Brain Tastes Different Flavors of Stress

Stress is the trash of modern life we all generate it but if you don’t dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life. – Danzae Pace

Let’s not go too far, we all are in a tough situation and have faced lots of troubles during COVID-19. In the phase of the corona, things in life seemed almost too much to handle. A few months ago, I and my friends were enjoying life. I guess, everyone was happy. And then Holi vacation came. Last day, we greeted, hugged, and parted from each other. Not knowing that one week’s vacation was going to turn into a long vacation of months.

Nothing could be done to accept adapting to our new life. Helped mommy, attended online classes( most annoying part), did internships, and had so many fights with my brothers(I always won). I know it sounds easy to hear but my journey through the last few months has been filled with stress. Mentally, I was continuously falling but most of the time, I managed to halt it. I got myself busy into new things through clearing stress and craving something normal. That’s a small part of my life.

During the COVID-19 phase

People have gone through unpredictable moments. And in such a situation, stress became a normal thing like if you are not taking stress, then you don’t value your life. Really? I mean, the situation we are in is a big deal but we can manage everything without straining ourselves. There are people who don’t know what exactly mental health means and they are continuously trying hard to prove it on their social media. This is not right. Mental health is a serious issue that includes stress and it shouldn’t be taken so casually.

First, let me explain some concepts to people who have a wrong perception of stress. Everybody deals with stress as it’s a familiar part of our lives, but we don’t comprehend it very well.

Stress is different for each one of us

Yes, I don’t experience stress the same way my friends do. It’s completely different for everybody. My friends may feel stressed out by a high-pressure relationship, while others thrive on it.

Minor stress symptoms need your attention

Minor symptoms like headaches, chest pain, muscle tension, or fatigue are early symptoms that should not be ignored. Don’t wait for major stress symptoms, such as a heart attack. Making lifestyle changes, like more exercise or a healthier diet, will benefit you and your well-being.

Stress isn’t always bad for you

You might think that no stress would lead to a happy life, well, it’s not true. A little stress keeps your life balanced. What’s important is how you manage stress. When you handle it well, you are happy. If you mismanage it then you may become even more stressed.

Now let me explain what exactly stress is?

We often say we are stressed out when we feel angry, frustrated, conflicted or fatigued. Stress: According to the biological perspective stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension. It can be external (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal (illness, or from a medical procedure).

Stress Causes

“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James

As I said earlier, stress is different for every single person. Whatever stresses you out may not even bother your friends or vice versa. But causes of stress can have a negative impact on your lifestyle which includes:

• Being bullied in schools or college
• Working too hard for your dream job but still faces lots and lots of troubles at your workplace
• Losing a job can be hard
• Marriage or relationship problems
• Recent breakup or divorce
• Death in the family
• Family problems
• Busy schedule
• The recent move can be stressful

Stress is our body’s reaction to any trouble or change in life that needs an adjustment or response. Stress is a normal part of life. We can experience stress from our environment, our thoughts and our body. Even when you get a promotion, or the birth of a child produces stress. It’s a natural defense against real or imagined danger. It flushes the body with hormones to activate our fight or flight response to confront danger.

Types of stress

As you know there are 3 types of stress

• Acute stress
• Episodic acute stress
• Chronic stress

Every type of stress has its own symptoms, characteristics, and treatment approaches.

ACUTE STRESS

It is the most common stress. Also often caused by reactive thinking. When all you have negative thoughts about a recently faced situation or any upcoming situation in the near future.

Let’s say you had a fight with your friend or a family member then you may face acute stress and these thoughts will be repetitive in your mind. You may have this stress about upcoming work, or you have Viva, any problem in your relationship. Again the stress is induced by your thoughts.

This stress generates symptoms in the brain, emotions, and body but does not cause a particular amount of damage to a person.

Most common signs of acute stress:

• Behavioral changes are such as anger or irritability
• Psychological symptoms are anxiety and depression.
• Body changes include tension, headache, back pain, neck pain, jaw pain, and other muscular tensions that lead to pulled muscles and tendons and ligament problems. Also gut and bowel problems, heartburn, acid stomach, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation.

This can be present in anyone’s life. Acute stress is highly treatable and manageable. However, every time ignoring acute stress can become very harmful for your physical and mental health.

EPISODIC ACUTE STRESS

People whose lives are easily triggered by stress like living a life in crises or chaos, always feel pressured, loads of responsibilities, or who commonly experience acute stress. The most common symptoms are almost identical to acute stress, but due to the repeated over-arousal or hyperarousal, there is constant damage and suffering.

