Stress Essay -- essays research papers

Stress   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stress is the nonspecific response of the body to any demands made upon it; it may be characterized as muscle tension and acute anxiety or may be a positive force of action. Stressors are what cause stress. Stressors are specific or nonspecific agents or situations that cause a stress response in the body. There are five Categories of Stressors: Acute time limited stressors are anxiety-provoking situations such as having to talk in public or work out a math problem; Brief naturalistic stressors are more serious challenges such as SAT’s or meeting a deadline for a big project; Stressful event sequences like difficult consequences such as a natural disaster, or another traumatic occurrence such as a death of a spouse; Individuals know the difficulties will end at some point; Chronic stressors are ongoing demands caused by life changing circumstances, such as a permanent disability following an accident or care giving for a parent with dementia; Individuals do not have a clear en d point. Distant stressors like a traumatic experience that occurred long ago, such as child abuse, yet continue to have an emotional psychological impact. If you are used to thinking that stress is something that makes you worry, you have the wrong idea of stress. Stress is many different kinds of things: happy things, sad things, allergic things, physical things. Many people carry enormous stress loads and they do not even realize it. There are many different kinds of stress: emotional stress, illness, pushing your body too hard, environmental factors, the special case of tobacco use, hormonal factors, and allergic stress. Emotional stress may happen when arguments, disagreements, and conflicts cause changes in your personal life -- that is stress. Illness can be something small like catching a cold, breaking an arm, a skin infection, a sore back, are all changes in your body condition. Pushing your body too hard is a major source of stress you are overdriving yourself. If you are working or partying (binge drinking) 16 hours a day, you will have reduced your available time for rest. Sooner or later, the energy drain on your system will cause the body to fall behind in its repair work. There will not be enough time or energy for the body to fix broken cells, or replace used up brain neurotransmitters. Changes will occur in your body's internal ... ...ith changes that temporarily lower resistance. Levels of certain hormones may rise blood pressure may increase. The body quickly makes internal adjustments to cope with a stressor and return to normal activity. Resistance: If the stressor continues the body mobilizes its internal resources to try to sustain Homeostasis (the body’s natural state of balance or stability). An example of it is when a loved one is seriously hurt in an accident, we initially respond intensely and feel great anxiety. During the subsequent stressful period of recuperation, we struggle to carry on as normal as possible, but it requires a considerable amount of effort. Exhaustion: If the stress continues long enough we can not continue normal functioning. Even a small amount of additional stress may cause a breakdown. Work Cited: Stress. Retrieved September 8, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc31.html What Causes Stress? Retrieved September 8, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://www.beatstress.ndirect.co.uk/page4.html Theories Explaining Stress and Anxiety. Retrieved September 8, 2005, from the World Wide Web: http://mentalhelp.net/psyhelp/chap5/chap5k.htm