The commonly used psychological word across the globe is stress. Every humankind has faced stress all over their lives. In common understanding, stress is nothing but the condition of undesired emotion rising up in one’s own mind because of the socio-environmental circumstances clinging onto one’s life.
Stress is basically a physical and emotional tension that gropes up one’s mind during an undesirable situation. And at the present age, chronic stress is faced by a huge number of crowds. The stress response is your body’s way of reacting to an upcoming threat or demand which is required for one’s well being.
Stress basically is of two types namely, positive stress and negative stress.
Positive stress usually helps you work better while negative stress causes more damage. Stress can be helpful and harmful which totally depends on one individual. Stress can help you perform better (positive stress) while for some people stress can be the major obstacle that is stopping you from performing better (negative stress).
Extreme stress can turn harmful to one. Such stress can create unnecessary problems that might not be in the first place causing major troubles or damages. Stress can become a full-fledged villain in every part of your life, whether it is relationships, work, education, health, and so on. If you find yourself in a position where you are frequently worried or in distress or overwhelmed due to certain circumstances or even before facing any negative situation, it’s high time you choose to do something about it.
There are several major symptoms of chronic stress which you can always check. These symptoms can be visible through four areas of a person. They are as follows: cognitive, physical, behavioral, and emotional. Here we are listing down all the symptoms that fall under each domain of a person.
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SIGNS / SYMPTOMS :
- Irritability
- Moody
- Angry
- Poor judgement skills
- Restlessness
- Overwhelmed
- Anxious
- Inability to focus
- Inattentive
- Memory issues (forgetful about things)
- Isolating oneself
- Generally unhappy
- Fatigue
- Nausea
- Headache
- Body ache
- Physical pain
- Dizzy
- Chest pain
- Sleeping issues
- Eating disorders
- Worried all the time
- Emotionally sensitive
- Frequent flu
- Frequent colds
- Consuming alcohol and recreational drugs in an excessive manner.
- Loss of sex drive
- Focusing more on the negative thoughts
- Hopelessness
CAUSES:
There is an abundance of reasons to suffer from extreme chronic stress. And even though most of the stress is caused by environmental factors – not every case of chronic stress is born out of it. Some of them also arise from the internal conflict you have been dealing with, for a long time. Situations where you have immense pressure of something on you whether it be because of the major events taking place in your life or because of the minimalistic scenes of life. Chronic stress can rise from any given condition.
Here we are apparently listing down some common reasons for the cause of chronic stress. Even though, we don’t guarantee that – these are the only circumstances that can evoke stress to an extreme level. These are the common ones. Circumstances and factors vary from person to person. Stress can be caused by an external stimulus or internal stimulus and therefore we are incorporating both the factors here.
They are as follows :
- Work
- School
- College
- Major life events
- Major changes in life
- Relationship problems
- Financial problems
- Children
- Family issues
- Inability to accept ambiguity
- Pessimistic attitude
- Negative self talk
- Unrealistic hopes
- Unrealistic expectations
- Perfectionism
- Chronic illness in a family
- Death (family – friends – acquaintance)
- Losing job
- Retirement
- Ageing
- Divorce
As you can see, these are just a few common life events or situations that can cause chronic stress.
Let’s move forward to check how we can help ourselves from such critical stress issues. Because every initiative counts and you are the ones who can do magic for yourself.
SELF – HELP TECHNIQUES :
- HEALTHY DIET
Fill your tummy with the proper diet every day and you are always one step forward in keeping yourself stress-free. Having all the required food components makes the bodywork in a proper way.
- EXERCISE
Eating healthy is not enough. Exercising enough to keep yourself physically fit is also the key. Exercising is undoubtedly one of the best techniques to reduce stress.
- KNOWLEDGE
Read, understand, and know the factors and key elements of stress. Having immense knowledge in the issue you are dealing with keeps you less overthinking and makes you reliable enough to trust yourself to come out of such mental illness.
- RELAX
Relaxation is the key. If you are a workaholic, make sure you take quick breaks after each hour. This can help you a lot while dealing with stress issues. Make yourself the priority and you will see the changes anon.
- SLEEP
Never! Never compromise on sleep. Getting enough sleep is mandatory in one’s life. The whole process of energy-boosting lies in there.
- HOBBIES
Whenever you feel stressed, turn yourself to something you love to do. Engage yourself in hobbies you love, whether it be playing a musical instrument or singing or listening to music, sketching, doodling, writing, painting, and so on. Hobbies keep you alive.
Even though these are just the basic self-help techniques. The real treatment lies after consulting the doctor. Even after trying to fight chronic stress by yourself seems a failure, go ahead and meet the efficient doctors who are awaiting you. Never think that you are alone in this situation. You might not be sure but we definitely are sure that someday you will come out of it with all the vibrancy within you.
Stay healthy !