How does stress affect lifestyle?

Maybe the question should be, "How doesn't stress affect lifestyle?"
Since this site focuses on improving health, let's define stress and take a look at how can stress affect lifestyle, rob us of energy and what we can do to understand and manage stress better.

Stress comes in all shapes and sizes. The following definition of stress includes mental stress and physical stress and combinations of both. In this article, we'll define stress in a clear way so that just about any stressful situation can be more easily examined and improved.

The definition of "stress" is any opposing reaction or force to your own intention that causes strain or tension, and this can be mental and physical.

Similarly (but not the same), the definition of a problem is an opposing intention or force of some kind. A problem doesn't necessarily cause stress or tension.

The main characteristic of a problem that becomes stressful is feeling like we can't do anything about it. Not all problems are stressful when we feel that we can do something about them, no matter how much or how little.

Example of how stress affects lifestyle

A simple example of how stress affects lifestyle could be that you want to sleep until 7:00 AM. But an opposing thought that you have to get up at 5:30 AM to get to your job causes you to resist and protest.

Maybe you feel that you don't have a choice but to go to that particular job with that particular schedule. Whatever the reason, you feel like you can't do anything about the problem of having to get up at 5:30 in the morning - voilà, stress affect lifestyle.

Using a similar example, if you had to get up at 5:30 to get ready to leave on vacation, or if you like to get up at 5:30, would that be stressful??

Look at these definitions yourself and decide if you've observed examples of them!

Here are some very simplified illustrations of a problem, and a problem that becomes stressful:

A solved problem:

A problem that turns stressful:

(Yes, he could stop and go in a bush but he hasn't thought of that.)

Stress can affect lifestyle positively too. It is a part of living the game of life! A life without any challenges or problems to solve sure would be pretty boring after awhile.

I am talking here about a stressful situation that is not handled to the point where the stress affects lifestyle negatively. You could have a long term unhandled situation or too many smaller sources of stress or some combination.

The point is that this level of stress not only affects our attitudes but has physical consequences that can rob us of energy and even cause illness. In this case, stress affects lifestyle negatively.

Physical response to stress

One of the body's responses to stress is to generate more adrenalin* and other stress hormones and chemicals. Stress signals the body into thinking "danger - high alert - may need a burst of energy soon" so the body produces more adrenalin to meet the potential need to run for your life.

That's normal on a temporary basis, but when you're constantly facing stress, the body is constantly pumping extra adrenaline and eventually, the body gets burned out. You can become chronically exhausted.

Unhandled stress can affect your outlook on life and your physical health. I've experienced some pretty major physical problems and when I look back, there was more stress than usual around the times that I experienced the physical problems.

We often create our own stress. For example, assuming that you do well with 8 hours of sleep but you decide that you can "get by" on 5 or 6 hours. You've just created a stressful situation for the body! And that directly affects your physical health because enough sleep is one of the basic things the body needs to work right.

Another example of creating our own stress would be worrying about things that don't exist or "might happen" - I've done that myself and have come to the conclusion that it's a waste of time! I've "wrapped myself around a pole" doing this and even made myself sick. Not worth it.

Worry is like a rocking chair - it gives you something to do but won't get you anywhere. Author Unknown

 

Now that we've gone over what stress is, are there really things we can do to deal with stress better? There are a few things that can be done to relieve and handle stress, and we're going to start with something simple but powerful.

Stress tends to draw our attention inward. Worry or upset about something, "thinking too much" can make us feel mentally cramped. Don't you hate when that happens?

Some things you can do to handle stress

The simplest remedy for feeling stressed out is to get your attention outward. Don't dwell on it! My absolute favorite thing to do when I feel stuck and exhausted especially from stress is to get my butt outside and simply take a walk, checking out my environment until I feel refreshed.

Or I go out and putter around in the yard for a bit. Or listen to some music that I love, anything to put my attention on something different and enjoyable. I find that it's a great time to just get into some housework too. Very therapeutic and I've done something productive to boot!

Here's something else you can do to assist you in managing stress that's affecting your health and lifestyle.

Grab some paper and a pen and a cup of coffee or whatever you like.
Find a comfy place and time that's relatively distraction free if possible, and just LOOK at the things in your life that you feel stressed about.

Write them down. Don't get into "Oh, how am I going to handle this" or let yourself get upset about them, stay above that. When you identify something, write it down and move on.

Take your time doing this. You don't have to do it all at once by any means. Maybe you have a close friend that you can do this with. You might end up laughing together!

The purpose of this action is to help you step back and more exactly identify sources of stress in your life. When I get stressed out, things seem to mush all together and appear to be one massive blob. When I can look at one thing at a time, then I can work on handling one thing at a time..

A problem well stated is a problem half solved. -John Dewey

While you're doing this, you might feel upset or angry at first - keep at it until you feel better. Don't run away, take a break maybe, but come back to it. Do you really want stress to affect your lifestyle that much?

How do you think you can improve something if you don't look at it first?

You just might look at some of these things and realize that they're really not problems or worth the stress. Or maybe a handling will pop into your mind. Or maybe you won't come up with anything right away. But just by doing this action, you will definitely be doing something to manage stress more effectively.

The article on stress management and relaxation will give you an antidote to stress and some enjoyable things to do to beat stress into submission!

Cheers!

*Adrenaline is a hormone released into the body in response to stress. It causes increased blood flow to the muscles and brain, accelerates respiration and the heart rate and stimulates the release of stored energy.

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