Stress is a myth
Stress is one of the enemies, which everyone has to deal with. From a scientific point of view it doesn’t exist.What’s interesting, barely one hundred years ago, this concept of stress occurred only in metallurgy. So what isstress? If we can’t define stress, how we can face it? I’m going to introduce five myths, which occurred fromunawareness of this issue.
1. Stress is a defensive reaction of the body
Myth. Hans Style defined stress as ‘non-specific reaction of the body to the demands placed on it’. He also
divided stress into two parts: eustress (positive – e.g. joy of meeting someone you like) and distress
(negative – e.g. fear caused by the car's horn). His division was the closest to the reality, because each reactions
like fear, dread, aggression, we’re throwing into one bag - naming ‘stress’.
Generalization of the concept of stress can be harmful.
https://www.drlam.com/blog/neuroendometabolic-symptoms-of-stress/
2. You can measure the level of stress
Everyone feels completely different in the same situation. As an example we can use a divorce. For some
people it can be a traumatic situation. For years after divorce they can’t get to grips. Other ones just feel free
after their divorce. In sum, we can’t directly measure the level of stress. Only we ourselves can define how
much stress we have in life.
https://wellbeingcoaches.com/are-you-too-stressed-quiz/
3. Stress is harmful to healthIn the USA, there was carried out research about stress for eight years. About 30,000 American adults took
part in the study. Two questions were asked to them: ‘How much stress have you experienced over the past
year?’ and ‘Do you think that stress is harmful to your health?. The study was based on the data on deaths
of the examined people. In people who declared that stress accompanies them every day and it also harms
their health, the probability of death was higher by as much as 43 percent. The risk of death in people who
declared presence of stress in their lives, but didn’t consider it harmful, was the lowest of all the examined
people. The risk of death was even smaller than in the people who declared that they don’t have so much
stress in their lives.The research lasted eight years. During this time, 182,000 Americans died prematurely – the cause wasn’t
the stress itself, but belief that it is harmful. It’s more than 20,000 deaths per year. Belief in the harmfulness
of stress was on 15th place in the most common causes of death in the USA. As you can see from the
above facts - belief in stress kills.4. We live in times that expose us to more stress than ever beforeNonsense. In ancient times, everyone had to fight for survival with predatory animals, infections and also themselves. In the 19th century, death of a mother and child, during childbirth was the norm. In addition,
many children didn’t live to their adulthood. Moreover, our great-grandparents and grandparents took part
in the 1st and 2nd World War. Everyday, they lived in fear for their own life and loved ones.Nowadays, we ourselves impose the pace of our lives. It’s true that this is conditioned by the variety and the
amount of things that surround us. But still it is our choice. Consumerism becomes a consequence of trying
to relieve stress.5. The most basic way to deal with stress is the reaction ‘fight or flight’That was a thought for many years – until the results of the research by a psychologist prof. Shelley Taylor from
the University of California in Los Angeles. Her research showed that the ‘fight or flight’ reaction is the
characteristic of males, but it’s quite different infemales. A female response to stress is rather a reaction of
‘tend and befriend’.Abuse of strategy ‘fight or flight’ was caused by a trivial reason. Most of the researchers dealing with
psychophysiology of stress were men. What’s more, even in animal studies they used to (or still do)
rather males. This is partly due to the fact that females may give birth to a new generation of research objects.http://michiganjournal.org/2013/02/19/asking-the-hard-questions-is-it-possible-to-run-away-from-our-problems/https://www.focus.pl/artykul/5-mitow-na-temat-stresu?page=3
1. What kind of situations are the most stressful for you?2. During work, school or everyday life stress accompanies you all the time. How do you deal with it?
3. Answer two question from the research: ‘How much stress have you experienced over the past year?’ and ‘Do you think that stress is harmful to your health?’
Comments
1. I totally hate flying. It's something that makes me nervous really hard.
2. I know it may sound like bullshit, but my first rule is that I try to avoid stress. When you work as a software developer it's quite easy to do it - you "just" have to work in cool company with cool boss and it's not something impossible - as long as you are good at doing your job.
