One of our members is at present suffering from an enormous amount of stress.
But what is stress,exactly?
It is Adrenaline! A hormone secreted by the body in response to a threat, a worry, an anxiety, a problem. It increases the heart rate,pulse rate,blood pressure. Body-builders use it all the time!
As they start a "work out" there is a great increase in Adrenaline.It makes the muscles stronger, and bigger! But, after a strenuous work-out in the Gym, the Adrenaline disappears, the body gets rid of it.
The thing to remember about Adrenaline is that we are animals.We are NOT descended from apes! We ARE apes! And, as we are animals, we are "programmed" to produce Adrenaline when faced with any sort of threat. It is a very powerful hormone; and it gives us two choices of action.To stand and fight, or to run away!
Some people will get rid of the Adrenaline by "lashing out", hitting somebody or something. Some will smash crockery,furniture! Some will "run away".
But we, as humans, are now "civilised"; and very often we have no choice! We cannot fight the problem, and we cannot flee! So the Adrenaline builds up in the body; and it stays there! Causing high blood pressure, high anxiety, panic attacks; and many other "ailments" of the body.
And that inability to either fight or flee is what we call stress.It is a serious, and very common, ailment.
It is Adrenaline. And that, dear members, is exactly what stress is.
And the only medical treatment for it are tranquillisers. And they do "ease" stress; but they do not "cure" it!
It is the hazard we face because we are "civilised".
Of course, most of our members will know and understand all I have written above. But many young members will not! It is these youngsters that I am addressing.
Nice thread describing the natural condition commonly called "fight or flight response" that is responsible for anxiety and panic attacks. They can cause everything from tingly hands, shaky legs, slight fever, and restlessness. There is a lot going on. The increase of circulation concentrating on the organs and important muscles. Breathing rate and blood pressure also increases and due to that, people can hyperventilate. This causes shortness of breath.
The most important thing to do is relax your muscles, distract yourself and breathe slowly and steadily. Some hold their breath unconsciously, bunch their shoulders, clench their jaw, and squeeze their fists! This is bad! Get rid of all of that. Be mindful of your body. Verbal and sung mantras are perfect to regulate your breathing if you do not like the idea of counting during your exhales and inhales. Taking a walk, talking on the telephone, listening to relaxing music, or playing a single player puzzle game like crosswords, suduko, bejeweled, solitaire, etc. are all great choices. Anything "recreational" that you consider relaxing that requires mild concentration without frustration is good.
If you have time, I suggest hypnotherapy audio recordings that take you through visualization techniques for meditation and sleep. YouTube has a few really good ones. They're great for winding down at night so you sleep more peacefully and wake up more restful. Lack of sleep just worsens stress!
Nice post, very informative. People do feel and deal with stress in different ways. I'm usually a calm person, and I do a lot of things that people recommend to combat stress [meditation, yoga, walks] I feel stress differently than most. Sometimes is a bunch of things pile up at once I do snap, but the majority of the time I don't feel hungry. It's not as bad now, but in school around finals my stress level was high and without realizing I would go days without eating. Once the stress was gone the hunger would hit me. So I suggest getting into a daily destressing routine, but also try noticing subtle changes in your body, sleep/eating patters, and other routines because everyone deals and feels stress in different ways. There are the common ones, but you might react differently and not realize you're stressed, internally though, you're running yourself down.
Thank you for this post, Brysing! Everyone has stress in their life to some degree. It could be good stress or bad. Depending on their experience and the way their mind works it can be quite difficult to get rid of stress.
A facinating post as you said stress is a chemical reaction within the body and also it was mention this reaction can cause many health issues both physcially and mentally. I think many suggestions have been made on how to flush the "stress" from your system however they are all passive. I wanted to share this as I hope I am not the only one that when really stressed it triggers an angry response and simple mediation and calming exercises are not enough. I work with law inforcment it's a high tension job and stress is prevelent so to combat this stress/anger I do kick boxing and go to the gym. Being able to get on the treadmill and run out the adrenline or to strap on a pair of gloves and get in the ring to work out the stress is always a plesure it satifies my desire to "fight back" agasint my stressors and it also lets me use the pent up adreniline in a safe and healthy way while working out. Afterwards I always feel drained but clean.
Which is exactly what I said about getting rid of the Adrenaline causing stress. Kick boxing,gym workout; or smashing plates!But there are some that cannot do any of that.So they "withdraw from life", become depressed, and very seriously ill!
