What Causes Stress
Some Interesting Facts About What Causes Stress
There are triggers all around that can stress us out, and learning what causes stress can help to identify and alleviate unnecessary stress. Some stress in our lives is good because it helps to protect us from danger or threat. Our bodies generally react to a stressor that threatens our sense of security, and that is why so many different areas in life contain stress points.
When identifying what causes stress, there are a variety of categories that can be used. There is life stress, mental stress, emotional stress, work stress, and so on. When trying to get at the root of the stress, it is important to determine where the stress originates and examine how the stressor is perceived.
Life stress is fairly easy to spot: death of someone close, serious danger, sickness, loss of home or work. These are all circumstances that will realistically have a major impact on our lives and this is where stress is helpful. When we are in a dangerous situation, for example, a stress response makes us protect ourselves and get to safety.
Mental and emotional stress are a bit more complex because they are frequently only perceived threats to our security, like social threats or lack of control in a situation. Even when a threat is not real or immediate, our bodies still react in the same way to this stress. That means that when we are in emotional turmoil – fighting with a spouse for example – our bodies are going through the process of trying to protect us from danger, even though we are not really in danger. This is what makes stress so damaging.
If we consistently perceive some form of threat to our security, our body will continually be in a state of defense from this perceived danger. In reality, many stressors are not in fact dangerous to our safety or security. We treat them like a serious threat when we do not properly handle the stress in our lives.
Some of the situations that cause stress in our lives our simply unavoidable, but how we respond to these stressors – even the worst ones – is completely under our control. With discipline and effort, it is possible to teach your body how to deal with stress in a way that is healthy and will not lead to sickness or misery.
Eating properly, getting regular exercise and sleeping enough will work wonders on dealing with every day stress. It also helps to keep our lives in perspective. When something is truly life threatening, of course you want to react accordingly. But most stressors are not dangerous to our lives or safety, so we need to think about them in the proper context and give them no more important than they truly deserve.
Once we know what causes stress in our lives, we can be ready to deal with it. Often a simple change in focus will relieve the most stressful situation.