Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Stress?The Impact of StressStrategies for Stress ReliefA Word From VerywellFrequently Asked QuestionsNext in Stress GuideStress Therapy Treatment
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Stress?
The Impact of Stress
Strategies for Stress Relief
A Word From Verywell
Frequently Asked Questions
Next in Stress Guide
Everyone experiences stress. Some people experience stress as a part of their everyday lives, while others feel it less frequently.
As your brain responds to perceived threats, so does your body. Stress can be motivating at manageable levels, but can quickly become overwhelming if you don’t know how to release it from your body or if you’re constantly facing new stressors before you can work through previous ones.
Stress can build up and cause problems to your health. With the right stress-relieving strategies, you can deal with stress that pops up in your everyday life and prevent it from affecting you.
Stress is a feeling of emotional and physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous.
Stress is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand. In short bursts, stress can be positive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline. But when stress lasts for a long time, it may harm your health.
There are twotypes of stress:
How Stress Affects the Body and Mind
When we experience stress, ourautonomic nervous systemautomatically releases hormones, includingadrenalineand cortisol, to prepare our body to fight or run away. Several changes can take place during this process, including an increased heart rate, flushed skin, and dilated pupils.
This is known as the fight-or-flight response. As you experience it repeatedly, you may develop responses such as a quick temper, restlessness, inaction, or ignoring your needs.
What Is the Autonomic Nervous System?The autonomic nervous system is a component of the peripheral nervous system which regulates involuntary physiologic processes, such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, and sexual arousal.It contains three divisions: the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is the one responsible for the fight-or-flight response.
What Is the Autonomic Nervous System?
The autonomic nervous system is a component of the peripheral nervous system which regulates involuntary physiologic processes, such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, and sexual arousal.It contains three divisions: the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and enteric nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system is the one responsible for the fight-or-flight response.
Your fight-or-flight response alerts you to danger and helps you survive, but when it is triggered over and over, it can cause wear and tear on your body.
Continued activation of the fight-or-flight response has been linked to:
Animal studies tell us that stress affects the bidirectional communication line between your brain and gut, leading to digestive issues includingirritable bowel syndrome.
Stress is a known risk factor for high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke. It triggers and aggravates many mental health conditions and physical ailments.
Physical and emotional symptoms of prolonged stress include:
7 Strategies for Stress Relief
In the moment, there are many ways to reduce your immediatestress responseback to a baseline of calm. It does, however, require realizing that your stress levels are climbing to counterproductive levels and then making the conscious decision to destress.
Verywell / Zoe Hansen
The ultimate goal is to calm your nervous system, and there are several ways to do this:
What to Know About Box Breathing
Summary
Stress is one of those things we all experience that seems manageable until it’s not. The good news is thatstress is highly manageable, especially when it’s at low levels.
It’s best to confront your stressors as soon as possible, and yes, this may require developing some other skills like self-confidence and speaking up for yourself, but it is doable.
You have to deal with stress every day. Look at that as an opportunity to practice stress-relieving strategies. If you keep practicing them, you’ll notice great changes in how you react to stress triggers, and this can have a positive ripple effect on every aspect of your health and life.
What is the quickest way to reduce stress?
Some of the quickest ways to reduce stress include hugging someone, listening to a happy song, smiling, meditating, and dancing.
Which exercises will provide the most stress relief?
The exercises that will provide you with the most stress relief are those you enjoy. Whether that’s walking, gardening, doing yoga at home, swimming, or playing sports, it’s most beneficial when you feel the reward from engaging in something that feels good to you.
Why is stress relief important?
9 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
MedlinePlus.Stress and your health.
O’Connor Professional Group.How trauma impacts learning and how to find support.
Waxenbaum JA, Reddy V, Varacallo M.Anatomy, autonomic nervous system. StatPearls.
Yaribeygi H, Panahi Y, Sahraei H, Johnston TP, Sahebkar A.The impact of stress on body function: a review.EXCLI J. 2017 Jul 21;16:1057-1072. doi:10.17179/excli2017-480
Carabotti M, Scirocco A, Maselli MA, Severi C.The gut-brain axis: interactions between enteric microbiota, central and enteric nervous systems.Ann Gastroenterol. 2015;28(2):203-209.
Cleveland Clinic.Stress.
Goyal M, Singh S, Sibinga EM, et al.Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis.JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(3):357-368. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018
Cho EH, Lee MY, Hur MH.The effects of aromatherapy on intensive care unit patients’ stress and sleep quality: a nonrandomised controlled trial.Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2017 Dec 11;2017:2856592. doi:10.1155/2017/2856592
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