Stress is as much a part of our everyday life as is the food. Everybody has some problems, a challenge, a competition to win, an exam to pass, a business deal to strike, a deadline to meet, or a relationship to maintain; the

Stress can give keep you on your toes for delivering a lecture in office workshop, or to study till late hours for an exam rather than being part of a friend’s wedding. It is said that – ‘When the going gets tough, it is the tough who gets going’. If you are not mentally tough and prepared to handle the pressure, stress becomes a threat to you, both physically and emotionally.

In medical terms, stress is a psychological and physiological response to incidents and events that tend to make you upset in some way. We understand such events as negative since these derive you to negative thoughts, withdrawal from an engagement, appointment, social gathering or a relationship. However since

Irrespective of the reason or situation that makes you stressed, the fact is that stress is bad for your health. Moreover, every person has different reason and different mindset to the way one responds to stress. One situation that is very stressful for you may be very ordinary for your friend or colleague. It depends on certain factors – your personality, your attitude, the way you have been brought up, your philosophy of living life, and even your education.

Reasons of Stress

There are different reasons that cause stress.

Frustrations – Some people are stressed because they are frustrated for one or more reasons. The reason can be their workplace, a relationship, social issues or one’s moral and philosophical response to society.

Conflicts – Some people do not have the decision making ability and are always caught in two situations. They have to make a choice from two equally appealing options and they feel stressed. For example, a working mother may be stressed out because she is not able to give proper time to her baby and at the same time, she feels that her job is also important.

Pressure – Some people are stressed out from pressures from colleagues, family members or from society.

Levels of Stress

There are many levels of stress that you experience. Acute stress is the most common and familiar form of stress. This may happen in situations such as when you suddenly apply brakes to prevent a collision, or just before a parachute jump. The common factors that may cause acute stress include noise (gathering), isolation (escalators), or crowding (theatre). Generally, your body rests during acute stress while your mind is busy. However, this remains only for short time and doesn’t cause any severe damage to the body.

If your life is chaotic, and you are cribbing for one thing or the other, you might be facing multiple stressful situations. If you are either always late, or always demanding something, you are experiencing episodic acute stress. Such people do not admit of being stressed and are not willing to make changes in their life style or in their mindset, and blame the situations on others.

Chronic stress may drill you down over a period of time, day after day and year after year. It leads you deteriorate physically as well as mentally, leading to a highly unbalanced life. Common causes of chronic stress are financial tension, unemployment, a dysfunctional family relationship, wrong career choices, or harassment. People who suffer from chronic stress are used to this kind of life style, and usually very difficult to treat.

The most life threatening form of stress – the traumatic stress is the one that can result froma catastrophic event or some unnatural experience. These may include a natural disaster, death of a near one in family, sexual assault, or a handicap from a life-threatening accident, and similar incidents. Though, patients begin to recover gradually after the initial emotional fallout. However, for some people, the psychological and physical symptoms that are caused by the tragedy don't fade away easily. In such cases, the body doesn’t get back to normal and the condition is known as post-traumatic stress disorder. The tragedy may continue to haunt the patient in the form of nightmares or flashbacks making the situation worse.