Coping With Unhealthy Stress

Everyone has stress in their lives. Stress is a natural part of life. You feel stress when you're overworked or eat too much. Emotional stress happens when you get sick, or worry about a loved one or money or have an unpleasant event, such as a death in the family. A lot of things cause stress; natural disasters, personal problems, relationship problems, problems at work, having a policeman stop your car.

While stress is usually adverse or unpleasant, short term stress can be healthy. It helps us perform better, gives us extra energy and helps us complete things on a deadline. Anyone who has done any public speaking or attended a job interview has had a case of the butterflies. Healthy usually stress goes away after the event is over. Stress may be caused by internal or external factors.

Left unrecognized and untreated, stress can make you sick and age you. It’s essential to find out what’s causing and learn how to deal with unwanted stress. The stress goes away soon after the event is over. Unhealthy stress, on the other hand, is continuous and can cause a lot of problems. It can contribute to everything from dry mouth, depression and feelings of tiredness, irritability, disturbed sleep, weight gain or loss and even hair loss. Stress can cause anxiety, depression, hypertension, addiction and a lot of other stress related illness. People suffering from stress can have difficulty concentrating, may be easily irritated and sometimes focus on negative thoughts, avoid interacting with other people and may have a decrease in sex drive.

Stress may be caused by internal or external factors. If you experience several of these symptoms at the same time, you’re may be suffering from a great deal of stress. Stress has the potential to harm your health and emotional well-being. You should consult with your family doctor if you think you may be dealing with stress that is out of your control. The point of dealing with stress is to be pro-active. If you do nothing to reduce or relieve the stress your health may be negatively affected. Left nrecognized and treated, stress can make you sick and age you. It’s essential to ask what’s causing and how to reduce the unwanted stress.

Dealing or coping with stress varies from person to person. Some stress can be a good thing, but sometimes it becomes necessary to find a way to master stress that is causing you to suffer. Sometimes a person has to stop trying to do everything and must learn to just say no.

Stress can be dealt with using medicine, hypnosis, exercise or self-destructive ways such as alcohol or drugs. Meditation Exercise is the most simple, readily available and easiest way to beat stress. In addition to dealing with stress, exercise is a way to loose weight and improve your mental and physical health. Another way to cope is to take an hour every day and engage in some activity that takes your mind off the cause of the stress. Work at a favorite hobby, or get a part-time job as a janitor in a department store (like I did) and sweep floors for several hours at night.

There is a lot of help for people who want to change the stress levels in their life. If you’re dealing with a lot of stress, see your doctor. Find a good listener to talk about things that’s causing you stress. The point is to do something that relieves the stress without resorting to a self-destructive activity.

There’s a lot of good information from the American Heart Association that can help guide you in dealing with unhealthy stress levels. The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency to help reduce disability and death from cardiovascular diseases and stroke.

The point is to do something that will relieve the stress without resorting to a self-destructive activity. Find something that will work to reduce your stress level, work at it and above all, don't give up.