In the modern world, a person often faces situations that make him worry, nervous, angry or feel powerless. Against the background of the prolonged action of such emotions, stress often appears, which can not only negatively affect the emotional background, but also cause serious harm to health. Most goes to the heart and nervous system. To understand how to protect your health, you need to have an idea of the types, causes of stress and how to resist it.
What is stress?
Translated from English, "stress" means "stress, pressure, pressure." The first hypothesis about its existence was expressed by the physiologist G. Selye. Thanks to his research, he was able to prove that the cause of the symptoms of many diseases does not lie in the diseases themselves.
Any external impact on the human body causes its reaction. Stress acts on the same principle. It makes itself felt with nervous exhaustion, amid fatigue, or with strong emotional experiences. Everyone is subject to it. However, it cannot be argued that this condition is completely negative. Stress "in small doses" is able to encourage a person to make decisions and actions. Constant stress, on the contrary, depletes it and makes it incapable of taking control of the situation, in addition, the forces of the nervous system are running out, and this entails a lot of unpleasant consequences. Stressed people become lethargic, lethargic, sometimes rude, and their ability to absorb new information becomes dull.
Stages of stress
We will dwell on the types of this reaction of the body a little later, but for now we’ll talk about the mechanism of its development.
The state of stress in a person develops gradually. The process can take from several days to several years.
G. Selye outlined three stages of stress :
- Anxiety immediately after the appearance of external stimuli. Excitement leads to the activation of the body's defenses. Feelings work at full strength, but it does not last long.
- A manifestation of the reaction of resistance dividing people into two types. The former come to grips with the situation and try to solve the problem, while the latter try to adapt and do everything possible so that new external factors become commonplace.
- The manifestation of the reaction to victory or loss occurs individually. If a person is not able to withstand difficulties and could not adapt to them, his health deteriorates.
Varieties of stress
With the development of psychology, G. Selye somewhat expanded the concept of stress. Types of stress and their features - all, as many as they are - are difficult to list, but you can classify by certain parameters.
According to the effects on the human body, they distinguish:
1. Distress
This species manifests itself spontaneously and fatally affects the nervous system. Its cause is a constant overstrain, which subsequently results in serious emotional problems and leads to poor physical health. The nature of the occurrence depends on the circumstances.
2. Eustress
This type is characterized by a small effect on the nervous system. It promotes the activation of logical thinking and therefore is more positive. A person under his influence clearly sees the surrounding picture of the world and is able to make clear, balanced decisions. His body and brain go into a state of alert due to the release of adrenaline, which is absolutely normal and happens to people every day.
Considering the types of stress in psychology, one should turn to other classifications.
Positive and negative
Bad and good events happen in everyone’s life. Positive stress (for example, a big win in the lottery or a suddenly appeared elderly rich relative) leads to a positive attitude and has a beneficial effect on the body, immunity and even appearance.
At the same time, negative stress (for example, experiencing the death of a close relative or breaking up a relationship) can permanently unsettle and undermine health.
It is important to note that in both cases there is a strong influence on the cardiovascular system, whether it is the millionth lottery gain or the death of a dear person. The body experiences severe stress from both bad and good news.
By exposure time
According to this classification, there are two types of stress: long-term or short-term.
People experience an acute, or short-term, form every day. Any events of the outside world are reflected in the mental state. Such stress goes through all stages of development in a short period of time. The most severe manifestation is shock.
The big problem with this stress is that there are memories of it.
Long-term stress can occur without an acute stage. If a person is constantly exposed to emotional stress and is even used to it, sooner or later this will lead to neurosis and a nervous breakdown. To some extent, it depends on the level of psychological resistance.
Physiological and psychological stress
The most understandable and simple are physiological stresses:
- mechanical - bodily and internal organs injuries, operations, pain shock;
- physical - heat, cold, a sharp change in position in space, weightlessness;
- biological - diseases, toxins, the presence of fungi, bacteria in the body;
- chemical - chemical poisoning, excess carbon dioxide, lack of oxygen and so on.
Psychological stress is a kind of reaction of the body to the characteristics of the interaction of the individual with the outside world. This is a more complex condition requiring analysis of the significance of a given situation.
The following types of psychological stress are distinguished:
- Emotional - appears due to the feelings inherent in each person. The strongest emotion is fear, followed by anger, resentment, powerlessness.
- Informational - appears as a result of an excess of news or because of worries about one's duties and promises. Often its cause is the fear that some kind of personal secret of a person will be revealed.
There are other types of stress.
Financial
Money plays a huge role in the life of each of us. They buy food, necessary things and household items, they pay bills, entertainment and much more. Getting into a situation where expenses exceed incomes, people begin to experience stress. Unexpected expenses, a decrease in wages, and the inability to take a loan can also lead to it.
Intrapersonal
Such stress appears due to the disharmony of a person with himself. Unfulfilled dreams and hopes, unfulfilled needs lead to it. Internal grievances and experiences begin to manifest irritability, so stress develops.
Public
It is practically impossible to avoid this type of stress, since each individual lives in society, which means that he is faced with the problems of this society. Among the main reasons for its appearance can be identified economic, political and others.
Ecological
Health is directly dependent on the environment. Noise, environmental pollution, the effects of chemistry adversely affect the body. All these reasons, as well as the expectation of adverse effects lead to environmental stress.
Working
The desire to build a career in conjunction with a long absence of a positive result or just a high load causes chronic fatigue and negative emotions. Often such stress arises as a result of an unfair assessment of labor, poor safety at work, or due to role uncertainty.
Based on the previous classification, the following types of occupational stress can be distinguished:
- informational - appears as a result of an overload of information when, within the framework of a rigidly set time limit, a person cannot make an important decision;
- emotional - occurs due to conflicts with colleagues and management;
- communicative - expressed in the problem of communicating with the team, inability to refuse where necessary, and inability to protect oneself from attacks.
The main causes of stress
Common causes of various types of stress include:
- extraordinary circumstances, man-made, natural and social situations;
- economic and political situation in the country;
- diseases
- living conditions;
- cognitive dissonance and psychological defense mechanisms;
- interaction with people;
- human position in society;
- personality traits of a person:
- adversity in life (divorce, loss, debts, change of circumstances that cannot be influenced);
- difficulties at work (level of remuneration, disagreements with colleagues, etc.), the occurrence of which impedes normal labor productivity.
Instead of an afterword
Despite the fact that most of the main types of stress accompany us all our lives, we must learn to resist them. Depression and psychological distress depress physical and mental health. If you know the ways of stress and its principles, you can independently develop tactics of struggle. But do not forget that stress can be useful, contributing to mental activity and training stress resistance.