Let Stress Work for You

Today’s society has given rise to more and more stress, even with all of the new gadgets brought about to make our lives easier. In fact, it’s often these new “stress reducers” that cause the most stress in our lives! For example, take a look at your cell phone. It was designed to make your life easier and less stressful. But, in reality, it has become a source of great stress in our lives. It rings even when we are trying to do something which requires our full attention, such as driving, which causes us to feel even more stressed. This constant stress that we are under can lead to a huge variety of health problems, if we can’t learn how to relax effectively.

Would you believe that the stress reaction actually developed as a beneficial response? This is demonstrated by the need of early man for the “fight or flight” response to stressors in their environment. When faced with stress, a person will produce a hormone called adrenaline to help them decide whether or not to run away from danger, or put up a fight during an attack. Another hormone, called cortisol, acts in the same way. The difference is that its effects last much longer, due to long-term stressors in play around us.

Stress can still be a beneficial and vital part of our lives, as hard as it may be to believe. For example, if you’re walking down a street, and see a car come careening down the street towards you, your body will immediately set off the stress response, releasing adrenaline and pumping your body to jump out of the way of the car. If we didn’t have this stress, our bodies would not know how to respond to a situation like this, and we most likely wouldn’t be able to get out of these dangerous situations.

Large amounts of stress can keep you from accomplishing your goals, but small amounts of stress can actually work in your favour to help accomplish what you need to do. Look at the college student who has all semester to finish a paper, but spends the night before getting it done. In this case, the stress response didn’t kick in until the last moment. Cortisol is released, helping the struggling student to handle this situation and get the paper finished. This kind of stress is important to motivate us to get things done.

How we deal with stressors will determine whether we are dealing with good stress or bad stress. When you have a deadline creeping up on you, try thinking positively about your situation. If you can realize that the stress is actually motivating you to get working on your project and getting it done, you’ll be able to work through the stress, and let it work in your favor. Don’t let stress worry you – use it as a motivator.

In our busy lives, it’s inevitable that we are going to be under stress. We need to learn what our stressors are, and learn to deal with that stress. Long periods of cortisol release are not healthy for your body, and can cause serious health problems. Learning how to relax properly, and finding calming influences in our lives is very important. Try yoga or meditation to help you relax, or something similar that helps to calm you. Relaxing stops the release of cortisol, and produces calming hormones in its place.

Getting rid of stress completely is not an option in our lives and in some cases is not desirable. Learn to distinguish between the good stress and bad stress, and you’ll realize that you can have a more relaxing and calm existence. This will help you to lead a healthier and happier life.

Tags: adrenaline, bad stress, cortisol, good stress, Stress, stress tips