FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What is stress?

Stress is outside forces affecting the individual. There is external and internal stress. External stress can be brought about by the environment, work, relationships, etc. Internal stress comes from how we react to the environment stress.

2. Can stress be good?

Stress is good when it can be managed in positive ways. Stress can motivate us to accomplish great things. If our lives were completely stress free we would have little desire to do anything. But if we have too much stress we will become overwhelmed and start to experience negative effects.

3. What are some negative effects of stress?

Too much stress on a constant basis can weaken the immune system causing one to become more susceptible to infections and disease. Also, people who are stressed experience more headaches, backaches, and other tension through out the body. Stress can cause digestive problems as well. Excessive stress can even lead to heart disease and other serious health consequences.

4. What biological changes occur in my body when I am experiencing stress?

Your body releases hormones to help prepare your body for action. Epinephrine and norepinephrin are the main hormones released. Epinephrine prepares the body for action, or in other words, it starts the "fight or flight" feelings. It sends more oxygen and glucose to the body's brain and muscles while suppressing other non-emergency processes like digestion. Norepinephrine aids epinephrine in preparing the body for action. Cortisol is also released during periods of stress. Cortisol is influential in increasing blood pressure and blood sugars. To find out more about stress hormones click here.

5. What is the health response to stress?

A key aspect of a healthy adaptational response to stress is the time course. Responses must be initiated rapidly, maintained for a proper amount of time, and then turned off to ensure an optimal result. An over-response to stress or the failure to shut off a stress response can have negative biological consequences for an individual.

6. Who is most vulnerable to stress?

While every experiences stress, some people are more likely than others. People with adequate social support networks report less stress and overall improved mental health in comparison to those without adequate social contacts. People who are poorly nourished, who get inadequate sleep, or who are physically unwell also have a reduced capacity to handle pressures and stresses of everyday life and may report higher stress levels. Some stressors are particularly associated with certain age groups or life stages. Children, teens, working parents, and seniors are examples of the groups who often face common stressors related to life transitions.

7. How can I manage my stress?

Exercise is one of the best ways to appropriately manage stress. Also, meditation and relaxation, listening to music, doing something you love, laughing, and writing in a journal are some other stress management ideas. The most important thing is finding something that helps calm you down. Do what works for you!

8. Are teens experiencing stress?

The teen years often bring about an increase in perceived stress as young adults learn to cope with increasing demands and pressures. Studies have shown that excessive stress during the teen years can have a negative impact upon both physical and mental health later in life. For example, teen stress is a risk factor for the development of depression, a serious condition that carries an increased risk of suicide. Fortunately, effective stress-management strategies can diminish the ill effects of stress. The presence of intact and strong social support networks among friends, family, and religious or other group affiliations can help reduce the subjective experience of stress during the teen years. Recognition of the problem and helping teens to develop stress-management skills can also be valuable preventive measures.

9. How big of a problem is job stress?

Numerous surveys and studies confirm that occupational pressures and fears are far and away the leading source of stress for American adults and that these have steadily increased over the past few decades. 40% of Americans described their job as very or extremely stressful. Stressed out workers are less productive, have higher absenteeism rates, and costs business more because of health costs. There needs to be more focus on reducing the stress in workplaces because not only are businesses losing money, people's health is at stake.

10. What's in the future for stress?

The keys to dealing with stress are appropriate control of stressors and management of our physical (physiological) and mental (psychological) responses. In this regard, some exciting work is being done on early treatment (intervention) during extremely stressful events (such as 9-11). This intervention, called critical incident stress debriefing (CISD), involves discussing the traumatic event as soon as possible after the event. In fact, CISD can lessen extreme (pathological) reactions to stress and often prevent PTSD in its worst forms. Hopefully, the concepts of CISD can be translated into helpful strategies for managing the more common (normal) types of stress.