American Medical Associations definition of stress is “any interference that disturbs a person’s physical or mental wellbeing.”
Stress is the body’s reaction to a change that requires a physical, mental, or emotional adjustment or response. Stress is caused by an existing stress-causing factor or stressor.
Stress is not an enemy; it is like a red light at a traffic intersection and it is intended to warn and protect us. We have been created to respond to stress; if I stick my hand in fire, my body will send me a message quickly and clearly. If I ignore it, I’ll pay the price.
If we ignore warning signs of stress, it will come out physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, in our relationships, work environment, etc. and could cost us dearly and our loved ones dearly.
God has made us this way and given us an alarm system. Too little or too much stress can cause similar symptoms, the right level of stress is a good thing as it motivates, grows, and matures s and draws us closer to God.
C.S Lewis said: “Pain is God’s megaphone.”
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain
God wants us to attune our ears to our minds, thoughts, bodies, emotions, and to Him; to the warning signs coming out in our wellbeing.
We all have individual stress levels and react differently to each stress-related situation. Stress can build up over a period of time until a state of crisis is reached and symptoms appear. Symptoms are an alarm; we can ignore them or do something about them.
Whilst symptoms are important, what’s more important are the underlying causes. Are we going to ignore or use distractions to prevent us from looking at the causes of stress? Or understand the cause or reason?
STRESSORS CAN BE ACUTE OR CHRONIC: i.e. short-term or long-term.
Short-term ‘acute’ stress is the reaction to immediate threat, also known as the fight or flight response. When the threat subsides, the body returns to normal, the ‘relaxation response’.
Long-term ‘chronic’ stressors are those pressures which are ongoing and continuous, when the urge to fight or flight has been suppressed e.g. ongoing pressured work, ongoing relationship problems, isolation, and persistent financial worries.
Everyone has a different tolerance to stressors and each person’s stress tolerance level changes over time.
Three stages of stress:
1. Alarm
Increase in heart rate, blood pressure, tension, muscles, breathing, sweating.
2. Resistance
If the initial stress is not dealt with, we move to the next stage where the body works extra harder to maintain a balance called homeostasis.
Example: Our normal body temperature is 36 degrees, there is a very narrow range and when we are sick the temperature can rise to 37+ degrees. The body has a number of homeostasis mechanisms like sweating and shivering to keep it within the range. Prior to the 20th century, stressors were dealt with quickly as it depended on life and death situations. In modern time, we tend to spend more time in this resistance stage.
3. Exhaustion
Burnout, nervous breakdown, serious illness, and death.
When we ignore the warning signs and we allow stress to continue, we will feel the burnout, fall in a heap, every day stressors become too much.
Normally when we get to this stage, we are into a major health/wellbeing issue where we need to seek help before it gets too late.
Unfortunately and in many instances, people may have to die because they didn’t take the warning signs seriously and failed to seek help.
CAUSES OF STRESS
According to Safe Work Australia, stress is costing the country’s business sector more than $10 billion every year. “The personal impact of mental stress on workers is a serious and detrimental issue to the worker, their families, and also to the employers.”
“Typically, mental stress claims result in workers being absent from the workplace for long periods of time," said Safe Work Australia Chair Ann Sherry in the report. “The loss of productivity and absence of workers is costing Australian businesses more than $10 billion per year.”
Unhealthy employees impacted by stress take nine times more sick leave than healthy employees and are less productive; those who are not suffering from stress are three times more productive.
The impact of stress affects our behavioural, emotional, intellectual, and physical aspects of life.
God has made us with an automatic in-built fight or flight reaction. 1,400 chemical reactions happen in our body when we go into a fight or flight response. Cortisol reduces our immune system and adrenalin increases the risk of hardening of our arteries, blood clots especially over a long period of time. Quite often we are operating at the hypo-arousal level fight or flight response.
We need to take time to reflect and identify how stress is impacting us and what we can do to manage it well. It may not be about eliminating it completely but rather finding balance and developing resilience. By taking time to reflect and identify the sources and symptoms of our stress, we can take informed steps for improvement and maintain our overall wellbeing. Just something to ponder—It's not the load that breaks us down, it's the way we carry it.
Part 2 of this article is coming next month. Stay connected!
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