Also doing yoga or jogging is something really relaxing for me. Same thing with boxing. Imo, activities like watching movies, reading books or playing video games may make you more relaxed.
3.
I hope that my stress level during life was not so hight, but it's hard to mesure it. I think that stress is harmful for everyones health :P
I don't have such stress which accompanies me all the time. I try to reduce stressful situations as much as it is possible, but when they occur I always try to calm down myself and not worry so much about the whole case.
Over the past years, I've experienced a lot of stress mostly because of the school (hard tests and exams, unprofessional assessment of students). I've read that there are two types of stress, positive one which is enhancing our brain activity and the negative which causes unhappiness, anxiety, depression etc because the first type is more common, I definitely think that stress causes mainly harm to our health.
For me, the most stressful situations associated with work, study and deadlines.
2.During work, school or everyday life stress accompanies you all the time. How
do you deal with it?
I try to distract myself with different possibilities, go to the gym and listen to music during training, it overloads the brains perfectly. Watch a movie, cuddle a cat =D
3.Answer two question from the research: ‘How much stress have you
experienced over the past year?’ and ‘Do you think that stress is harmful to
your health?’
I've been through 3 major stresses over the last year. Of course stress is bad for health, because of it I had insomnia,fatigue, lost appetite, don't want to do anything.
Can't say exactly. Probably try to forget about stimulus just for a shot period of time. Eat some palatable or watch episode of "Friends"
I have a lot of stress. And it is extremely harmful.
This is, of course, a joke. But stressful situations sometimes happen, especially when it’s a public appearance, and I need to bring important information.
Everyday stress, such as when someone interferes with normal travel, does not accompany me, I can get angry, but rarely give in to fear.
Yes, I think that everything that can lead to stress is only in the head. So why allow yourself to worry about any reason, if the best solution for me, is simply to find and deal with the cause of possible stress. This year, probably a couple of times there was a stressful state.
I try to avoid stressful situations, but if it happened I’m taking a break and thinking what went wrong and how can I fix that.
I have not so much stress over the past year. Yes, it’s harmful but not for health more for productivity. When I have stress I want just lie down on the bed and watch videos on YouTube or listen music.
My relation to stress is rather healthy, at least I hope so. During everyday activities I feel no stress at all. And if I do I try to take advantage of it.
Well in the past year I’ve not experienced a lot of stress. There was one situation in witch I had to retake an exam and that’s it, I think. I don’t experience a lot of stress so I think it isn’t harmful for me in this dose.
I think the most stressful situation for me it is have time to do something to the deadline, when I only have a couple of hour ;) Also, when the code does not work, when it should :)
2. During work, school or everyday life stress accompanies you all the time. How do you deal with it?
Basically, I have no stress at work, only sometimes, when I work in another team, when they have different rules of work. At school I feel stress sometimes when I have a deal with uncomprehending people. I try to stop contact with stress triggers as quickly as possible. It doesn't matter what it is.
3. Answer two question from the research: ‘How much stress have you
experienced over the past year?’ and ‘Do you think that stress is harmful to
your health?’
I think this is a less stressful year of 4 in Poland. I don't think, I know, it is based on my experience with health. Stress is very harmful.
2. Just music and hugs. It really helps.
3. Not so much I thought it could be. Of course every stress situation has a bad influence on the health.
Stress management is one way to control stress. All of us manage our time and abilities, as well as exercises like yoga, to some extent overcome our stress. Unfortunately, the effects of stress on the body is higher than on cigarettes or alcohol .
If we try to do our work properly, we have timely decisions and proper predictions about the future, so that we can reduce stress a lot.
2) Sometimes I do not even care about it. Just thinking about my external thoughts.
3) Too much stress is harmful. It is sad to see person who does not stop to think about bad stuff and continues talk about it.
I have not experienced a lot of stress this year.
I do not stress myself much, but my body is of a different opinion, in the most stressful time in my life I get vitiligo because of this. It is for this reason that I think that stress is bad for our body, it destroys it. The best way to stay away is to meet friends. Meeting, talking. I feels better after that.
