Beware of stress! Where does it come from and how to deal with it?

What is stress and where does it come from?

We are accustomed to perceiving stress as something negative, but in fact it is simply a reaction of the body, a response to overstrain, strong emotions, both positive and with a negative connotation. In this condition, the hormone adrenaline is actively produced, forcing a person to think about the situation and look for a way out of it. Causes of stress can be :

• conflicts with colleagues, relatives, friends;
• dissatisfaction with yourself, your achievements or appearance;
• constant lack of money, debts;
• routine lifestyle without vacation, proper rest;
• illness or death of a loved one;
• job loss;
• loneliness.

Recently, stressful conditions have often developed against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. This is caused by a constant fear of getting sick, a strong concern for loved ones, and the inability to maintain the usual way of life.

Severe depression and suicide

Severe depression is dangerous because the patient completely loses the instinct of self-preservation. A persistent feeling of melancholy, as well as constant pain tormenting his soul, makes him think about suicide. An overwhelming feeling of guilt, a feeling that he deserves punishment, a desire to free his loved ones, often push a person to commit suicide. According to statistics, 15% of people with mental disorders of unknown etymology become victims of suicide.

At the onset of the disease, the person is so weak, exhausted by severe depression, that he is unable to take any steps to take his own life. But as soon as this condition goes away, the patient may attempt to commit suicide. He will think through the suicide plan in detail, develop it, and try to create a deceptive impression that he has gotten better, without leaving the thought of committing suicide.

The most common cases of suicide are among lonely people with a history of somatic illnesses and people with a history of suicide in their family.

What should a person do if he has all the signs of severe depression? There is only one answer to this question: seek help immediately. If depression is not treated, it will become chronic, and this is fraught with very dangerous consequences.

How does stress develop?

But when stress occurs too often or exceeds the body’s capabilities, it begins to weaken and lose strength.
It can even lead to serious illness. three phases in the development of stress :

• mobilization of the body's defenses and resources to combat the stress factor. At this stage, hormones are released that give a boost of energy;
• confrontation - searching for a way out of the situation. The body tries to return to normal functioning due to hormonal changes;
• exhaustion – with prolonged exposure to traumatic circumstances, the body loses the ability to resist, adapt and becomes vulnerable to all kinds of diseases.

The severity of each stage depends on the individual characteristics of the person, his state of health, type of temperament, character.

How to protect yourself from stress?

Do we know what stress is?

Stress
is a human condition that occurs as a reaction to any events that are difficult or impossible for a person to cope with.
Psychologists differentiate stress by power. Great stress occurs in response to situations that threaten life and its way of life. The causes of great stress can be personal events: death, serious illness of a loved one, divorce, financial losses.

Low stress can be caused by situations that a person cannot solve on his own. They should not be underestimated, because if a person experiences such stress for a long time, then the harm to his health can be comparable to the effects of severe stress.

How is stress tolerated and why is it dangerous?

How serious stress and its consequences for human health will be depends on the intensity, duration of stress and on the psychological and genetic characteristics of the person. Not all people who experience stress suffer from it in the same way.

Stress of great intensity or long-term chronic stress can contribute to the development and progression of physical and mental diseases.

Stress usually contributes to the “failure” of the most weakened systems of the body.

How to protect yourself from stress?

In modern society, escaping stress is a difficult task, but not hopeless. Stress can be overcome. Relaxation classes, yoga and regular rest, preferably in nature, can help with this.

10 tips for those who want to learn how to overcome stress on their own:

• Try to slow down the pace of your life. Plan your day in advance; alternate work and rest.

• Get enough sleep! On average, an adult needs 7–8 hours of sleep per day.

• Don't eat on the go: breakfast, lunch and dinner should be a time of rest.

• Don't try to relieve stress with tobacco or alcohol. The problems will not go away, but your health will suffer.

• Physical activity, especially related to water, will help relieve emotional stress: go swimming or water aerobics.

• Set aside some time every day for relaxation: sit in a comfortable chair, turn on some pleasant music, close your eyes and imagine that you are sitting on the seashore.

• Try to distract yourself: go to concerts, walks, read.

