Stress is one of the biggest health problems facing people today. Chronic stress from any number of sources puts the body’s natural stress response mechanism into arrest. The body needs time to recover from stressful situations, and in the fast-paced world we live in, the pressures we put on ourselves on a daily basis begins to take its toll on our mental health.
Chronic stress levels can lead to the development of many mental health disorders such as anxiety or depression. It is important to understand what causes stress, how it affects the body and mind, and how to cope with stress. If you are feeling suicidal, you should arrange to talk to someone immediately, either an anonymous telephone hotline, your nearest hospital or a mental health professional.
What Causes Stress?
There are three major causes of stress. Routine stress, sudden negative change stress, and traumatic stress. Routine stress is what you experience on a day-to-day basis. Work, life, family, all of these things contribute to our daily exposure to stress. Sudden negative change stress is stress brought on by a sudden change in your life in a negative way such as losing your job, ending a relationship, divorce, or illness. Traumatic stress can be witnessing a horrific event or accident, being involved in an accident, sustaining a serious injury, or being in a near-death experience. All of these types of stress have an effect on the body mentally and physically.
It’s Effect on the Body and Mind
Long-term exposure to stress reduces the body’s ability to recover back to a normal state. Your body’s major systems such as circulatory, digestive and nervous systems all become altered as a result of exposure to stress. The greater the type of stress, and the frequency of exposure over time can cause these systems to sustain damage that may not be fixable.
Similarly, repeated or chronic stress will cause damage to your mental health as well. These include serious mental health problems such as depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, anger, and sleep disorders to name just a few of the major ones. If stress isn’t treated or managed effectively, these effects can become long-term mental health issues that become worse over time.
How to Cope With Chronic Stress
Coping skills are great tools to learn, and they will last a lifetime. They take work, and must be adapted to suit your personality and lifestyle to get the best results. A great way to learn how to use these tools is to consult a psychotherapist who can work with you to measure your results and suggest new techniques and tools to give you the most effective mental health strategy possible. Exercise is an effective way to reduce chronic stress, and should be a part of everyone’s everyday life. It has tremendous effects on your mental health as well. Prioritize your stress; what stresses you out? Make a list, begin checking off the easy little things, and try to decide what items can wait, or aren’t as big of a deal as you thought they were.
Recognize the signs when you are starting to get stressed; drinking more, losing sleep, becoming irritable, and take a break to do something that you enjoy. Socializing with friends, reading a book, and taking a walk can all help to take your mind off things, and clear your head to re-evaluate what’s going on in your life. Focus on your positive accomplishments each day, and take pride in the small victories.
Reaching out to family and friends are always a resource in dealing with stress. Professional help is always there for the major traumatic events and when you don’t feel like or find it helpful when reaching out to your personal resources. Keep your head up, and try to find something positive in your life each day, because the more you look, the more you will find. If you find that stress is having a negative impact on how you function each day, contact our office for a solution.
To learn more about coping with stress or to talk to a therapist, call or contact us today at 202-641-5335.
