Saying "I'm stressed" is a phrase that can be used quite casually every day, but what should we do when we are genuinely stressed.
First, we need to understand what stress is.
Stress is often defined as a reaction to mental or emotional pressure. It's often related to feeling like you're losing control over something, but sometimes the cause isn't obvious.
It's the way we react to a perceived danger. It has two forms – one that builds up over time from regular stressors, like a heavy workload or noisy working conditions; the other is more dramatic and is caused by a sudden or unexpected event, like a car accident or a bereavement.
When you're feeling anxious or scared your body releases stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. This can be helpful for some people and stress might help you get things done or feel more motivated, but it might also cause physical symptoms such as a faster heartbeat or sweating.
If you're stressed all the time, it can become a problem.
So how do you know when stress is too much stress? It is important to acknowledge that excessive stress, over periods of time, without the ability to recover, leads to fatigue, feeling overwhelmed, unable to cope and burnt out, which results in ill health. However, the line between ‘stress’ and ‘excessive stress’ depends on the individual, as everyone reacts differently to it. What matters here is not how much stress you can endure, but that you have the skills to identify when you, or those around you, are experiencing excessive levels of stress and how to reduce it.
International Stress Awareness Week is marked around the world with a wide range of events and initiatives and this week we will be looking at how to identify stress and what to do when you need professional support.
To kick off Stress Awareness Week why not take a stress test, this is a great way to explore what might be causing you stress and once you identify it you can seek methods to reduce it.
Take a stress test today!