The Definition of Stress: Do We Understand It?

Stress has many definitions and can be recognized by an array of situations but, medically, stress is described as a physical or psychological stimulus that may produce mental tensions or physiological reactions. It is a type of strain that affects a person mentally, physically, and emotionally. Most people, if asked, would describe stress as a negative and harming illness that affects the entire body but, there is a smaller group of humans that define stress as an inhibitor, a feeling that builds their ambitions and awards them with their dreams.

It seems that stress has become a normal part of everyday life, experienced by all living organisms. It can help people to learn or to grow but, it can also cause very significant health problems. Stress is an outside force that tends to impinge from the inside and gradually work its way out. It builds within releasing hormones, neurochemicals, and corticosteroids in hopes of preparing an individual to face problems, or to run away from them.

Stress can become even more dangerous to humans if they choose to ignore the signs. Stressors that are prolonged, unmanageable, unexpected, or uninterrupted are dangerous if not taken seriously. Responses to stress, or distress, can reflect differences in personalities, general health, and physical strength as well as the way a person thinks.

Stress can result from varying types of interactions with other people or the environment. When a human feels that their ability is being challenged, socially or personally, they begin to feel the impact of stress. Their adaptive capacity is exceeded and their well-being is threatened and suddenly, they feel alone. They try to adjust to continually changing circumstances, putting their body, and their minds, into a form of work-overload. When this happens their body is disturbed, as is its natural way of functioning.

Stress can also be defined as unique and personal. Experiences that are stressful to some may be exhilarating to others. Therefore stress is not always considered to be harmful. It depends on how it is handled and what its outcome will be. At any time stress can be positive or negative and knowing how to deal with it will define that difference.

Positive stress can be called eustress which means when something changes for the better or, it can be called distress which is when something changes for the worse. Stress is common and covers a large spectrum of feelings and emotions. It is assumed that we all perceive stress to mean the same for everyone but that is the furthest from the truth.

Four types of stress to be aware of are: eustress, acute, episodic acute, and chronic. Eutress is exciting and fun, acute is short-term and out-lived, episodic acute is delirious and embellished and, chronic is long-lasting and incorrigible.

Stress can lead to addictions as well. Extreme acts of nail biting, hair twirling, drug abuse, cigarette inhalation, self-medicating are all forms of addiction. When stressed we tend to reach for a soother. These items, or movements, will send us to oblivion. Stress can lead to addictions and addictions can grow in to illnesses which translate in to stress being an addiction.

Having a clear definition of what stress is allows us to understand it more clearly. What we understand, we can control, and what we can control, we can manage, and what we can manage, we can prevent. If we can find a way to take an extra second to think about the situations we are faced with, we may find a way to ease the effects stress has on our minds as well as our bodies.

Stress can be detrimental to our thoughts and our emotions but, it does not have to be detrimental to our health. We must use the power of stress to ignite our senses in a positive way instead of letting it deplete our bodies of life.