Stress and stressful conditions. Causes, stages, what happens in the body, positive and negative consequences, methods of combating and increasing stress resistance. What is stress and how to deal with it? Overcoming stress

Stress– a set of protective physiological reactions that occur in the body of animals and humans in response to the influence of various unfavorable factors. In medicine, physiology, and psychology, positive (eustress) and negative (distress) forms of stress are distinguished. In the case of emotionally positive stress, the stressful situation is short-lived and you control it; usually in these cases there is nothing to fear: your body will be able to quickly rest and recover after the explosion of activity of all systems.

There are short-term ( spicy) and long-term ( chronic) stress. They affect health differently. Long-term has more severe consequences.

Acute stress is characterized by the speed and suddenness with which it occurs. The extreme degree of acute stress is shock. There have been shocking situations in every person's life.

Shock and acute stress almost always turn into chronic, long-term stress. The shock situation has passed, you seem to have recovered from the shock, but the memories of what you experienced come back again and again.

Long-term stress is not necessarily a consequence of an acute one, it often arises due to seemingly insignificant factors, but constantly acting and numerous (for example, dissatisfaction with work, tense relationships with colleagues and relatives, etc.).

Physiological stress occurs as a result of direct effects on the body of various negative factors (pain, cold, heat, hunger, thirst, physical overload, etc.)

Psychological stress are caused by factors that act with their signaling value: deception, resentment, threat, danger, information overload, etc.

Emotional stress occurs in situations that threaten a person’s safety (crimes, accidents, wars, serious illnesses, etc.), his social status, economic well-being, interpersonal relationships (job loss, family problems, etc.).

Information stress occurs during information overload, when a person who bears great responsibility for the consequences of his actions does not have time to make the right decisions. Information stress is very common in the work of dispatchers and operators of technical control systems.

Psycho-emotional stress is a protective-adaptive reaction that mobilizes the body to overcome various obstacles that disrupt life, when many conflict situations arise in which the subject is limited in the ability to satisfy his basic vital biological and social needs.

Describing the stress process, Selye identified three phases:

1) Anxiety reaction - occurs immediately after exposure to any stressor and is expressed in tension and a sharp decrease in the body's resistance. The sympathetic nervous system is excited; The hypothalamus sends a chemical signal to the pituitary gland, causing it to increase the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which in turn travels with the blood to the adrenal glands and causes the secretion of corticosteroids - hormones that prepare the entire body for action and possible fight against damaging factors. Scientists measure the stress response by increases in norepinephrine, ACTH, or corticosteroids in the blood;

2) The resistance phase, characterized by the mobilization of the body's resources to overcome a stressful situation. During psychological stress, the sympathetic nervous system prepares the body for fight or flight;

Every person goes through these two stages many times. When resistance is successful, the body returns to normal.

3) The phase of exhaustion, which corresponds to a persistent decrease in the body’s resources. It occurs when the stressor continues to act for a sufficient period of time.

Stress is a nonspecific reaction of the body to the action of extreme factors, any difficult or threatening situation. When stressed, the body produces the hormone adrenaline, the main function of which is to make the body survive. Stress is a normal part of human life and is necessary in certain amounts. If there were no stressful situations in our lives, elements of competition, risk, and the desire to work to the limit of our capabilities, life would be much more boring. Sometimes stress acts as a kind of challenge or motivation, which is necessary to feel the fullness of emotions, even when it comes to survival. If the totality of these challenges and complex tasks becomes very large, then the person’s ability to cope with these tasks is gradually lost.

Anxiety is a state of mind and body associated with worry, tension and nervousness. There are times in every person's life when they experience stress or anxiety. In essence, a state of anxiety helps a person cope with external dangers by forcing the brain to work intensively and bringing the body into a state of readiness for action. When worries and fears begin to overwhelm a person and affect his daily life, so-called anxiety disorders can occur. Anxiety disorders, including panic, fear of losing a job, specific fears, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and general anxiety, usually begin to appear after the age of 15-20 years. Anxiety disorders are considered chronic diseases that can progress without treatment. At the moment, there are effective methods of treating them.

The word "stress", like "success", "failure" and "happiness", has different meanings for different people. Therefore, it is very difficult to define it, although it has become part of our everyday speech.

