Stress Articles

The aim of these stress articles is to explain what stress actually is and, hopefully, to find a solution to the widespread problems it causes.

The best definition of stress I have heard is from Larry Winget in his book “Shut Up, Stop Whining and Get A Life”:

“Stress comes from knowing what is right and doing what is wrong.”

This simple sentence could relieve many cases of stress, exam time for example… we know we have to prepare better, so just doing the right thing should take away the stress. But what if we don’t know what the right thing to do is?

The automatic neurochemical chain of events is first, the emotional perception of a threat (real or imagined), followed by a physical reaction (aka the fight or flight response) which varies according to each persons experience in handling similar situations. The end result can range from a healthy dose of adrenaline to handle a new challenge, to a complete nervous breakdown.

The link between stress and diseases of all kinds is well known so coping strategies and stress management techniques have to be found.

The usual proposed solutions (obviously ignoring drugs!) are avoiding situations where the stressor is present as much as possible (is this practical in the hectic modern world?), gradually being exposed to more and more stressful situations so we learn how to cope (can be very slow and painful) and hypnotherapy sessions (expensive!).

Find out what to do relieve stress here: stress articles