• Focus on the positive: The circumstances in your life are often better than you think when you're upset.

• Watch your mood as well as your appearance, treat your irritability and temper as a source of illness.

Facts about stress:

• According to insurance companies, a third of workers have at least once thought about quitting solely due to work-related stress.

• Stress is the fifth most important factor predisposing to diabetes.

• The higher the level of stress in society, the more often and more people buy and eat chocolate.

• Alcohol and tobacco do not relieve stress, but only increase it.

• Dark chocolate, nuts, bananas and ginger improve your mood and help fight stress.

• Mild stress −

a natural part of human life.
The best way to prevent the effects of stress is
a healthy lifestyle!

Illness and character.

By the way

, the disease, according to many doctors, directly depends on the character and lifestyle.

• People who constantly reproach themselves for choosing the wrong path, for not realizing themselves as individuals, suffer from leg diseases.
• Eye problems occur in those who are always dissatisfied with themselves and the world around them and are constantly worried about the future.
• Citizens with low self-esteem have problems with the lungs and respiratory system.
• Gastritis is
  the lot of people who are restless, unsure of themselves, those who worry, get nervous and lose sleep over all sorts of nonsense.
• Convulsions are
  also an ailment of fearful people who constantly live in tension and fear of the future.
• People who are angry, aggressive, and quick-tempered suffer from bronchial asthma. No wonder people say: “I found it difficult to breathe from anger.”
• Citizens are aggressive, intensely worried about failures, and prone to heart and vascular diseases. Anger and irritation play a major role in the occurrence of heart disease.
• Peptic ulcers of the stomach and duodenum are several times more likely to affect people who are emotional, irritable, and who react sharply even to minor troubles. Experienced specialists identify ulcer sufferers by their behavior, or more precisely, by increased nervousness.
• Those who do not know how to forgive insults, evil people, suffer from diseases of the liver and biliary tract. It’s not for nothing that the expression “bilious person” exists.
• Hot-tempered, persistent, stubborn and excitable people suffer from hypertension. Doctors even have the term “hypertensive.” They define him as a person who is hot-tempered, stubborn, and loves to teach everyone.
• People who are intolerant of other people's opinions and mistakes suffer from frequent migraines. In addition, they are touchy, anxious about any reason and easily fall into depression.
• Talkative, excitable people whose mood changes every half hour suffer from diabetes.

How to become an optimist?

So how can you become an optimist in order to forget about insidious ailments once and for all? Is this possible if you are still a pessimist by nature? Certainly!

• Remember more often the people who loved and love you, and conduct a mental dialogue with them, and not with the offenders.
• If you remember something bad, immediately stop the internal monologue, switch your attention, for example, turn on the TV or music.
• Clearly realize that you have the power to take control of painful thoughts: you created them yourself, which means you can get rid of them yourself.

If you need help,
please contact us!
Qualified specialists work at the State Budgetary Institution "MOPND": psychiatrists, psychologists, social specialists. work, they will help you and your family:

Our address: Murmansk,

st. Sverdlova, 2/4

phone: 202-402

Symptoms and signs of stress

There are a number of symptoms that
appear in most people who find themselves in a state of stress. Physiologically this manifests itself in:

• a sharp drop or, conversely, an increase in pressure;
• attacks of chills or fever;
• increased sweating;
• dizziness;
• digestive disorders;
• significant weight gain or loss;
• muscle hypertonicity and tremor (shaking).

Headaches, pain in the stomach and back often occur, and rashes similar to allergic ones may appear. Stress is accompanied by loss of sleep and appetite .

Relieving stress: advice from a psychologist

In order to relieve stress, you need to be able to recognize, accept and deal with its causes:

• Try to react less to minor irritants.
• Look at the problem as a challenge, a way to become better, more experienced.
• Accept the things you cannot control.
• Surround yourself with people with a positive attitude who look at the glass and claim it is half full.
• Breathe more in the fresh air, do yoga, read a motivational book.
• Go in for sports, then you will not have time for bad thoughts, plus improve your memory and health.
• Get enough sleep, listen to rhythmic music and spend time with loved ones.
• Give yourself a hobby.