What is it - effort, fatigue, pain, fear, the need to concentrate, the humiliation of public reproach, loss of blood, or even an unexpected huge success leading to the breakdown of the entire way of life? The answer to this question is both yes and no. This is why it is so difficult to define stress. Any of these conditions can cause stress, but none of them can be isolated and said: this is stress, because this term applies equally to all others.

The founder of the doctrine of stress is the Nobel Prize laureate physiologist Hans Selye (1907-1982). In 1936, a former student at the University of Prague published the first observations of patients suffering from disorders of various body systems. All such patients experienced loss of appetite, muscle weakness, high blood pressure, and loss of motivation to achieve. G. Selye designated these symptoms as a “simply disease syndrome,” showing that in this case many people have the same disorders in the body: changes in the adrenal cortex (increase in size, hemorrhages), depletion of lymphoid tissue (lymph nodes, thymus), stomach ulceration . To describe the totality of all nonspecific (not normally characteristic of the body) changes within the body, he introduced the concept of “stress.”

Stress (English)stress - tension, compression, pressure) - This

a state of emotional and physical stress that occurs in certain situations that are characterized as difficult and beyond control;

it is the physical, mental, emotional and chemical reaction of the body to something that frightens, irritates or threatens a person;

a nonspecific response of the body to any demand presented to it.

To understand this definition, it is necessary to explain what is meant by the word “non-specific”. Each demand presented to the body is in some sense original or specific. In the cold, we shiver to release more heat, and the blood vessels in the skin constrict, reducing heat loss from the surface of the body. In the sun we sweat, and the evaporation of sweat cools us. If we eat too much sugar and our blood levels rise above normal, we excrete some and burn the rest so that our blood sugar levels return to normal. Muscular effort, such as running up stairs at maximum speed, places increased demands on the musculature and cardiovascular system. Muscles need an additional source of energy for such unusual work, so the heartbeat becomes faster and stronger, increased blood pressure dilates blood vessels and blood supply to the muscles improves. The factor that causes stress is called a “stressor”.

Each medicine and hormone has a specific effect. The hormone adrenaline increases heart rate and blood pressure, while raising blood sugar levels, and the hormone insulin lowers sugar levels. However, regardless of what kind of changes they cause in the body, all these agents have something in common. They are making demands for restructuring. This requirement is not specific, it consists of adapting to the difficulty that has arisen, whatever it may be.

In other words, in addition to the specific effect, all agents affecting us also cause a nonspecific need to carry out adaptive functions and thereby restore the normal state. These functions are independent of specific effects. The nonspecific demands imposed by the impact itself are the essence of stress.

From the point of view of the stress response, it does not matter whether the situation we are faced with is pleasant or unpleasant. All that matters is the intensity of the need for restructuring or adaptation. The mother, who was informed about the death of her only son in battle, experiences terrible mental shock. If, many years later, the message turns out to be false and her son suddenly walks into the room unharmed, she will feel intense joy. The specific results of two events - grief and joy - are completely different, even opposite, but their stressor effect - a nonspecific requirement for adaptation to a new situation - may be the same.

It is not easy to imagine that cold, heat, medications, hormones, sadness and joy cause the same biochemical changes in the body. However, this is the case. Quantitative biochemical measurements show that some reactions are nonspecific and are the same for all types of exposure.

An obligatory attribute of emotional stress, a signal indicating the insufficiency of a person’s functional reserves to overcome a threat, is anxiety. It is defined as a feeling of fear or expectation associated with the emergence or prospect of a blockade of an actual human need (frustration) and implements the most important integral mechanism of emotional stress.

Linking feelings of anxiety with a threat that has a specific content is designated as fear. In general, anxiety and fear are the main signs of tension in the mechanisms of mental adaptation, stimuli that activate adaptation mechanisms to find a way out of a stressful situation.

J. Everly and R. Rosenfeld also believed that the emotional and mental assessment of these stimuli plays a certain role in the transformation of most stimuli (external or internal) into stressors. If the stimulus is not interpreted as a threat or challenge towards the individual, then the stress reaction does not occur at all. Thus, most stress reactions that people experience are, in fact, according to Everly and Rosenfeld, self-created and last as long as they are allowed to.

