Topics: Advice, Workplace Stress
What Is Stress ? (definition of stress)
(No Ratings Yet)
Stressed at work? You need the specialist insights of Carole Spiers, international broadcaster and workplace stress guru.
Many people are confused about what stress is, and in particular the difference between pressure and stress:
- Pressure is the stimulation and challenge you need to achieve job satisfaction and self-esteem.
- Stress is a reaction to continued excessive pressure or responsibility when you feel inadequate or unable to cope.
Ever since prehistoric times, the ’stress response’ has been a mechanism that your body has used to help it cope with danger. As soon as you’re aware that something is threatening you, your brain sends messages to your nervous system to either get ready to stand and fight, or run away:
- Your heart rate and breathing go into overdrive, and you may start to sweat.
- Hormones including adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol - a hormone that helps your body adapt to stress - are pumped into your bloodstream.
- Glucose and fatty acid levels are also increased to provide energy for your muscles to deal with the perceived threat.
All these reactions take place automatically and very quickly at the first signs of danger.
This response, also known as ‘fight or flight’, has been vital to our survival. Unfortunately, whereas in Stone Age times we would usually have time to recover from the life or death encounters that triggered the response, in the modern world we’re confronted with a continuous stream of ’stressors’ that our bodies perceive as threats, and react to accordingly.
Today, these threats could include financial pressures, fear of redundancy, overwork, deadline pressures or an important business presentation. The constant, ongoing pressure resulting from these stressors is different to the more immediate dangers that our stress response was designed to cope with. And it’s at the point at which our bodies cannot recover from these pressures that we can begin to experience stress.
INSTANT ACCESS TO STRESS REDUCTION NOW! Unlocking the secrets to stress management with CSG’s selective catalogue of Special Reports, Ebooks,Trainer packs, CD’s and Audio by international stressguru Carole Spiers. Visit our ecommerce site www.carolespiersgroup.com for the definitive solutions to stress management.