How does stress affect the body?

Severe or prolonged stress may well cause the development of diseases.
In this case, the most weakened systems of the body suffer, so the consequences vary from person to person. Against the background of a stressful state, the following may develop :

• bronchial asthma due to constant tension of the muscles involved in the respiratory system;
• hypertension, heart and vascular diseases due to constantly high blood pressure and rapid heartbeat;
• peptic ulcer;
• neurotic and depressive disorders;
• damage to the gastric mucosa due to increased production of gastric juice;
• diabetes – due to the liver releasing an additional portion of glucose and increasing its concentration in the blood;
• gynecological problems up to infertility.

It is impossible to predict exactly what problems stress will provoke. Moreover, they can appear individually or in groups, or all at once, in a complex.

Amenorrhea, uterine bleeding, candidiasis

— What gynecological problems can be caused by experiencing acute stress and after what period will this manifest itself?

— The first alarm bell is usually menstrual irregularities , which can be observed immediately after stress.

• cycle prolongation : delay of menstruation for 10 or more days;
• shortening of the cycle : the onset of menstruation 10 or more days earlier than usual (the normal duration of the menstrual cycle is 24-38 days; inter-cycle differences in cycle duration can normally be up to 10 days);
• complete cessation of menstruation: functional hypothalamic amenorrhea (this problem was previously called “wartime amenorrhea”);
• heavy uterine bleeding (not only during menstruation): disruption of the hormonal regulation of the menstrual cycle can lead to anovulation (when the egg does not “come out” of the follicle in the ovary), the endometrium (inner mucous lining of the uterus) in this situation grows excessively, which leads to heavy bleeding. This is a serious problem that should never be ignored: sometimes the bleeding can be so massive that surgery and blood transfusions are required.

The second common pathology is a violation of the vaginal biocenosis.

Candida colpitis is an inflammation of the vaginal mucosa, which is caused by microscopic yeast-like fungi of the genus Candida.

Scientific articles in the journal of the American Society of Microbiology, Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, confirm that psychological stress, especially chronic stress, suppresses the body's immune defenses and contributes to the overgrowth of Candida fungi.

Acute stress, especially with sleep disturbances and changes in diet, can trigger manifestations of candidiasis.

How to avoid stress?

The effect of serious stress on the body is clearly negative. But doctors and psychologists have perfectly studied the mechanism of development of such conditions and have found many ways to prevent and combat them. The most interesting thing is that there is nothing complicated about preventive measures. For example, the following help prevent stress :

• morning exercises, regular sports training, especially those related to water (swimming, water aerobics);
• regular rest, preferably in nature;
• reasonable planning of the working day - alternating periods of intense work and proper rest;
• healthy sleep - at least 7-8 hours a day, not once a week, but every day;
• complete nutrition.

As you can see, these are typical tips for those who want to lead a healthy lifestyle
. Hence the conclusion: it is he who is the most terrible enemy of stress.

Fibroids, menopause, decreased libido

— Can severe stress contribute to faster growth of existing fibroids?

— Uterine fibroids are a benign tumor consisting of smooth muscle tissue, which often becomes the reason for removal of the organ. In 2021, Chinese scientists published the results of an experimental study that proved that stress can actually accelerate the growth of uterine fibroid cells and lead to a rapid increase in tumor size. According to the journal Stress Health (2019), chronic psychological stress increases the risk of developing uterine fibroids by 24%.

— Is it possible to have a decrease in sexual desire?

— Certainly. And it is a decrease in libido that often becomes one of the first signs of the negative impact of stress on mental and physical health.

Stress can interfere with many aspects of sexual life: sexual desire, the ability to become aroused, and achieving orgasm.

Any intense experiences (fear, severe anxiety, anger) become dominant. When we don’t feel safe, the reproductive instinct fades into the background, because an absolutely normal behavioral adaptation to stress is the activation of defense: we need to look for a safe place or fight.

Problems caused by stress: nightmares, intrusive traumatic memories, insomnia - aggravate the situation, leading to emotional exhaustion.

Menstrual irregularities directly affect libido and the ability to achieve orgasm, since these processes are largely controlled by sex hormones.

