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Stress is a term that comes from physics and literally means pressure or strain that tends to distort a body.  From a psychological standpoint, stress can be thought of anything that challenges us to adjust or cope.   

Stress can come from our environment, from our body, or from our mind.  Environmental stress might be caused by pollution, noise, or crowds.  Bodily stress is caused by illness, injury, or straining the body in some way.  However, most of our stress is caused by our negative thinking and faulty reasoning.  It is creations of our own mind. 

While some stress can be good for us by helping to motivate action and solid performance, too much stress over prolonged periods can lead to physical and psychological problems. 

Many recent scientific studies have begun to uncover the wide variety of unhealthy effects that acute or chronic stress can have.  There have been reports of people in Japan literally dying from overwork.   

Problems ranging from high blood pressure, migraines, and stomach disorders to anxiety, depression, and panic, to name only a few, are often stress related conditions. 

Some research even points to the possibility that certain disorders of the immune system are triggered by stress.  Since everyone is unique, there is no single best way to manage stress.  Stress management programs must be tailored to individual needs, strengths, and limitations.  Some people benefit from relaxation methods, some from exercise, while others do better with meditation and mental focusing techniques, or by learning how to identify and change stress inducing thoughts and beliefs.  But many require a customized stress management package consisting of a variety of strategies.  For you, the key point here is this:  Learn all you can about what causes stress in your life and what works for you in dealing with it. 

In taking a closer look at what causes stress in your life, consider taking the Holmes-Rahl Social Adjustment Assessment for which you will find a link to in this article.   

The first person to apply stress to psychological processes was the endocrinologist, Dr. Hans Selye, who spent years studying the effects of stress on animals.  Based on his work, Selye developed a three-stage model of stress called the General Adaptation Syndrome that is believed to describe the phases we go through when faced with chronic or inescapable stress.  According to Dr. Selye, the first stage of the stress response is an “an alarm reaction” that mobilizes us to take immediate and vigorous action to either escape from the stressor or to do battle with it.  This is commonly referred to as the “fight or flight” reaction and it involves a very rapid and complex cascade of biochemical events that result in several stress hormones being pumped into the blood stream. 

The next phase is called the “resistance stage.”  This occurs when the initial alarm proves insufficient in dealing with the stress.  During this stage, the body tries mightily to resist the onslaught of the stress by maintaining activity at a specific metabolic pathway that helps the person cope by keeping the levels of certain circulating hormones level.   

If the stress continues, the person enters the final phase of the stress response, the “exhaustion stage.”  This occurs when the person figuratively and somewhat literally runs out of gas.  At this stage, stress has depleted the physical, emotional, intellectual, and chemical reservoirs of energy and the person is just overwhelmed by the avalanche of unrelenting stress. 

During the exhaustion stage, the person is most likely to suffer a variety of serious health consequences associated with chronic stress.  The upshot of this rather academic overview is simple — you and I have to learn to manage stress before it damages our health, our happiness, and our very lives. 

Today people are more than ever busy, pressured, constantly dealing with loose ends, knotted muscles, deadlines, nagging mistakes, fatigue, interrupted sleep, and financial headaches.   

There once was a slower time when home was a haven when people curled up with a good book, relaxed, unwound, and derived the benefits of “home sweet home.”  There was not much discussion of stress in those days.  Some people have more pressures and demands at home than at work — caring for children or coping with their busy schedule, or an elderly relative, running errands, cleaning, yard work, repairs, laundry, or worrying about making ends meet.  Others find it very difficult to leave work-related problems at work.  They are so immersed in their jobs that they experience great trouble letting go.  Even when they do have a chance to relax at home, they are unable to do so.  They cannot walk through the doors and leave their concerns about work and become a fully functioning parent or spouse.

The truth is that it is best to avoid rushing home, to listen to phone messages, jumping right in to helping the kids with their homework, listening to a partner’s gripe, or tending to domestic chores.  Most people need a decompression period when coming home after a day at work.  You want your entry after a day’s compression at work to be as gradual and easy as you can make it.   Here are a few ideas for healthful and enjoyable relaxation.   

1.  Take a walk. 

2.  Lie down and have a short nap.

3.  Listen to some of your favorite music.

4.  Sip a refreshing beverage.

5.  Sit for a while on your balcony, deck, patio, den, or other quiet space.

6.  Take time for yourself and do not feel guilty.

7.  Think about funny things you have experienced.

8.  Try to put a humorous or positive spin on the day.

9.  Keep the tone positive by sharing the good news of the day first.  Save the bad news for later.

In addition to these strategies for decompressing, try some of these long-term strategies for dealing with stress.

1.  Evaluate your goals and priorities.  What do you really want to get out of your life?

2.  Pursue other interests beside work. 

3.  At work, try to do some things that have personal meaning for you.

4.  Become an active agent in making your life what you want it to be.

5.  Think of ways to bring variety into your work if at all possible.

6.  Attend to your health through adequate sleep, exercise, good nutrition, and relaxation.

7.  Never jeopardize your health for any job.

8.  Learn specific methods to reduce stress on the job and at home.

9.  Learn to ask for what you want, but do not expect always to get it.

10.  If at all possible, delegate responsibility.  Do not take the entire load on your shoulders.

11.  Do not assume burdens that are actually the responsibility of others.

12.  Watch out for and get rid of any perfectionism in yourself.

13.  Learn your own limits and learn to set limits with others.

14.  If things are really tough, try to form a support group with colleagues to share feelings and to find a way of diminishing frustration.

15.  Learn to forgive yourself when you make a mistake or do not live up to your ideas.

16.  If necessary, consider seeking counseling for personal development or stress management.

And finally, work at developing the best sense of humor you possibly can and be sure that your sense of humor includes an ever increasing sense of humor about yourself.

Click here to print and take the Holmes Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale.

For more information about Ken Chapman and Associates’ Leadership Development Programs, contact Ken Chapman at 205.366.0265 or email Ken at kchapman@leaderscode.com.

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