• Emotional symptoms are anger or irritability, anxiety, depression, impatience, and short-tempered.
• Cognitive stress includes less concentration, starts compromising with processing speed, no interest in new learning, and mental fatigue. Fails in relationships. Every place becomes a very stressful place for people who suffers from episodic acute stress.
• Muscular stress includes tension, headache, back pain, jaw pain, pulled muscles, and ligament problems.

CHRONIC STRESS

Most harmful stress category. If you ignore chronic stress for a longer period of time, it can damage your physical health and mental health. Let’s say a person facing monetary problems, living in poverty, unemployment, dysfunctional family, stressed work environment, substance abuse, become a victim of violence or an unhappy marriage can be the reason for causing chronic stress. Also

when a person feels hopeless and gives up on seeking solutions for their problems. It can be caused by traumatic experiences in childhood or later in life. People with chronic stress have similar symptoms as mentioned above, but the symptoms are chronic like for a long time which can result in a physical and mental breakdown that can lead a person to commit suicide, violent behaviors, homicide, psychosis, heart attacks, and strokes. Chronic stress can finish off the life, body, and mind of a person.

The brain is strong but stressed:

The stress onsets in the brain. When a person is facing a problem, the eyes or ears send every information to the amygdala (a part of the brain that controls the emotional processing of a person). The amygdala interprets the pictures and sounds of the area. When the brain perceives any kind of danger, it immediately sends a signal to the hypothalamus, another part of the brain functions like an authority who communicates with the rest of the body through the nervous system and send signals to the adrenal glands.

These glands respond by pumping the adrenaline. When epinephrine circulates through the body, it brings on various physiological changes. Heartbeats increases than normal, push blood to the muscles, heart, and other vital organs. Pulse rate and blood pressure go high. The person undergoing these changes also face breathing problems. Small airways in the lungs open wide. So, that the lungs can take in more oxygen which can be sent to the brain and it increases alertness. All senses become sharper and a person has the energy to fight or flight in his difficult situation.

Reasons why children suffer from stress

It’s very common to experience stress and anxiety, especially in childhood. But here are some major causes:

• Faster child development
• Academic pressures and high-stakes testing.
• Over-stuffed schedules.
• Bullying and teasing
• Not enough sleep
• Family disruption
• Help your child to manage stress

“It’s not stress that kills us, it’s our reaction to it.” – Hans Selye

If you do spot the signs that stress in your child. Here are a few tips:

• Be connected with your children, make sure you have time every day when you put your phones away, and you’re talking to your kids and your kids are talking to you.
• Take a chill pill, make sure your kids can enjoy at home when they can play, read or do whatever they feel like doing. It’s should be a place where your children can pick and choose, and have fun and stay stress-free.
• Stick to healthy routines, like good nutrition and regular bedtimes.
• Take care of yourself and try to be emotionally stable before you take care of your children. When you ease your own stress, you boost your connection with your child.

Stress in adults

According to APA’s research in 2019, found some stress facts in adults:-

•In adults, more than 75 % of people disclosed physical or emotional symptoms of stress like headaches, feeling tired, or changes in sleeping habits.

•44% of adults said they were able to manage stress and 47% say they listen to music. More than one third (37%) spend time with friends or family.

•Nearly half of adults say they have laid awake at night because of stress in the prior month.

•Nearly 3 in 5 adults say they could have used more emotional support in the last year.

Few techniques to reduce stress

“Give your stress wings and let it fly away.” —Terri Guillemets

Well here are few tips to manage stress so you don’t live a hectic life:-

• Exercises can help you to achieve a healthy day. According to experts if you exercise on your daily basis routine then it will help you to reduce endorphins in the system that cause stress.
• Practice mindfulness(it means to live in present). If you are able to take a few minutes out of day and breath in silence this can greatly help you reduce your stress.
• Write a diary or something about your daily life. Try to write your thoughts and process events that took place. You will have a new perspective on life.
• Organize your life. Create a plan in order to get your thoughts straight and take in a chill pill to avoid chaos.

Conclusion:-

“Stress is like spice – in the right proportion, it enhances the flavor of a dish. Too little produces a bland, dull meal; too much may choke you.” – Donald Tubesing

No matter who you are and what you do in life, stress is something that is always going to follow you. But it depends on how you manage your stress that makes the whole scenario different in your life. Learn how you need to do better in managing your stress so that you can get the most out of life. Irrespective of what status you hold in society, life can get stressful for every single person on present on this planet. So, sometimes even people with high status have to face difficulties such as financial and health problems, workplace challenges. But no matter what you have gone through, it can’t make you fall.

Just like mentally strong-minded people you must learn to manage your stress. In order to handle stress in an effective way, you must accept that stress is part of your life, except controlling your mind you can’t control anything. So, try to be happy and positive. You have to put your stress in perspective, replace negative thoughts with positive ones, and be proud of our achievements, no matter how small they are.