Category: Stress

Categories
Brain Health Tips Stress

Effects of Stress on the Brain and Behavior

Effects of stress

Causes, Effects & Remedy of Stress on Brain & Behavior

Stress is the psychological perception of tension or external pressure and our body’s response to these undesired conditions. It can be both physical and mental and under stress, people face several symptoms like headache, appetite disorders, sleeping problems, depression, weakness, lack of concentration, irritability, body aches, and several others.

Stress effects on brain

Major causes of stress

Several factors from work pressure to the loss of a loved one and several other reasons can lead to stress. Here are few major causes of stress

  • Health problems
  • Relationship problems
  • Job insecurity
  • Heavy workload or targets
  • Physical abuse or trauma
  • Accidents and injuries
  • Death of loved one
  • Family problems and arguments with family members
  • Financial problems
  • Moving to new places or neighborhood problems
  • Getting stuck in traffic
  • Pollution and loud noises
  • Physical threat or danger
    Causes of stress differ for each individual based on their age and gender i.e. the causes differ for children, teenagers, elders, women, and men.

How do the body and brain respond during increased stress levels?

When our body comes in contact with stress, to cope up with it our brain sends a signal to our adrenal glands through the spinal cord to release stress hormones. These stress hormones protect our work to improve our body’s fight response. In this process, every system in our body like the central nervous and endocrine system, respiratory and cardiovascular system, digestive system, muscular system, and immune system gets alerted and protects us. Our central nervous system helps to release stress hormones whereas our respiratory and cardiovascular system raises your breath and supplies more oxygen to your body and muscle to give you more strength. Our liver produces extra glucose under stress to give our body more energy and our immune system also gets stimulated and protects our body from sudden changes. All these systems relax and return to normal after controlling stress. A certain amount of stress actually helps us to keep our body motivated and to deal with unexpected pressures, whereas excess or increased chronic stress can harm our body. When we experience increased chronic stress, our body works continuously without resting and relaxing and this declines our body’s functioning and affects our health. It leads to health complications like headaches, heart attacks, stroke, digestion problems, insomnia, and so on. Excess chronic stress also damages brain structure, cells in your brain and leads to premature brain aging. To avoid the severe effects of stress on the brain and body, it is very important to control your stress.

How to avoid stress?

How to manage stress in life is the basic question which arrives in many people mind. There are several ways to manage stress, one can easily manage stress by making a few lifestyle and other changes. Here is the stress management techniques list through which you can control and avoid stress.

  • Consuming healthy diet
  • Exercise regularly
  • Practicing several relaxation techniques like meditation and breathing exercises.
  • Getting adequate quality sleep
  • Know your stress triggers and control them
  • Make some time and spend with family and friends and also share your worries
  • Do your favorite things and hobbies
  • Accept the fact that you can do everything and seek some help
  • Do not hesitate to consult professionals if you can’t manage stress
Categories
Health Tips Stress

How to be Stress Free to Enjoy Healthy Life

Stress is a physical pressure or mental tension or worry caused by several problems. One feels tensed or nervous under stress. Stress is the feeling of pressure and body’s response to it. Stress is a threat or problem, if anything happens instantly people feels stressed. Sudden, good or bad experiences may cause stress and lead to many personal, financial, social, physical and emotional problems like anxiety, depression, headache, hypertension and so on. Stress effects body, mind, behaviour and thinking. Becoming moody, low self esteem, frustration, depression, nausea, upset stomach, body pains, increased heart beat, sweating, insomnia and nervousness are some common signs and symptoms of stress. Stress in employees leads to lack of concentration, reduced productivity, difficulty in making decisions and social withdrawal.