— Can psycho-emotional shock lead to early menopause? And is it reversible?

— Unfortunately, such a situation is possible. A large experimental study was published in the International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine showing that stress-induced changes in neuroendocrine and immune responses lead to disruption of the complex mechanisms of regulation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis, which leads to premature ovarian failure - menopause.

It is important to remember: menstruation can stop after stressful experiences as a result of functional hypothalamic amenorrhea: in this case, most often, everything is in order with the ovarian reserve, and menstrual and reproductive function can be restored if you consult a gynecologist in a timely manner. The longer the problem is left unsolved, the less chance there is of restoring reproductive health.

— How does stress affect the ability to get pregnant?

— If the menstrual cycle is disrupted as a result of stress, pregnancy will not occur. Fortunately, such problems are usually treatable. It is important to know that infertility can be closely related to a woman's psychological state, especially if she has been a victim or witness of violence. Such cases require special attention and work with a psychologist or psychotherapist.

Secondary disorders (growth of uterine fibroids, endometrial hyperplasia) and decreased libido also have a pronounced negative impact on fertility. According to scientific data, stress experienced during pregnancy increases the risk of spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) by 42%, and the risk of premature birth by 2 times.

How to help yourself?

But if you constantly worry about one thing or another, neither 8 hours of sleep nor proper nutrition will help protect you from stress.
This means you need to pay attention to your mental health. First, you need to determine exactly what exactly worries and excites you, i.e. find the cause of stress. Having identified the source of the problem for yourself, look for ways to distract yourself, switch to pleasant activities, for example, meeting with friends, reading, going to the theater or concert. It also happens that the source of stress is part of your life, and there is no way to change it. But even in such a situation, no one bothers you to change your own attitude towards circumstances. It wouldn’t hurt to analyze your experiences, but do it as if from the outside. It is quite possible that it will turn out that the events that took place are not at all worth such strong emotions. Try to focus on the positive

,
because when we are upset, life situations seem much worse than they really are.

Features of female stress

The experience of stress by men and women is radically different.

It is psychologically easier for a woman to allow herself to be weak. When an unpleasant situation arises, it is much easier for a woman to seek help, admit her failure, defenselessness, incompetence, and ultimately cry.

But it is more difficult for a woman to allow herself strong feelings - to get angry, to fight back, to say a firm “no” where her boundaries are violated.

The male reaction to severe nervous stress is rather the opposite. This is isolation, withdrawal into internal experiences, switching to other types of activities.

Analyzing the external manifestations of stress reactions (crying, screaming, active gestures, etc.) it may seem that women are more susceptible to stress. However, it is not. It is thanks to bright reactions that it is somewhat easier for a woman to endure difficult situations.

In psychotherapeutic work, the appearance of an emotional response to a problem is considered a positive sign.

It is thanks to the competent experience of negative emotions, which many women intuitively possess, that the possibility of complete healing arises.

Of course, for this you need to understand yourself, your nature, in which feelings and the body play an important role, but not as familiar as our mind.

And our “cultivated” emotions, with which we can be in contact, do not interfere at all, as we used to think, but help to cope with stress.

You can read more about this in my book “How to allow yourself strong experiences, emotions and feelings without destroying yourself and others.”

If all else fails

But what to do if you signed up for fitness, walk the dog for a long time every evening, go to bed no later than 23.00 and are seriously interested in knitting, but you still can’t cope with stress? First of all, don’t despair
and don’t get depressed.
If you don't know how to change a faucet, you call a plumber, right? It’s the same with stress: if you couldn’t resolve the issue on your own, contact a psychotherapy specialist .
psychotherapeutic techniques are used to combat stress ,

so you will have the opportunity to choose what suits you:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy – psychological training that allows you to identify negative thoughts, analyze them, change your behavior pattern, attitude towards a specific situation;
• art therapy – the so-called “art treatment”, which allows you to throw out emotions and understand yourself;
• auto-training – training in methods of controlling breathing and muscle tone, changing internal attitudes.

There are a lot of such methods; an experienced specialist will definitely help you choose the most suitable and effective option.

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