Stress

Good or Bad Stress

What is stress? More importantly, do you know how it affects you and how you can recognise it in your life? You may have identified your responses to stress when you have been in a situation that gave you ‘butterflies’ in your stomach or a lump in your throat.  Perhaps you felt sweaty or your heart started pounding. Might you have flown off the handle ‘at the drop of a hat’? These are short-term responses to stress and almost everybody at one time or another experiences these feelings, among many others.

Good Stress

It must be pointed out that not all stress is harmful. Stress can be stimulating or it can be overwhelming. It can motivate us into being creative and it can enhance our pleasurable activities.

Bad Stress

It is when stress becomes overwhelming that problems begin to occur. Long-term responses to stress can affect the quality of your life. Chronic and recurrent stress promotes more serious stress responses. You may find that you are drinking or smoking more than you used to.

Perhaps you are finding it more difficult to concentrate on the various tasks that you are performing. Even headaches, arthritis pain or chronic diseases can be stress-related. Changes in your lifestyle and personality are slow to develop and it is sometimes easier for others to see these changes.

Understanding Stress

Since it is impossible to avoid all stress, it is important to understand and cope with it.  Learning to manage stress responses is attainable and is a more positive goal than trying to remove those responses. Stress management may be achieved through simple identification of the source of stress and/or through relaxation techniques.