Stress is the feeling of being under too much mental or emotional pressure. When you are stressed, your body releases stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. A small amount of stress can be useful. It can motivate you to take action and get tasks completed. It can also make you feel alive and excited. But too much stress can cause negative effects such as a change in your mood and your body issues. Almost anything that affects your daily life, work or relationships can cause stress. Even seemingly small issues can cause stress if they go on for a long time. Some people are more affected by stress than others. It can depend on factors such as your personality, upbringing, your work and home life.
Can stress cause a mental illness?
Stress is not an illness itself, but it can lead to you becoming unwell. For example, if stress lasts for a long time it can lead to anxiety and depression. Experiencing a very stressful or traumatic event could cause post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Stress can make an existing mental illness worse. You may use alcohol or drugs to deal with your stress. But if you do this on a regular basis you may need to seek support. Using alcohol or drugs in the short-term may help you to cope. But it may make your mental health worse in the long term. Fortunately, there are many evidence-based tools to help combat the negative effects of stress in healthy ways.
Why is it important to learn to cope with stress?
Coping involves adjusting to unusual demands, or stressors. This requires giving a greater effort and using greater energy than what’s needed in the daily routines of life. Prolonged mobilization of effort can contribute to elevated levels of stress-related hormones and to eventual physical breakdown and illness. Experts agree that coping is a process rather than an event. People differ in particular styles of coping or prefer to use certain coping strategies over others. These differences in coping styles usually reflect differences in personality. Rigidity in coping is less likely to help than is flexibility in coping — being able to fit the most appropriate coping strategy to the demands of different situations.
What can we do to protect ourselves against stress and enhance our prospects for successful coping? Perhaps the most important strategy is to maintain emotionally supportive relationships with others. A vast field of research demonstrates that emotional support buffers individuals against the negative impact of stress. It’s especially important to evaluate your overall lifestyle when encountering significant stress.
These days it’s hard not to get overwhelmed once in a while. Between juggling work, family, and other commitments, you can become too stressed out and busy. But you need to set time aside to unwind or your mental and physical health can suffer. Learning how to manage your stress takes practice, but you can — and need to — do it.
Engage in stress-reducing activities to help your overall approach to coping with stressors. Try to:
- Get enough good quality sleep.
- Eat a well-balanced diet.
- Exercise on a regular basis.
- Take brief rest periods during the day to relax.
- Take vacations away from home and work.
- Engage in pleasurable or fun activities every day.
- Practice relaxation exercises such as yoga, prayer, meditation or progressive muscle relaxation.
- Avoid use of caffeine and alcohol.