At the level of biological changes in the body, emotional stress primarily arises as a central neurogenic process, and all peripheral functional disorders develop secondaryly and are actually a consequence of emotional overstrain. Hormonal mechanisms play a leading role in the realization of emotional arousal.

Physiological stress manifests itself as follows: in the early stages of emotional stress, information connections between various functional systems of the human body are disrupted, and they begin to work in isolation, intensely, trying to independently maintain the indicators they regulate at an optimal level. With continued stress exposure, the self-regulation mechanism of any of the most weakened human functional systems is disrupted, and then its function steadily changes: for example, blood pressure persistently increases, immunity decreases, etc. Regulation of the corresponding physiological indicator is carried out up to a certain time by local cellular mechanisms, a stable imbalance of which leads to the onset of the disease.

It would be a mistake to believe that stress is some kind of hostile force that should always be avoided. Not all stress is harmful. Stress activation can be caused by positive events that evoke positive emotions (for example, a holiday, moving to a new apartment, etc.). These states are referred to as " Eustress." We always need an incentive in order to make our lives dynamic and fulfilling, not to be afraid of unusual situations, not to refuse new opportunities, and most importantly - to achieve our goals. Eustress is that charge of vigor that helps us cope with things on time. Without him, our life would be gray and boring.

All emotional stress states associated with negative experiences and having a weakening, destructive force are designated as "distress"(unresolved conflicts, loss of a loved one). But even in this situation, stress cannot be called harmful. After all, it is the stress reaction that gives a person the strength that he can use to overcome a difficult situation (an emergency at work, the opportunity to escape from a robber). Therefore, it cannot be said that stress in response to good events is beneficial, and stress in response to bad events is harmful. The line between beneficial and harmful stress can sometimes be very blurry. According to the principle “the best is the enemy of the good,” an excess of positive emotions can also result in a breakdown if left uncontrolled.

The most significant flaw in G. Selye's theory is the denial of the leading role of the central nervous system in the origin of stress.

G. Selye and his followers showed that the physiological response syndrome to stress represents a universal model of defensive reactions aimed at preserving the integrity of the body, and is the same for both humans and animals. But unlike animals, a person’s physiological reaction can be determined not only by the direct presence of a stressor, but also by its psychological impact on the individual.

Thus, in relation to a person, the specificity of stress consists in the conscious processing of negative emotions with the participation of psychological defense mechanisms of the individual.

A natural continuation of G. Selye’s theory is the theory of emotional stress by R. Lazarus, which distinguishes between systemic (physiological) and mental (emotional) stress. Emotional stress acts as the body's response to internal and external processes, in which physiological and psychological abilities are strained to levels close to or exceeding the limit. Within the framework of this theory, the differences between physiological and emotional stress are explained by the direct impact of adverse factors on the body during physiological stress and the indirect (through the inclusion of a person’s attitude to the situation) adverse effects during emotional stress. Thus, with emotional stress there may not be a direct damaging effect on the body.

During emotional stress, a factor that causes tension in the body to levels exceeding normal adaptive reactions is foresight damage due to an emerging or predicted adverse factor. Thus, a necessary condition for the development of psychological stress is the perception of a threat. Emotional stress does not occur if the situation is not perceived by the person as dangerous. The perception and assessment of a situation as threatening is closely related to cognitive processes, a person’s personality traits (anxiety, emotional stability, etc.) and his previous experience. Therefore, there are no factors and situations that cause the same stress for all people.

Modern views on stress are distinguished by the conditionality of a complete separation of physiological stress and emotional stress. Physiological stress always has mental elements and vice versa. Whatever the stress: emotional or physiological, one type often serves as a source of the other - emotional stress invariably entails physiological stress, and severe physiological stress can affect the emotional state. A vicious circle is formed, which only complicates the solution of the problem, especially with prolonged or chronic stress.

Thus, stress -

An extremely complex phenomenon that affects all levels of functioning of the body. The success of a person’s overcoming stress depends on the functioning of the body at each of these levels;

is not always harmful, it has its detrimental effect in situations where it is too strong or lasts too long;

associated with individual and psychological characteristics of the individual ⟹ factors and situations that cause the same stress for all people do not exist.

Stress– a term literally meaning pressure or tension. It is understood as a human condition that occurs in response to the influence of unfavorable factors, which are commonly called stressors. They can be physical (hard work, injury) or mental (fear, disappointment).

