Public Health Unit - Stress and Its Effect - Stress Management and Stress Relief for Public Health Degree (Microbiology Doctor dr)

Stress and Its Effect

Stress is a necessary component of life, just like eating and sleeping. The body's reaction to a physical or mental demand or pressure is known as stress. Stressors are the physical and mental pressures. Hunger, thirst, or cold are examples of physical stresses. Tiredness, maybe due to overwork, can be a physical stressor. Physical stress is also caused by several medications, such as cigarettes or coffee. Mental or emotional stresses can cause the same physiological reactions as physical stressors. Worry about job or school, as well as interpersonal issues, are examples of such stresses. Money worries or bad health are two more factors. Even joyful occasions may be stressful.

Stages of Stress

Scientists discovered a pattern in the body's physical reactions when they first examined stress. They discovered that whether the stressor is physical or mental, the body's response to stress remains the same. The alert stage, the resistance stage, and the fatigue stage are the three stages of stress.

Alert Stage Your body reacts to a stressor as soon as you notice it. The alert stage begins with this brief bodily warning. Your body releases adrenaline when you are afraid. In moments of peril, the hormone adrenaline causes a surge of energy. Your breathing and pulse rate both increase. Your stomach and other internal organs provide blood to your arms, legs, and brain.

Resistance The second stage of stress starts when your body. fights or flees. When your body works against the stress, it is at the resistance stage. Although you may not be able to fight or run, your body still works to resist a threatening stressor. In many cases, your body continues to respond as if it were in danger even after the stressor is gone.

In this stage, people overcome stress with defense mechanisms. These are sometimes called coping mechanisms. Coping means acting to correct a problem. Some mental coping behaviors are humor and denial.

Using a coping technique might help you manage some stress symptoms. For example, instead of losing your cool, you might be able to deal with a difficult situation by joking. However, you might not be able to control your anxious sweating. Few people can consciously halt stress's bodily manifestations.

Exhaustion If you are stressed for an extended period of time, you may enter the third stage of stress. The body's stress defences are depleted during the fatigue stage. In whatever way, you are unable to fight, run, or resist a menace. You can no longer withstand the stressor because your body and mind are exhausted. People frequently feel unwell during the fatigue period.

Stress and Illness

Stress, as you may be aware, produces several physiological changes. Stress can weaken the body and make it more susceptible to disease. Long-term stress depletes the body's disease-fighting capacity. Psychosomatic disorders are a type of physical disorder that occurs as a result of stress. A psychosomatic illness (SY kuh soh MAT ik) is a physical ailment that is caused by stress rather than disease or bodily harm. Psychosomatic diseases are actual medical disorders that can be aggravated or made worse by stress. A psychosomatic ailment is not fictitious, as many people assume. It's just a physiologic reaction to stress.

There are several types of psychosomatic diseases with which you may be acquainted. People can react in a variety of ways. A prominent example is sleep problems. It is possible that worrying over anything will make it difficult to sleep. Stress might cause some people to sleep considerably longer than normal.

Stress can cause problems with the skin. Stress has been linked to the onset of cold sores, acne, hives, and other skin problems, according to research.

Digestive issues can sometimes be psychosomatic. The digestion process is slowed as an initial response to stress. This alteration may trigger stomach "butterflies." Stress can also lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and constipation.

Figure 6-1 The fight or flight response

The supply of blood to the brain may be reduced as arteries supplying the brain constrict. This is the source of the temporary eyesight issues. The arteries then widen, putting pressure on the nerve terminals in the artery walls, resulting in the intense throbbing that is characteristic of a migraine headache.

High levels of stress wreak havoc on the heart and blood vessels. High blood pressure is frequently linked to stress. For someone with high blood pressure, stress can be fatal.

Stress, particularly mental stress, may build up. Overwhelming stress may have a negative impact on a person's physical and mental health. Scientists have devised a number of measures to assess the severity and impact of various stresses. R. Dean Coddington, an American doctor, compiled a list of 42 events that occur in the lives of many students. Coddington questioned senior high students how frequently these occurrences occur.

The students also gave each incident a score based on how much stress it caused them. A life change unit is a metric indicating how much stress a person is under. Figure 6-2 depicts some of the occurrences as well as the students' average number of life change units.

What was the most stressful adjustment for the students? It's worth noting that some of the occurrences are for the better. Others are pessimistic. Some of them are physical in nature. Others are psychological. This scale of life changes reveals some valuable information regarding stress. One is that a series of little stressful events over a short period of time might cause more stress than a single, really stressful incident. The higher a person's total on the scale, the more likely they are to have significant health issues.

Rank	Life Event	Frequency	Life Changes Units*
1	Getting married	10	101
2	Being pregnant and unwed	17	92
3	Experiencing the death of a parent	10	87
4	Acquiring a visible deformity	4	81
5	Going through parents' divorce Becoming an unwed father	24 23	77 77
6	Becoming involved with drugs or alcohol	226	76
7	Having a parent go to jail for one year or more	1	75
8	Going through parents separation	29	69
9	Experiencing the death of a brother or sister.	7	68
10	Experiencing a change in acceptance by peers	84	67
11	Having an unwed pregnant teenage sister Discovering that you are an adopted child	36   9	64 64
12	Having a parent remarry	19	63
13	Experiencing the death of a close friend Having a visible congenital deformity	158 14	62 62
14	Having a serious illness requiring hospitalization	26	58
15	Moving to a new school district Failing a grade in school	79 62	56 56
16	Not making an extracurricular activity Experiencing the serious illness of a parent	181     89	55     55
17	Breaking up with a boy friend or girl friend Having a parent go to jail for 30 days or less	411     5	53     53
18	Beginning to date	242	51
19	Being suspended from school Having a newborn brother or sister	117   30	50   50
20	Having more arguments with parents	351	47
21	Having an outstanding personal achievement Observing an increase in the number of arguments	234     149	46     46
22	Experiencing a change in parents' financial status	51	46
23	Being accepted at the college of your choice	164	45
23	Beginning senior high school	49	43
24	Experiencing the serious illness of a brother or sister	313	42
25	Experiencing father's increased absence from home due to a change in his occupation	61	41
26	Experiencing the departure from home of a brother or sister	70	38
27	Experiencing the death of a grandparent	199	37
28	Having a third adult added to the family	144	36
29	Becoming a full-fledged member of a church	22	34
30	Observing a decrease in the number of arguments between parents	100	31
31	Having fewer arguments with parents	179	27
32	Having your mother begin to work outside the home	180	26
Of the 913 people who took part in this study, this is the number of people who had this event happen to them

Figure 6-2 The stress of an event is a result of how frequently an event occurs and how much adjustment the event demands

Review of the Lesson

The body's reaction to a physical or mental pressure is called stress. Stress may be harmful to one's health. Scientists have spent a lot of time researching the different stages of stress. They've also aided others. Assess stress levels in response to certain events or changes.