A Little Stress Never Hurt Anybody

According to Janeway1, “stress is a physical or psychological stimulus which, when impinging upon an individual , produces strain or disequilibrium”.1 Stress is a biological, physiological and behavioural response to environmental demands. An appropriate amount of stress has protective and adaptive functions however a high amount of stress can cause pathological changes or even death.4 Exposure to stress can lead to painful emotions such as anxiety or depression, as well as physical illness.3 People under an overwhelming amount of stress may experience tachycardia, palpitations and rapid breathing.7

The definition of stress according to the Oxford dictionary is “A state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances.”

Stress is the process of measuring and responding to a threatening or challenging event. If it lasts a short time it can actually be beneficial and can mobilize the immune system to fight off infections and heal our wounds. Stress has an arousal property that motivates us to solve our problems. Extreme or prolonged stress on the other hand can be very harmful and can lead to chronic disease. Stressors fall into three categories: Catastrophic, significant life changes, and daily hassles. All can be bad for us.

Stress was defined by Selye as "the nonspecific response of the body to any demand" (Christopher, 1996), the

Kelly McGonigal discusses the importance of viewing stress as positive, as opposed to negative, by detailing three specific studies and findings about stress. In the first study, it was discovered that people with a significant amount of stress had a higher mortality rate; however, this was only statistically significant if the subject viewed stress as harmful. If the overly-stressed subject didn’t view stress as harmful, they were actually at the lowest risk of dying, even compared to those with a minimal amount. Therefore, it is important to change a person’s perspective of stress. In particular, McGonigal emphasizes that stress is important for a person’s body: it energizes and prepares them to meet whatever challenge they are facing. Furthermore, it helps the blood vessels remain relaxed, thereby allowing the heart to remain healthy.

Stress is your body’s way of responding to any kind of demand; it can be caused by both good and bad experiences.

Our book describes stress as “any circumstances that threaten or are perceived to threaten one’s well-being and tax one’s coping ability” (Weiten, 2014). Stress is not necessarily a traumatic, life destroying event. It can be as simple a small change in one’s daily schedule. People will have multiple stresses throughout their lifetime. Some will be little and daily, but overtime these add up and can affect you in many ways. Stress can be positive or negative and can take many forms; a few being frustration, internal conflict, change, and pressure. All of which make almost a daily appearance in my life (Weiten, 2014).

Stress is a very common everyday thing. People have stress so much that most of the time they don’t even know how much it’s affecting them. Stress can really affect your body, mind, and behavior. It is a normal response to situations that make you feel upset or threatened in a way. Stress is the body’s way of change. The change can either be good or bad.

The major focus of this chapter was stress and the effect it has on the body. Stress is the process by which we perceive and respond to certain events, called stressors, that we appraise as threatening or challenging. The concept of appraisal is the important part here. Stress can be affected through this psychological filter, either making the stressor feel threatening or challenging. The way we perceive it can have either positive or negative effects. Stress, when perceived negatively can lead to issues such as coronary heart disease or increased susceptibleness to colds (Myers, 2014).

Stress is an emotional state that is difficult to define because everyone experiences stress in different ways. Pathologically speaking, stress is the brain’s response to certain demands for change and can be positive or negative depending on the individual. This state of mind is induced by physical and emotional stimuli; this in turn generates a response that affects many aspects of a person’s wellbeing. Psychological, behavioral and biological stressors all play a role in an individual’s mood, sense of well-being, behavior and health (Schneiderman, Ironson, & Siegel, Stress and health: psychological, behavioral, and biological determinants, 2005). These factors can threaten our internal homeostasis which

The documentary “Stress the Portrait of a killer” was quite interesting. This documentary teaches you about stress and the effects it has on both animals and humans. Stress plays a huge factor on our daily lives. There are two hormones that are the workhorses of the whole stress response. These hormones are the adrenaline and glucocorticoids and they tend to come out along with each other. However, there happens to be positive and negative stress. For instance, roller coaster rides are considered to be positive stress. In addition, fat can be considered as negative stress because fat that is brought on by stress is known as dangerous fat. Ultimately, there are different levels and outcomes of stress.

Stress cannot have detrimental effects not only to our mental health, but also our overall physical wellbeing as well, as discussed in “Mastering the World of Psychology: Fifth Edition” (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2014). This textbook defines stress as “the physiological and psychological response to a condition that threatens or challenges an individual and requires some form of adaptation or adjustment” (Wood, Wood, & Boyd, 2014). And so, anything that causes individuals to change to keep mental or physical balance in life, is defined as a stressor.

Stress is very common among people in the world, and not many people know that they are dealing with it or just don’t acknowledge it, which could lead to many problems in your life later down the road. Stress destroys your body because when a person deals with stress for a long time they just forget it is there and try to ignore it, all while making their situation even worse than it is. Stress is a part of everyone's life, it is common for people to be stressed out, but the negatives come in when stress becomes chronic or long term. Life is filled with events that could cause stress or make it harder for you to get rid of stress, but it always ends up destroying your body and brain if present for too long. Stress is a true enemy for your

I have learned so much about stress process and how it affects health. Stress is how we understand and respond to stressors. I have learned we all appraise our stress and respond to the stressors differently. One important aspect about stress is that it can aid us or hinder us. For example, eustress, which is considered good stress, and distress, is known as bad stress. The process of stress can begin with us experiencing the stressor, then understanding how much control we have over the stressor. This process is explained in detail in the Lazarus model.

Stress is also linked low fertility in one’s reproductive organs, and can cause problems during pregnancy or one’s menstrual cycle (www.everydayhealth.com). This happens when one is overwhelmed with the stress he or she is going through in their lives. No one person is the same, meaning stressors as well as stress levels differ for each individual. This is why it is hard for scientists to reach the core because it is a subjective sensation related with a variety of symptoms that differ for each of us. Because of this, stress is not always a synonym for distress. Situations like a steep roller coaster ride that cause fear and anxiety for some can prove highly pleasurable for others (www.stress.org). Each person also responds to stress differently. There are numerous physical as well as emotional responses to stress. Stress can cause an ocean of different emotions that are often times unpredictable. It can have wide ranging effects on people’s emotions, mood and behavior (www.stress.org). Stress has said to have been America’s number one leading health problem. It has been shown that stress levels have escalated in children, teenagers, college students and the elderly for reasons that of which have lead to: increased crime, violence, and other threats to personal safety; pernicious peer pressures that lead to substance abuse and other unhealthy life style habits; social isolation and loneliness; the erosion of family and religious