The prevalence of stress is very high. In developed countries, 70% of the population is in a state of constant stress. Over 90% suffer from stress several times a month. This is a very alarming figure considering how dangerous the effects of stress can be.

Experiencing stress requires a lot of energy from a person. Therefore, prolonged exposure to stress factors causes weakness, apathy, and a feeling of lack of strength. The development of 80% of diseases known to science is also associated with stress.

Types of stress

Pre-stress state – anxiety, nervous tension that occurs in a situation when a person is affected by stress factors. During this period, he can take measures to prevent stress.

Eustress– beneficial stress. This may be stress caused by strong positive emotions. Eustress is also a moderate stress that mobilizes reserves, forcing you to more effectively deal with the problem. This type of stress includes all the body’s reactions that ensure a person’s immediate adaptation to new conditions. It makes it possible to avoid an unpleasant situation, fight or adapt. Thus, eustress is a mechanism that ensures human survival.

Distress– harmful destructive stress that the body is unable to cope with. This type of stress is caused by strong negative emotions or physical factors (injuries, illnesses, overwork) that last for a long time. Distress undermines strength, preventing a person from not only effectively solving the problem that caused stress, but also from living fully.

Emotional stress– emotions that accompany stress: anxiety, fear, anger, sadness. Most often, it is they, and not the situation itself, that causes negative changes in the body.

Based on the duration of exposure, stress is usually divided into two types:

Acute stress– the stressful situation lasted for a short period of time. Most people quickly bounce back after a short emotional shock. However, if the shock was strong, then disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system, such as enuresis, stuttering, and tics, are possible.

Chronic stress– Stress factors affect a person for a long time. This situation is less favorable and is dangerous for the development of diseases of the cardiovascular system and exacerbation of existing chronic diseases.

What are the phases of stress?

Alarm phase– a state of uncertainty and fear in connection with an approaching unpleasant situation. Its biological meaning is to “prepare weapons” to combat possible troubles.

Resistance phase– period of mobilization of forces. A phase in which there is an increase in brain activity and muscle strength. This phase can have two resolution options. In the best case, the body adapts to new living conditions. At worst, the person continues to experience stress and moves on to the next phase.

Exhaustion phase– a period when a person feels that his strength is running out. At this stage, the body's resources are depleted. If a way out of a difficult situation is not found, then somatic diseases and psychological changes develop.

What causes stress?

The causes of stress can be very diverse.

It should be noted that the body’s reaction does not depend on what caused the stress. The body will react to both a broken arm and a divorce in the same way - by releasing stress hormones. Its consequences will depend on how significant the situation is for the person and how long he has been under its influence.

What determines susceptibility to stress?

The same impact can be assessed differently by people. The same situation (for example, the loss of a certain amount) will cause severe stress for one person, and only annoyance for another. It all depends on what meaning a person attaches to a given situation. The strength of the nervous system, life experience, upbringing, principles, life position, moral assessments, etc. play a big role.

Individuals who are characterized by anxiety, increased excitability, imbalance, and a tendency toward hypochondria and depression are more susceptible to the effects of stress.

One of the most important factors is the state of the nervous system at the moment. During periods of overwork and illness, a person’s ability to adequately assess the situation is reduced and relatively small impacts can cause serious stress.

Recent studies by psychologists have shown that people with the lowest levels of cortisol are less susceptible to stress. As a rule, they are harder to get angry. And in stressful situations they do not lose their composure, which allows them to achieve significant success.

Signs of low stress tolerance and high susceptibility to stress:

• You can't relax after a hard day;
• You experience anxiety after a minor conflict;
• You repeatedly replay an unpleasant situation in your head;
• You may leave something you have started out of fear that you won’t be able to handle it;
• Your sleep is disturbed due to anxiety;
• Anxiety causes a noticeable deterioration in well-being (headache, trembling hands, rapid heartbeat, feeling hot)

If you answered yes to most of the questions, this means that you need to increase your resistance to stress.

What are the behavioral signs of stress?

How to recognize stress by behavior? Stress changes a person's behavior in certain ways. Although its manifestations largely depend on the character and life experience of a person, there are a number of common signs.

