Stress

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

As humans we experience many emotions, we feel and responds to a variety of them. From fear to love to satisfaction, sometimes we are defined how we react, our conditions are to the countless emotional and psychological states we find ourselves in. We all have experienced one emotion, at one time or another is the sensation of stress.

Well the thing is that while it is one of the most common feelings, most of us have a difficult time really describing what, exactly, stress is. It is easier to define stress by some  psychological or physiological results that it produces, what are we experience in our mind and bodies.

Stress, as defined in the typical sense

Is simply our individual reactions to what the mind perceives as a threatening situation. In fact, at one time stress and our reactions to it are sometimes what keeps us alive. Thousands of years ago when humans were hunters and gatherers, a feeling of stress could be caused by,  for instance, that we notice that we’re being stalked by a predator. What is known as the ‘fight-or-flight’ condition.

Our body releases certain chemicals and hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine, then our heart rate increases, our pupils become dilated, and then we become super alert to the environment around us. In a real sense, this could have mean the difference between life and death. The part of our brains that is conditioned to respond in this way.

Stress had to have played an important part of the cavemen, in modern times it can have some drawbacks.

The average person no longer finds himself pursued by ravenous predators or having to go out kill prey to feed his family(though some still do). We are more concerned about paying the bills and arriving to work on time. Contrary to popular belief, these daily stressors can actually do more damage over time than an acute stressful event such as a car accident or family illness. These kinds of events tend to have a beginning and an end, while chronic stress creates more significant health concerns. Either way, the primitive part of our mind that interprets these things has not changed much since the hunter-gatherer days. Unfortunately, it reacts much in the very same way that it would have eons ago.

Here lies the problem; this same fight-or-flight response is automatically activated, the same chemicals and hormones are released and the mind’s intention is to simply protect us from any real or perceived threat. Repeated and prolonged exposures to these situations can have dreadful consequences on both the mind and the body.

The average person nowadays, has become familiar with the dangers of stress from a mental and emotional standpoint. We understand the long-term effects that range from depression to acute anxiety disorders, from broken relationships to intense feelings of isolation. But, the physical effects may remain overlooked due to the fact that these consequences can take years to develop and unfortunately, by the time we realize what this stress has done to our bodies, much of the damage has already been done.

We are all creatures of habit. Our minds and bodies don’t often welcome change. This can also be said of how each of us react to a sudden stress, like, a change of job title or a death in the family. Some react better than others. There are some personality types that actually enjoy the challenges that often go hand in hand with a stressor. They look at things differently and so can we by starting right now, click here, let us show you a new way to take some stress off. And if you’re really the type to get started immediately, join now!

Let us help you take some of the stress out your life!