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Stress is something that affects us all regardless of our position, pay or anything else. Life has a way of bringing us situations that challenge our cool or our ability to "hold on to ourselves". Generally there are two types of stress: acute and chronic.
Acute Stress
Below is a brief list of symptoms that are common for people experiencing acutely (i.e., immediate, short term) stressful situations.
| Acute Stress Physical Symptoms |
- Faster heartbeat
- Increased sweating
- Cool skin
- Rapid, shallow breathing
- Nausea
- "Butterflies"
- Tense muscle
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Maybe you've felt some of these acute symptoms just before giving a presentation to a group of people, or when your boss or spouse simply enters the room you're in. Over time these can turn into the chronic symptoms listed below. Acute stress can cause some or all of the following problems:
| Acute Stress Performance Symptoms |
- Clouded judgment
- Poorer decisions
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Poorer motor skills
- Challenges become threats
- Negative thinking
- Loss of self-confidence
- Difficulty focusing
- Difficulty concentrating
- Easily distracted
- Drains mental/emotional energy away from tasks
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Initially, stress responses are all natural physiological responses to what's happening around us. But, when situations are particularly intense or extended over time, the symptoms can become more entrenched behaviors that are annoying at best, frustrating or embarrassing at worst.
Health-wise, for the short term, time limited things that stress us are not usually dangerous, even if they are fairly intense things such as losing a loved one or getting laid off.
| What Can I do "in the Moment"? |
- Close your eyes (if you can)
- Mentally take a step back from the situation
- Breathe more slowly, but more deeply
- Consciously relax your muscles, head to toe (pretend you're a lump of ice cream on a hot sidewalk!)
- Think about what deep-down values and beliefs make you really YOU; realize that this current situation will not change those things; this will pass
- Ask yourself, "Will this be important in 50 years?"
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A healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, healthy eating, adequate sleep, and enjoyable activities will put you in a good position to handle acute stress when it comes your way. The increased risk for health problems related to stress can potentially come when acute stress turns into chronic stress.
Chronic Stress
Chronic stress is that type of stress that is ongoing and never seems to get resolved. The intensity may ebb and flow with time, but behind the scenes it is always there. Difficult relationships that are tense or unpredictable are a good example of this type of stress, since they are ongoing and are hard to change. Here are some effects of chronic stress:
| Chronic Stress Symptoms |
- Change in appetite
- Sexual problems
- Chronic tiredness
- Worry/Anxiety
- Feeling out of control
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Sleep disturbance
- Changing eating habits
- Memory problems
- Mistake/accident prone
- Poorer work habits
- Increased absenteeism
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Dealing with chronic stress involves more than just "doing" stress management techniques all of the time. It involves growing and making some inward life changes. As a result, the tension or anxiety may actually increase initially when a person starts to make these changes, but as more time goes by, their tolerance for stress increases and the stressor has less impact.
Dealing with chronic stress in this way involves building your resiliency.
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