But seriously, I think the most stressful for me are either moment when the outcome of some extended action depends on me or some social events like a big gathering of people I don't know. There are of course other stressors - like conflicts, but they just happen from time to time.
I usually try to mobilize myself and just survive through it. In case of work/school related stress, I try to finish what I have to do, make sure I perform as good as possible. So it's a "fight" scenario for me. But in many social situations, when I'm overwhelmed by new people and too many stimuli, I try a "flight" solution. I limit my social contact to people I know, I try to isolate myself or just go back to some safe space.
I think I'm coping pretty good with stress. I experienced quite a lot during last year, but I don't think it really affected my health by much. I try to exercise regularly, I make my best to eat healthily and rest. This all helps.
Generally, I have a very loose approach to everything, but once the stress has caught me, it is unlikely to relax.
In the last year I have certainly got used to studying a little and do not treat it with such fear and simply as such a task. Thanks to this, I am less stressed than at the beginning of my studies.
How do i deal with stress ? Well lots and lots of music i like, cant really be stressed out when listening to favorite songs (especially the catchy ones).
There ve been a lot of stress lately in my life and i have definitely felt the toll it took on me. I would say stress and stress related sickness are one of the most impact full ones.
Every time I try to imagine that I’m somewhere else and I’m the one who listen the presentation. It help me forget for a moment that I stand alone in front of a lot of people.
I haven’t experienced a lot of stress in my life and to be honest, it isn’t harmful for me. I think that a little bit of stress can be good and can help improve myself.
Hmmm, I think that music is good for stress. I like to listen my favorite songs and talk with friends. It's something what relax me.
What about last question? I think that actual situation of my life is better. In my opinion, the most stressful time in my life was my high school. I was thinking about my future, matura exam and it was very hard. In my opinion, stress is not harmful to my body. We can forget about stressful situations and move on with one's life.
During everyday situations I like to take a long walk on fresh air to deal with stress. Nothing helps me better than walking alone and deep breathing for at least 15 minutes. Music also is good tool for relaxing in work.
Over past year I haven't experienced much stress. I think the most stressful situations are all behind me now. Most of this kind of situations I have experienced in high school and at beginning of studies.
I think that stress have bad impact on my health, especially when i experienced many of sleepless nights.
I know several techniques of how to deal with stress. The simplest, the fastest and the most efficient way that works for me is simple. I just say aloud while I'm alone that I'm stressed. I know it might sound stupid to some people, because how saying such think can help? According to the research I found on the internet some year ago, it's all about being honest with ourselves. After confessing that we feel stressed, we start accepting that fact and become more and calmer. WIth this stress goes away and we start feeling better.
I experienced a lot of stress in the past year. I wanted to get a promotion, so I had to push myself into new roles and positions. They were stressful, but I didn't reach my limits of stress. I think stress can be harmful to us when we experience it for more extended periods, or we try to handle too much at once. I would say that small stress is healthy and it helps us to avoid the dangers but be prepared for the occasions and challenges that lives put us in.
In general, I don't care about stress so much because I know if I allow stressing to enter my day, the stress will control my day and make me doing random things, so I avoid stress by saying "This Moment Will Disappear".
I think last year I have 49% of stress, Sure stress is harmful to my health.
2. Many stressful situation are in school like exams or deadline for project, when i don't have a much time for prepare for it. Sometimes stress is in work. I try think that everything will be good, what is more I have a people next to me who support me. Thanks to them I haven't gone crazy yet.
3. the past year was very stressful for me, but i managed. Definitely stress isn't good for my health it can only cause a heart attack or stomach ulcer.
Most of the time I try to solve problems that cause stress but sometimes there are some that I cannot do anything about. For such situations I prefer just to wind out sometimes meeting friends or meditate to not to let these stressful situations affect my studies, work, and life overall.
Honestly, last year for me was extremely stressful as I was on the third year of university and it was huge responsibility, also I had some troubles in my personal life. It was obviously harmful for my health as I used to try to cover it up with smoking and alcohol overuse. Also as far as I know stress itself is harmful for mental health of a person and I can say that I fully experienced that.