WHAT IS STRESS?
We are all familiar with the word "stress". Stress is when
you are worried about getting laid off your job, or worried
about having enough money to pay your bills, or worried about
your mother when the doctor says she may need an operation. In
fact, to most of us, stress is synonymous with worry. If it is
something that makes you worry, then it is stress.
Your body, however, has a much broader definition of stress.
TO YOUR BODY, STRESS IS SYNONYMOUS WITH CHANGE. Anything that
causes a change in your life causes stress. It doesn't matter if
it is a "good" change, or a "bad" change, they are both stress.
When you find your dream apartment and get ready to move, that
is stress. If you break your leg, that is stress. Good or bad,
if it is a CHANGE in your life, it is stress as far as your body
is concerned.
Even IMAGINED CHANGE is stress. (Imagining changes is what we
call "worrying".) If you fear that you will not have enough
money to pay your rent, that is stress. If you worry that you
may get fired, that is stress. If you think that you may receive
a promotion at work, that is also stress (even though this would
be a good change). Whether the event is good or bad, imagining
changes in your life is stressful.
Anything that causes CHANGE IN YOUR DAILY ROUTINE is
stressful.
Anything that causes CHANGE IN YOUR BODY HEALTH is stressful.
IMAGINED CHANGES are just as stressful as real changes.
Let us look at several types of stress -- ones that are so
commonplace that you might not even realize that they are
stressful.......
Emotional Stress
When arguments, disagreements, and conflicts cause CHANGES in
your personal life -- that is stress.
Illness
Catching a cold, breaking an arm, a skin infection, a sore
back, are all CHANGES in your body condition.
Pushing Your Body Too Hard
A major source of stress is overdriving yourself. If you are
working (or partying) 16 hours a day, you will have reducedyour
available time for rest. Sooner or later, the energy drain on
your system will cause the body to fall behind in its repair
work. There will not be enough time or energy for the body to
fix broken cells, or replace used up brain neurotransmitters.
CHANGES will occur in your body's internal environment. You will
"hit thewall," "run out of gas". If you continue, permanent
damage may be done. The body's fight to stay healthy in the face
of the increased energy that your are expending is major stress.
Environmental Factors
Very hot or very cold climates can be stressful. Very high
altitude may be a stress. Toxins or poisons are a stress. Each
of these factors threatens to cause CHANGES in your body's
internal environment.
The Special Case of Tobacco Use
Tobacco is a powerful toxin!! Smoking destroys cells that
clean your trachea, bronchi, and lungs. Smoking causes emphysema
and chronic bronchitis, which progress to slow suffocation. The
carbon monoxide from cigarette smoking causes chronic carbon
monoxide poisoning. Tobacco use damages the arteries in your
body, causing insufficient blood supply to the brain, heart, and
vital organs. Cigarette smoking increases the risk of cancer 50
fold.
Chewing tobacco or snuff is no safe haven. It also damages
your arteries, and it carries the same cancer risk. (Cancers of
the head and neck are particularly vicious, disfiguring, and
deadly).
Poisoning the body with carbon monoxide, and causing the
physical illnesses of emphysema, chronic bronchitis, cancer, and
arterial damage, tobacco is a powerful source of added stress to
one's life.
Hormonal Factors
PUBERTY
The vast hormonal changes of puberty are severe stressors. A
person's body actually CHANGES shape, sexual organs begin to
function, new hormones are released in large quantities.
Puberty, as we all know, is very stressful.
PRE-MENSTRUAL SYNDROME
Once a woman passes puberty, her body is designed to function
best in the presence of female hormones. For women past puberty,
a lack of female hormones is a major stress on the body. Once a
month, just prior to menstruation, a woman's hormone levels drop
sharply. In many women, the stress of sharply falling hormones
is enough to create a temporary OVERSTRESS. This temporary
OVERSTRESS is popularly known as Pre MenstrualSyndrome (PMS).
POST-PARTUM
Following a pregnancy, hormone levels CHANGE dramatically.
After a normal childbirth, or a miscarriage, some women may be
thrown into OVERSTRESS by loss of the hormones of pregnancy.
MENOPAUSE
There is another time in a woman's life when hormone levels
decline. This is the menopause. The decline in hormones during
menopause is slow and steady. Nevertheless, this menopausal
decline causes enough stress on the body to produce OVERSTRESS
in many women.
Taking Responsibility for Another Person's Actions
When you take responsibility for another person's actions,
CHANGES occur in your life over which you have little or no
control. Taking responsibility for another person's actions is a
major stressor.
Allergic Stress
Allergic reactions are a part of your body's natural defense
mechanism. When confronted with a substance which your body
considers toxic, your body will try to get rid of it, attack it,
or somehow neutralize it. If it is something that lands in your
nose, you might get a runny, sneezy nose. If it lands on your
skin, you might get blistery skin. If you inhale it, you'll get
wheezy lungs. If you eat it, you may break out in itchy red
hives all over your body. Allergy is a definite stress,
requiring large changes in energy expenditure on the part of
your body's defense system to fight off what the body perceives
as a dangerous attack by an outside toxin. |
