STRESS, ANYONE?

1. Are you having sleepless nights?
2. Are you experiencing unexplained fear and anxiety?
3. Do you easily get irritated?
4. Are you feeling low and down?
5. Can you notice some changes in your sweat glands?

If your answer to three or more of these is YES, you might probably be under the condition of stress. But what is really stress?

I came home tired, starving, sleepy and worried about a project. My eyes were drooping shut, my stomach has butterflies inside. I feel uneasy, anxious, and wanted to scream…

Generally, we denote stress as that which you feel when you are under some kind of pressure. Mostly negative, we refer to it as something unhealthy and unhelpful to our everyday tasks. But that’s what most people say about it. Stress, in medical viewpoint, is a condition in which the person responds to changes in the normal balanced state. It is caused by any event or stimulus called stressor. Stress is universal and stressor can be felt as early as the first time the child begins to go schooling. Below are some selected stressors associated with developmental stages:

CHILD

• Beginning school
• Establishing peer relationships and adjustments
• Coping with peer competition

ADOLESCENT

• Accepting changing physique
• Developing relationships involving sexual attraction
• Achieving independence
• Choosing a career

 YOUNG ADULT

• Getting married
• Leaving home
• Managing a home
• Getting started in an occupation
• Continuing one’s education
• Rearing children

MIDDLE ADULT

• Accepting physical changes of aging
• Maintaining social status and standard of living
• Helping teenage children to become independent
• Adjusting to aging parents

 OLDER ADULT

• Accepting decreasing physical abilities and health
• Accepting changes in residence
• Adjusting to retirement and reduced income
• Adjusting to death of spouse and friends

Stress can have physical, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual effects on someone. Usually, the effects are mixed because it affects the whole person. Physically, many illnesses have been linked to stress – different disorders, menstrual irregularities, decreased immune response, cancer, and even proneness to accidents. Emotionally, stress can produce negative or non-constructive feelings about one’s self. It can also affect one’s perceptual and problem- solving abilities, alter relationships with others, and challenge one’s beliefs and values. That’s why it is very important that we know how to cope up with the condition. But coping up isn’t a simple task. It requires the totality of a person and is influenced by a number of factors including:

• the number, duration, and intensity of the stressors.
• past experiences of the individual
• support systems available to the individual
• personal qualities of the person

Coping strategies may vary, depending on the person. It can be problem focused or emotion focused, long term or short term, and adaptive or maladaptive. With my time demanding work and extras, I get to experience too much stress. Here are some helpful styles of coping up I can suggest:

1. Talk it out. There’s no harm in sharing your problems to others. I usually let it out to my friends, or to those whom I really trust ( my honey, for one ). After all, no man is an island.

2. Be healthy. I also see to it that with proper nourishment, I maintain some minutes for exercise. I stay away from he vices. Prevention is always better than cure.

3. Objectivity is a key. I use problem- solving instead of nagging myself (and other people too) for disappointments. As much as I can, I avoid unhealthy responses like anger, irritation, etc.

4. Work and play. I always balance leisure time with my work. I set my priorities. This way, I get to do the important things and I get to enjoy during my free time. All work and no play will make me a dull boy.

5. Be optimistic. I always keep in mind that life is beautiful, it is just so full of excitements. Losing hope is not in my dictionary.

6. Sleep it away. No matter how hectic my schedules are, I always find time to take enough sleep. May it be during my travel to work or home, or during break times, I take a nap so my brain would be refreshed.

7. Be happy. Coin for me has always two sides. There is still something good (no matter how small it is) in every bad thing that happens.

8. Be a friend. Everyone loves someone approachable and is light to be with. As much as possible, I try to avoid conflicts at home and at work. I try to be in harmony with all the people around me. I say what I want, but I don’t demand.

9. Till the soil. There is always a room for improvements. I always grab the chance/s of free seminars and workshops related to my field ( and to my other interests as well) so I wont be left behind.

10. Be yourself. One thing I really, really hate is a pretender. What you see in me is what you get. Pretending gives you the pressure of inventing lies. And lies when connected makes you live in a world of hypocrisy.

Coping strategy suggestions could be endless, for we all do have different stressors. But the most effective way [personally] is to keep your faith to the Almighty above. Nothing could be more calming but to feel that God is just there by your side, no matter what.

Before I end up this entry, I would like to express my sympathy to the victims and those involved in the bloody hostage- taking act days ago. As I am typing this, the country is still under big controversy and grief. It now threatens not only our tourism industry, but the national security as well. Opinions here and there sprouted like mushrooms. It was one hell of a tragedy not just to the Filipinos but more to the Chinese people. .my prayer goes to the sufferers of the said incident.

I guess we could avoid tragedies like this one if we all know how to cope up with the situations aggravated by stress and pressure.

What do you think?