Is stress having a negative impact on your life?

For me, stress, or our experience of stress, is fundamental to wellbeing.  The best diet and exercise plan in the world is not going to be helpful if stress issues are not addressed.  

Of course, it’s not possible to avoid stress completely.  We wouldn’t want to.  Positive stress (called eustress) can motivate us; it focuses our energy and improves our performance.  This good stress is generally short term and while it may push us outside of our comfort zone, it’s within our capabilities.  Eustress helps us to grow and thrive.

What we want to avoid is harmful stress (called distress).  This type of stress increases inflammation in the body and can lead to physical and mental health problems. Most chronic diseases are associated with stress and either triggered or worsened by stress.

Our stress responses evolved to help our ancestors survive.  Escaping predators or avoiding annihilation by other groups of hunter gatherers.  

We are generally not faced with the same physical threats in today’s society.  There are, of course, acute situations that are dangerous or threatening that require this stress response.   

The problem is, our bodies have the same stress response to perceived threats.  We feel endangered, even when this is not the case.  For example, a difficult situation at work, worrying about a loved one or living with pain and not knowing what to do next.  We end up living in a constant state of stress that is harmful to our minds and bodies.

So what can we do?

Stress is an inevitable part of life.  We can’t change what is happening to us; we have no control over many of the external factors we face on a day to day basis.  But we do have control over our responses when stress arises.

We can change how we perceive the situations we are faced with.  Strengthening our internal resources to manage stress and consciously changing our perspectives can help us to prevent the harmful effects of unavoidable stress - and importantly can help us stay out of that state of constant stress. 

The good news is, there are many strategies we can adopt to minimise our exposure to stress and mitigate the harmful effects of the stress that is unavoidable.

Check out my blog for more information about the effects of stress and ideas for reducing the (di)stress in your life.