What is stress?

So just what is stress? A mom's perspective.

When I was young, I always heard my mom say, "I am so stressed".

I thought that she was just exaggerating. I mean, how can anyone be stressed like that on a daily basis? I never really stopped to think "what is stress?"

I even thought at that point that it was just an expression of hers, a way of avoiding dealing with issues. Maybe it was just a habit for her to answer my dad with "I am so stressed" to avoid any more conflict about the family budget, daily chores or whatever they were arguing about.

Then I became a mom myself and started managing the household while taking care of my toddlers, all while working to earn the money that made ends meet. I realized that my mom was not exaggerating when she said, "I am so stressed".

The irony of it is, I find myself uttering the exact same words, in the exact same manner as my mom did.

stressed We often stumble upon the word stress and read or hear about ways of overcoming stress, on talk shows, magazines and even the internet. Some of the talk shows devote entire episodes to stress, what is stress, overcoming stress. I have even seen a few shows that are entirely dedicated to a single topic such as managing stress or ways of dealing with stress.

It seems that the word "stress" has become a marketable commodity. I guess this only goes to show that many are suffering from stress, that it is not just an expression or excuse that we use on a particularly tiring or busy day.

Come to think of it, what is stress? I mean, what do we really know about stress and its effects on our minds and bodies?

According to Wikipedia, stress is a biological term for the consequences of the failure of a human or animal to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats to the organism, whether actual or imagined.

Yes, even animals have a tendency to be stressed as well, not just us wonder-moms!

The definition in Wikipedia is itself stressful to understand so let's try to put it in simpler terms.

What is stress? - A simpler definition

When you feel threatened or if you feel that there is an upset in your balance in some way, your body will have a normal physical response to such events and that reaction is most commonly called stress.

The danger that you sense does not have to be real. It can be imagined, and some may call that paranoia. When this happens, our body will automatically protect itself and kick into a high gear, rapid response known as the "fight or flight" reaction. This reaction is termed by experts the stress response.

The common symptoms of stress include:

irritability
muscular tension
inability to concentrate
interrupted sleep
headaches
elevated heart rate

as well as other variety of physical reactions.

So if you are irritable and cannot concentrate, it does not mean that it's time for your monthly period again. It could be that you are stressed out and need to find ways of relieving stress. You can pamper yourself but sometimes that just treats the symptoms without addressing the underlying causes of the stress.

Long-term exposure to stress can have a significant effect on our health and can cause both emotional and physical health-related problems.

My methods for overcoming stress

Now, every time I say I am stressed, I know that it is not an excuse but that I truly am being impacted by the circumstances of life around me.

Even though I sometimes use it as an excuse to treat myself to a spa, I am careful to track down the cause and deal with it so that it doesn't keep coming back to bother me, or if is does come back, I am equipped with the tools to recognise it and deal with it before it gets out of control.

So, if a spa is out of the question, or this is the sort of stress that I am not familiar with, I have come up with a few different ways that have helped me and others to identify and manage stress. I have put them on a few different pages: