Stress and the Mind, body & spirit.
The body has an inherent way of reacting to stress by producing adrenaline which gives us our “fight or flight” ability. This allows us to respond effectively to stressful situations and protects us. However persistent stress puts the bodies coping capabilities under pressure and over time, can lead to significant damage and ill health.
The body reacts differently and on many levels to stress;
- Behavioural: Lack of self care and discipline; substance abuse; over or under eating; over sleeping or under sleeping; clumsiness and poor choices
- Emotionally: It can leave us feeling drained; edgy; overwhelmed; teary; moody; irrational; highly reactive; oversensitive; feeling isolated and over a period of time can lead to depression and anxiety if not addressed.
- Mentally: It can lead to a lapse in short and long term memory, an inability to stay focused or concentrate on tasks in hand, constant negative chatter and thoughts and can feed our anxiety making us feel even worse.
- Physically: long term exposure to stress can lead to serious health problems. It can cause heart attack, stroke, panic attacks, nausea and bowel problems, high blood pressure, sleeplessness, it can trigger asthma and can affect our appetite.
- Spiritually: can make us feel worthless, dejected and wondering how are we ever going to get out of this pit.
Causes:
Individual ability to deal with stress differs. How much a person can tolerate depends on many factors like; what is currently happening in a person’s life, their self-beliefs, support systems in place, past experience of stress and how one coped. Temperament and general disposition is also a factor.
