Stress is the word we often use in our daily life. People use it as frequently as their best friend’s name. But the question arises, what it is exactly and what are its harmful or useful effects of stress on our health. Is it more harmful or useful?

Well, stress is basically the response to the changes and challenges we encounter. Life is full of new experiences and not everybody responds to it equally. Some may tackle it quite well but others may find difficulty in it. What happens is when we face some changes or continuous challenges without a break, our mind becomes tired and we find difficulty in doing work. We call it ‘stress’.

Our body has two systems controlling our body in two different types of situations. One is a sympathetic system ( fight or flight) the other is a parasympathetic system ( rest). These two systems control the body’s response in hyper and resting situations respectively. But when we are continuously in flight condition our body becomes so much tired that we are unable to even think properly.

What happens to our body during stress?

-blood pressure rises
-digestion stops
-hyper alertness
-insomnia(unable to sleep)
-wanting some time alone
-feeling emptiness in life
-anxiety
-pressure
-headache
-mental problems
-heart problems
-periods become irregular

How do we respond to it?

A stressful person might show following symptoms:

• more eating than normal
• less eating than normal
• anger outbreak
• hopelessness
• Sadness
• not being able to do mind work
• responds without thinking
• remains quiet mostly
• the tolerance level is lost
• confidence vanishes
• drugs
• often crying
• relationship problems

Is stress a problem?

 

Stress is a problem for those who do not understand what matters and what does not. We need to learn this in life that everything is not what matters. And everything is not where you are helpless. You are who is responsible for your stress. Let me give you an interesting example here. If we put a frog in a sauce pan and put water in it and starts heating it, the Frog will adjust its body temperature according to it but when the water is about. Might you be thinking he must jump out of the sauce pan? Yes, he should but he has lost all its energy in adjusting himself earlier. So take yourself out before its too late. You are one who can take responsibility for it. Value your health. Value your life. Value your own happiness.

Effect of stress on male fertility:

Well, we all know that stress affects the menstrual cycle of a woman but we do not know that recent research on the semen related to stress has confirmed it that including other factors stress also plays a role in decreasing motility and fertility of sperms.

Effect of stress on a pregnant woman:

Giving birth to a new life is not that easy. You have lots and lots of thoughts running through your mind. Is it good for my baby? How will I bring him up etc these little stresses are normal but when you encounter a constant stress you might face difficulties like:
-delivery problems
-early delivery
-high blood pressure
-poor development of the baby
-weak mental development of the baby

Teenage stress:

Teenage is an age when we are on our way to adulthood. Many hormonal changes are going on in our body. We take stress more seriously and we think way too much. The kind of stress teenagers face
-the stress of homework
-the stress of overload of work
-over expectations from others
-the stress of future
How to overcome this
-relax and rest
-sleep enough
-talk to elders
-try to solve little problems
-try to solve instead of thinking overburdened

Stress is the major cause of other problems. It is in our control what to think. Reducing stress can make you healthier, happier and more satisfied!