Ways to control Stress and to be Stress Free :

To control and manage stress one should be healthy and should relax both body and mind. Here are few ways to control and manage stress, they are
Healthy diet– having good healthy diet is a good defence against stress, it helps to relieve stress and reduce tension. By controlling or avoiding alcohol and caffeine consumption one can manage stress and can be healthy. Using these to control stress may lead to long term health problems. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean protein help you to feel better and control mood swings. Do not skip meals as it makes stress symptoms worse like headache, tension and so on.
Exercise daily– exercise reduces your stress, makes your body and mind feel relaxed and better. Exercise like walking, meditation, yoga, breathing exercises, stretching’s, massage, dancing, swimming and running helps to relieve stress. Exercise improves overall health, it increase the production of endorphins which controls stress and gives a feeling of overall wellbeing and improves confidence. Meditation, yoga, breathing exercises plays a very crucial role in controlling and relieving stress. Swimming is the best way to release stress and keeps you fresh.
Get enough sleep– sleep and stress are connected to each other, inadequate sleep causes stress, irritability and depression. Good sleep is very important to manage stress. Breathing exercises, meditation, yoga help to treat sleeping disorders and with good enough sleep one can manage stress levels.
Eliminate triggers– understand your stress triggers to manage stress. Knowing your stress triggers and avoiding those helps in controlling stress. Avoid your personal emotional triggers as they influence your behaviour. Keeping a journal, challenging yourself and developing a strong support system helps to manage your emotional triggers.
Make time for hobbies– go easy on yourself, take a break, make time for yourself and for your hobbies to keep aside stress. In this modern busy life you need to chill out and relax yourself as these will make you feel good and gives energy. Make time for hobbies like singing, dancing, listening to music, spend time in nature, reading, playing games, knitting, painting and watching movies. These hobbies helps to increase endorphins and keeps stress away.

Categories
Health Tips Stress

14 Ways To Avoid Stress

Explain about stress :

Stress usually refers to the psychological perception of pressure and body’s response to it. We feel stressed if anything happens suddenly or everything becomes overloaded. Stress is a challenge or threat to our well being. In our body the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis are two major systems that respond to stress. The central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) plays a crucial role in stress-related mechanisms. Causes or feel of stress differs from person to person like some experience headache, anger, depressed and others may have digestive problems and sleeplessness. Some people face and cope with stress more effectively which minimises stress effects and improves performance. Stress affects our body, mood and behaviour. Stress may be acute stress, episodic stress and chronic stress.

Causes and effects of stress on human being :

Causes of stress– Stress is caused by any stressful situations or events. Some causes of stress are
Personal problems– Problems like health issues, emotional problems, life changes, problems in relationship, arguments, bereavement, divorce and injuries plays major role in stress.
Financial problems– Loss of job and financial crisis also plays crucial role in developing stress.
Work and Social problems– Problems like insecurity of job, uncomfortable work place, heavy workload, harassment at work, thinking of promotion, misunderstandings with co workers, and long working hours are some of the work related stress usually people face.

Problems like pollution, overcrowding, traffic, environment change, responsibility increase and noisy neighbours are some of the social problems people face.

Effects of stress :

Stress effects our body, mind and behaviour. Stress if left untreated causes many health problems like high blood pressure, heart attack, obesity and diabetes. Common effects of stress are

  • Headache
  • Fatigue
  • Sadness/depression
  • Sleeplessness
  • Lack of concentration
  • Difficulty making decision
  • Breathing problems
  • Weakness/tiredness
  • Anger, irritability
  • Social withdrawal
  • Neck, back and muscle pain
  • Anxiety
  • Abnormal heartbeat and heart diseases
  • Weight gain or weight loss
  • Fertility problems
  • Digestion problems
  • Faintness/dizziness
  • Sweating/ cold or sweaty hands or feet
  • Nervousness or guilty
  • Reduced work efficiency or productivity

Stress also affects our immune system which leads to frequent infections and certain cancers. Stress has direct affects on skin and can contribute to insomnia.

Tips to manage stress :

Stress affects every aspect of life, so stress management is necessary for maintaining both physical and emotional health. Some tips to manage stress are

  • Exercise daily
  • Eat well balanced meal
  • Practice relaxation techniques like deep breath, meditation and yoga
  • Relax your muscles by stretching and massage
  • Take deep breaths
  • Get enough sleep
  • Limit alcohol and caffeine consumption
  • Make time for yourself and hobbies
  • Share or talk to your friends and family about your problems
  • Maintain positive attitude
  • Know what triggers your stress
  • Cultivate a sense of humor
  • Make a list of important things you need to do each day
  • Consult your doctor and take suggestions