Stress is experienced almost everyday by everyone. People experience it in different ways and different strengths.
Stress is the situation or events that put pressure on us and our reaction to being placed under pressure.
But what has stress got to do with mental health?
Well there are 2 reasons. Stress can be caused by a mental health problem and vice versa, a mental health problem can be caused by stress.
For example, if you are constantly stressed at work because of the people around your or because of situations, you could experience anxiety or depression. On the flip side, if you suffer with anxiety, for example, you may struggle to do certain things which could begin to stress you out. Oh what a vicious cycle!
The physical side of stress
If you are stressed, you may not be able to sleep. It is so hard to sleep when you have so many things on your mind. I do want to do a blog on how to manage stress but I feel, one of the best things to do before you go to bed, write a list of the things that are on your mind or things you need to do. If it’s work related, there is nothing you can do until you get into work.
Stress can also activate the fight, flight or freeze response because stress causes high levels of the cortisol and adrenaline hormone.
I tend to feel that anxiety and stress are closely linked together.
With stress, you may feel, unable to enjoy yourself, over-burdened, anxious, nervous or neglected. With the above, you may find yourself snapping at people, unable to concentrate or avoid the situation that is stressing you out. Physically, this can make you tired all the time, give you headaches etc.
I quite often feel stressed because of work. I absolutely love my job and sometimes when my anxiety is a bit higher I can find myself feeling a lot more stressed. I sometimes strive in stressful situations. It makes me feel important, professional and that people rely on me – (sometimes a curse). But when I struggle, I tend not deal with it, which you can do in a business. I also get really snappy when I am trying to get something done within a time limit. So I have and am still learning how to deal with these types of situations. I write a to-do list every morning at work. If it gets half way through the day and I’m starting to feel stressed, I will rewrite the to do list. This list is generally for the things I need to do on that day. If I need to remember something for tomorrow, I will write it on tomorrow’s list so I can’t see it until then.
I have always been a “stressy” kind of person and this has definitely been amplified in the last couple of years.
There is a lot more I can say on the subject but my aim is to help understand the subject. If you would like more info you can check out the mind website or you can comment below and I will reply with the experience and little knowledge that I have.
mindfulvibe 