NOVELTY Something new you have not experienced before
UNPREDICTABILITY Something you had no way of knowing it would occur
THREAT TO THE EGO Your competence as a person is called into question
SENSE OF CONTROL You feel you have little or not control over the situation
In real life that could look like:
Novelty: A new computer system is installed at work which will alter your normal processes. A new person is joining your friend groups weekend away.
Unpredictability: You learn that your employer is going to make job cuts but you have no clue when. Or you have a new boss whose demands are constantly influx.
Threat to the ego: A friend questions your parenting style as if doubting your methods. Or you are meeting your child's teacher who asks you how much time you spend helping your child read.
Sense of Control: You have an important job interview and the bus breaks down. Or your partner is diagnosed with a life altering illness that leaves you unsure as to how you will manage.
So what we're saying is that these ingredients will trigger stress, a body response, an automatic physiological reaction, which is getting you ready for flight, flight or freeze because the mind detects threat, whether this is a real physical threat or a perceived threat such as looking silly during a presentation.
However, we can't really talk about stress without giving worry and anxiety a mention. It is worth mentioning worry, because stress and worry can be used interchangeably, but they are not exactly the same. Where stress is body based, worry is head based. It involves thoughts about potential, more specific, future events, like will I get to the airport on time. Anxiety however, is more diffuse, a more general concern about future events. It encompasses both the emotional and physical responses to perceived threats. So whilst there is overlap and each of these experiences influence one another, they also have distinct characteristics.
It may help to think about it like this, worry can lead us to think about a particular upcoming issue and come up with solutions and strategies for dealing with it. Anxiety is more like a hamster wheel that spins us around but doesn't lead us to productive solutions. Because anxiety is more general and usually involves situations that have no answer, for example, will anyone talk to me at the party tomorrow, it can tend to linger because our mind continues to try and find an answer. Worry is less intense than anxiety and usually controllable as we tend to stop worrying when we have come to a conclusion.
If any of this sounds like you, it may be worth taking a step back and see where you could make some changes, for example, trying to introduce some exercise that you like or trying mindfulness to keep you more present focused. We have some tools to help in Create My Toolbox, or you may consider looking for help from a mental health professional Seek help