Sadaf VidhaA stressor is any stress-causing event. As we know, our life is full of stressors. If one tries to define with respect to magnitude, stressors fall under three main categories –
- catastrophes
- major life events and
- daily hassles.
Catastrophes include devastating events of a really large scale – being affected by a flood or an earthquake, or being held hostage and so on.
Major life events are rare events in life that can leave you stressed – promotion, job loss, marriage and so on.
Daily hassles are everyday encounters like being stuck in traffic, meeting a deadline, minor fights with authorities at work or with family. However, can you guess which stressor we find most stressful?
Stress from Daily Life
It is the daily hassles! Because catastrophes and major life events are rare, we can manage to collect the coping resources needed to deal with that.
However daily hassles are many and they happen quite frequently. Such events cumulatively play a havoc on your mental and emotional health. Just being struck in traffic or just having a fight with the boss would be manageable, but having many of these happen each day, and day after day – the recipe for a stressed life.
The result of this would be?
Our mental and emotional stress manifests as fights with family and friends, a dip in performance, feeling low and inactive and even increase in ailments. In fact, up to 70% illnesses that general physicians see and treat have a major component of stress involved.
Pain, common cold, migraine and other headaches are known to have strong linkages with stress.
Effects of Stress
Now that it’s obvious that stress is much more than just an outburst of anger, we should know that stress about 3 major emotions and concerns: anger, irritability and depression. If stress is not managed, these can turn into psychological disorders that would require professional intervention. Therefore, below are a few tips to nip it in the bud, and manage stress before it becomes an illness:
Communicate clearly
Tell people what action of theirs you found wrong or hurtful, instead of labeling the whole person as inefficient. Use terms that describe the situation and not extreme terms.
Practice mindfulness
Research shows that ‘being in the moment’ and doing one thing at a time and doing it fully, with as much attention as you can provide, not only makes you efficient at the task but also reduces stress. Also, spend time doing things you like and find stress-reducing – a walk, a movie, painting, visiting friends.
Make breathing exercises a way of life
We only use a part of our lung capacity. If we did more deep breathing throughout the day, the increased flow of oxygen to the brain would act as a natural relaxant and make us alert. There are many forms of deep breathing that can be easily practiced.
Hopefully, with these tips, your stress should reduce!
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