"It's not the Load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it" - Understanding Stress

     There is this popular story circulating the internet, where in a professor gives a real life analogy for handling stress in life. And the story goes like this.

The professor raises a half full glass of water and asks “how heavy you think it can be?”

The students come up with a variety of technical answers.

Then professor says “it’s not the absolute weight that matters”

“If I hold it for 5 mins, it wouldn’t seem heavy.

If I hold it for an hour, probably it would hurt a little.

If I hold it for a whole day, it would seem so heavy, enough to make my hand feel paralysed”

It's all about the way you carry the Load

     The quantity or the weight of the water never changed but with time, the longer you hold the glass raised, heavier it feels. It’s the same in life.

The point the professor wanted to make was that the worries and stress in life are similar.

Think about them for a while, nothing happens. If you think about them for an hour, it may hurt a little. If you think about them whole day, it will mentally wear and paralyse your brain.

What is Stress?

     Stress is an automatic response of the body to perceived danger. In ancient man stress developed as a “fight or flight” response to deal with dangerous situations.

    What stress does is trigger a release of cascade of hormones including Adrenaline and Cortisol. Which in turn speeds up heart beat and blood circulation to fire up the metabolism, to create an instant release of energy, essential to deal the situational danger.

    Thus Stress developed as a coping mechanism but the problem arises in what our bodies perceive as a threat and how many times we come across such situations.

What stress does to your body?

    During life threatening situations, our bodies developed stress as a coping mechanism. But over a course of time our bodies started perceiving day to day difficult situations as stressors.

Stressors in our daily life include traffic jams, work related issues, exhaustive work, unrealistic goals at work, work targets, troubled relationships, marital issues. Anything which places high demands on you can be perceived as stressors by your body.

   We are surrounded by stressors and prolonged stress i.e. having our body in a “flight or fight” mode can cause severe Health damage. Prolonged stress can affect our body, thoughts, feelings and behaviour. And can contribute to many health problems such as High Blood Pressure, Heart Disease, Obesity and Diabetes to name a few.

Stress needs to be managed effectively

What are the signs of stress?

·         Frequent Headaches.

·         Low energy.

·         Aches, pains and tense muscles.

·         Chest pain and rapid heartbeat.

·         Insomnia.

·         Loss of sexual desire and / or ability.

·         Nervousness.

·         Cold and sweaty hands and feet.

·         Excessive sweating.

·         Upset stomach including, diarrhea, constipation and nausea.

·         Low self esteem and feelings of depression.

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