Positive side of stress

What is stress? According to one authority - Ostell - "stress is the state of affairs that exists when the way people attempt to manage problems, taxes or exceeds their coping resources." Well, everybody undergoes some kind of stress at times. But have you ever pondered why we get stressed. Answers are not easy to find because there are many causes for stress than we might have thought of.

Our distant ancestors too might have experienced stress after chasing an animal with a crude weapon to kill it. Sometimes, the animal might have turned back and clawed its pursuer. On such occasions he might have run away from the animal to save his life. Thus, he would have experienced some kind of stress in fight or flight. Having lived among natural surroundings the primitive man would have coped with such stress quite easily. Probably he was physically stronger than his modern counterpart.

What happens when you experience stress? The symptoms are obvious even to a non-medical individual. The first signs are that our muscles get tensed up. On such occasions we try to overbreathe. Meanwhile, fats and protein from our liver break down and they become a source of further energy. Due to the secretion of acid in the stomach, the digestion of food gets retarded. Our hearts begin to beat faster than usual. What is more, we tend to go to the toilet very often.

Symptoms

These symptoms appear when you are about to face an interview, making a public speech, during a medical examination or when you are in a dangerous situation. I can remember the young female graduate who scored very high marks in her finals was offered a lecturer's post at a well-known local university. On the first day she felt butterflies in her stomach. The second day was no better. She started visiting the toilet as if she was suffering from diabetes. On the third day she did not want to suffer any more before a sea of faces and handed in her letter of resignation. Nobody was able to persuaded her to stay on.

If she had known how to experience such feelings in a positive way such a misfortune would not have occurred. In a way, you need such bodily changes in order to perform better in the face of a particular challenge. Some years ago, I was invited to deliver a talk at a public meeting on the importance of English in education. However much I was prepared when I was called upon to deliver the speech, I felt that there was some uneasiness coming over me. I wanted to use the toilet to make myself less heavy. Then I found my mouth going dry. I drank a glass of water. Then I started perspiring heavily.

When I looked at the audience, however, a strange feeling of bravery overcame me. With some difficulty at the beginning I delivered the talk quite comfortably. Today I think some amount of stress is necessary to maintain your enthusiasm.

Psychologists talk of a "cycle of stress and distress" which makes you ill. For instance, when you are asked to perform a difficult task such as speaking to a big audience, you get fearful thoughts. Then your body begins to react accordingly making you perspire or forcing you to use the toilet several time. Meanwhile, your body prepares itself for a "fight or flight" situation. You will remain in this state until the moment you have to perform the challenging task. Finally, after the performance, you will feel liberated with no more anxiety or unpleasant feelings to worry you.

Although this is the pattern with any normal person, some people find it difficult to let go of their stress. Even after the "dreadful event" stress will trouble them making their lives miserable. If this pattern persists, they might even fall sick. According to a leading psychologist, only a few people reach this point. However, some medical specialists think that most of our physical problems are created by stress.

Changes

One of the major causes of stress in the modern world appears to be changes to our normal life patterns. Once I was transferred to a highly uncongenial station close to Polonnaruwa way back in the 1960s. Having been pulled out from my family and my circle of close friends I developed a series of sicknesses while I was serving in that place. However, when I got a transfer to a station close to my home, all the sicknesses vanished.

Some people can easily cope with such situations. They can be away from home for many months or years without falling sick. I think stress occurs mostly when individuals cannot adjust their attitudes to changing situations.It is strange but true that both the employed and the unemployed undergo stress. Unemployed people naturally undergo stress for want of employment. Employed people have other problems such as managing their income, transfers, attitudes of superiors and competition with others for promotions. Optimists can cope with such situations fairly easily. Modern researchers have made attempts to relate the stresses of life to a numerical scale. Accordingly, the death of a spouse can be a major cause of stress for many people. Next come divorce, separation, imprisonment, and death of a family member. Meanwhile, most people undergo stress when they are sick or injured in accidents, dismissed from work or on retirement. There is a common belief that those who retire do not live long unless they are occupied in some meaningful work.

Other factors that give rise to stress are sexual difficulties, financial losses, trouble with in-laws, change in living conditions, loss of income, trouble with boss, change of residence, or school. On a lesser scale, change in sleeping or eating habits or brushes with the law may also give rise to stress.Psychologists have come up with many techniques to relieve stress or bring it under control. According to them, you must never bear a grudge against anybody. When you have a grudge against somebody you tend to harm that person's body or fame. Instead you must try to say something nice to everybody you meet. Meanwhile, it would be wise to remember that every human being has a problem. If you have a major problem, break it into smaller ones and try to solve them.

If you can be an optimist, half the battle against stress is over. Optimistic people do not worry about failures and missed opportunities as setbacks to their progress. They think that they are opportunities to learn something new. Another advice that can be given is that you should be able to laugh at yourself! If everybody tends to undergo stress, you do not have to worry about it because you are not alone in this situation. Whenever you are down in the dumps, listen to soothing music or read an interesting book. Do not think that you have come to the end of your world. Slow down a bit and enjoy life to the full. After all, your life is precious; preserve it at any cost!