Types of Stress

Stress comes in many forms. We’re all familiar with stress in the form of working long hours, a jam-packed daily schedule, or thinking about our finances. We also often know when we’re experiencing too much stress—even if we don’t know what to do to release the pressure. If you’re trying to determine what’s producing your stress, it is helpful to understand the different types of stress.

Emotional stress is produced by any factor that causes a change in your personal life. The following are all forms of emotional stress:

• A fight with a friend
• The death of a loved one
• A new romantic relationship
• Helping a friend with a personal problem
• Getting bad news from someone you’re close to
• Socializing too much
• Socializing too little
• Volunteering
• Going through a break-up

When there’s an upheaval in any situation to which you’re emotionally attached, you’re going to experience stress. While relationships often help us to relieve stress, they can also be a major source of stress, and learning more about how to have healthy relationships is a good way to reduce the amount of emotional stress you experience in relationships.

Illness is another type of stress. Illness is, by its very nature, a change in the body. Chronic medical conditions often disrupt your normal daily routine and cause changes in your relationships, adding to the stress of the illness. A simple cold will trip your stress response as the body gathers extra energy to fight the disease. All of this will wear you down and could possibly, over time, lead to overstress.

Pushing your body to its limits will push you into overstress. Are you a person who is “always on the go,” or “always doing something?” Working or partying for hours on end while only getting 3 hours of sleep at night is a definite stress. Your body needs regular rest to rebuild damaged cells and replenish the brain’s supply of neurotransmitters. Over time, your body begins to have more and more difficulty enduring the stress, and this is when overstress hits. If you’re overly busy, it’s important to make sure you’re still getting adequate rest to reduce stress build up.

Environmental stress factors include extreme temperatures, harsh weather conditions, toxins, and poisonous substances. If the temperature is extremely cold or extremely hot, it can change your body’s temperature as well, causing stress. Poor air quality is a toxin that causes your body’s defenses—and, therefore, stress level—to go up.

Hormonal stress is caused by shifts within the body’s hormones that lead to stress. This is especially true in women, as they experience more hormonal shifts after puberty than men do. Puberty itself is one hormonal shift that we all experience. Our hormones cause our bodies to begin to change. Pre-menstrual syndrome causes a woman’s estrogen levels to drop drastically just before her menstrual cycle begins. This sharp drop puts the body in a state of overstress and makes her more sensitive to external stresses.

Knowing which stresses you might be experiencing at any given time will help you determine how to deal with the stress. If the stress is illness, for example, you can take medications and get some rest. If the trouble is emotional stress, you can discuss your problems with a friend or therapist. Healthy lifestyle habits, too, will always help build up your body’s ability to handle stress. Learning to live with stress means understanding where that stress is coming from and figuring out where to go next.

Author: Nan Little
Website: http://www.insightjournal.com/

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