E+R=0; THE FORMULA FOR DEALING WITH STRESS
by David Gilks
What is stress? I remember a humorous saying stating that stress is caused by "the brain's ability to override the body's basic desire to strangle the living daylights of somebody who desperately deserves it". In reality, stress, or stressors are a natural part of our daily existence and can be a important part in the natural development of health, mental and physical. What is truly the defining factor is "how we perceive and deal with stress". That is what the equation E+R=O implies, the event (E) plus our reaction (R) equals the outcome. The preceding statement simply means that while the events of our life may be unpredictable, how we react, or respond are certainly within our control. Let's look at some of the causative factors of stress.
Stress results from the tension and anxiety caused by:
- A number of specific irritating events throughout a time period, such as heavy traffic on the way to an appointment, conflict with a customer or boss.
- General conditions in your life, such as poor physical health, lack of a support system, emotional problems, loneliness, depression, and unsatisfactory living and work situations.
- Life cycle transitions and developmental stages, such as getting married or decreased physical capacity. When other stress occurs within one of these, it increases the cumulative stress level.
- Conflicts with your belief system, such as placing a high value on family life but not having the family life you want.
People react differently to stress. How you react depends on your strategies for coping with stress, your previous experience with stress, your present level of fitness, and your level of social support. The greatest factor, however, is how you perceive stress and control its outcome. What is stressful to one person may not affect another. This means stress, or how we react to it is under our control.
Stress affects you in both its acute and chronic forms:
- In acute stress, the body responds to a perceived threat. Your body releases chemicals that increase your heart rate and breathing and provide a burst of energy. This is known as the stress response or the fight-or-flight response.
- In chronic stress, the body's response depends on the severity and duration of the stress and how you respond. The cardiovascular system, the nervous system, and the immune system may be affected. Chronic stress plays a role in many health problems, including coronary artery disease, diabetes, and asthma.
- Stress also may cause moodiness, anxiety, and difficulty concentrating. It may lead to depression, relationship problems, and poor performance at work or school.
Regardless of the source of the stressor, we do have a choice in how it affects us. There is a natural tendency for us to "react" to stressful situations in our life instead of "responding" to the same event. One of the best ways to cope with stress is to start or continue with a well designed exercise program. Exercise sweeps away many of the stress hormones and produces many mood lifting hormones that can change your whole outlook on life.
Many people I see walk in my studio with a dark cloud over their head are smiling brighter after only 10 minutes of walking on the treadmill. I know when I feel a little brain dead or frustrated I walk outside for 15-20 minutes and come back re-energized and ready to go back at it. The point to take away from this is that stress, or stressors, are a part of our natural existence, how well we deal with it depends on whether you "react" or "respond" to it. A reaction puts things out of our control because there is little or no thought to how we deal with the event, but responding suggest that stop and think before allowing ourselves to be overcome by stressful situations. It is truly a matter of choice.