• Binge eating. Although sometimes there is a loss of appetite.
• Insomnia. Shallow sleep with frequent awakenings.
• Slowness of movement or fidgetiness.
• Irritability. May manifest itself as tearfulness, grumbling, and unreasonable nagging.
• Closedness, withdrawal from communication.
• Reluctance to work. The reason lies not in laziness, but in a decrease in motivation, willpower and lack of strength.

External signs of stress associated with excessive tension of individual muscle groups. These include:

• Pursed lips;
• Tension of the masticatory muscles;
• Raised “tight” shoulders;

What happens in the human body during stress?

Pathogenetic mechanisms of stress– a stressful situation (stressor) is perceived by the cerebral cortex as threatening. Next, the excitation passes through a chain of neurons to the hypothalamus and pituitary gland. Pituitary cells produce adrenocorticotropic hormone, which activates the adrenal cortex. The adrenal glands release stress hormones into the blood in large quantities - adrenaline and cortisol, which are designed to ensure adaptation in a stressful situation. However, if the body is exposed to them for too long, is very sensitive to them, or hormones are produced in excess, this can lead to the development of diseases.

Emotions activate the autonomic nervous system, or more precisely its sympathetic department. This biological mechanism is designed to make the body stronger and more resilient for a short period of time, to set it up for vigorous activity. However, prolonged stimulation of the autonomic nervous system causes vasospasm and disruption of the functioning of organs that lack blood circulation. Hence the dysfunction of organs, pain, spasms.

Positive effects of stress

The positive effects of stress are associated with the effect on the body of the same stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol. Their biological meaning is to ensure human survival in a critical situation.

It should be noted that the positive effects of hormones are observed during their short-term effects on the body. Therefore, short-term moderate stress can be beneficial for the body. He mobilizes and forces us to gather our strength to find the optimal solution. Stress enriches life experience and in the future a person feels confident in such situations. Stress increases the ability to adapt and in a certain way contributes to personal development. However, it is important that the stressful situation is resolved before the body’s resources are exhausted and negative changes begin.

Negative effects of stress

Negative effects of stress onpsyche are caused by prolonged action of stress hormones and overwork of the nervous system.

• Concentration of attention decreases, which entails memory deterioration;
• Fussiness and lack of concentration appear, which increases the risk of making rash decisions;
• Low performance and increased fatigue may be a consequence of disruption of neural connections in the cerebral cortex;
• Negative emotions predominate - general dissatisfaction with position, work, partner, appearance, which increases the risk of developing depression;
• Irritability and aggression, which complicate interaction with others and delay the resolution of a conflict situation;
• The desire to alleviate the condition with the help of alcohol, antidepressants, narcotic drugs;
• Decreased self-esteem, lack of self-confidence;
• Problems in sexual and family life;
• A nervous breakdown is a partial loss of control over one’s emotions and actions.

Negative effects of stress on the body

1. From the nervous system. Under the influence of adrenaline and cortisol, the destruction of neurons is accelerated, the smooth functioning of various parts of the nervous system is disrupted:

• Excessive stimulation of the nervous system. Prolonged stimulation of the central nervous system leads to its overwork. Like other organs, the nervous system cannot work in an unusually intense mode for a long time. This inevitably leads to various failures. Signs of overwork include drowsiness, apathy, depressive thoughts, and cravings for sweets.
• Headaches may be associated with disruption of cerebral vessels and deterioration of blood outflow.
• Stuttering, enuresis (urinary incontinence), tics (uncontrolled contractions of individual muscles). They may occur when neural connections between nerve cells in the brain are disrupted.
• Excitation of parts of the nervous system. Excitation of the sympathetic nervous system leads to dysfunction of internal organs.

2. From the immune system. The changes are associated with an increase in the level of glucocorticoid hormones, which inhibit the functioning of the immune system. Susceptibility to various infections increases.

• The production of antibodies and the activity of immune cells decreases. As a result, susceptibility to viruses and bacteria increases. The likelihood of contracting viral or bacterial infections increases. The chance of self-infection also increases - the spread of bacteria from foci of inflammation (inflamed maxillary sinuses, palatine tonsils) to other organs.
• Immune protection against the appearance of cancer cells decreases, and the risk of developing cancer increases.

3. From the endocrine system. Stress has a significant impact on the functioning of all hormonal glands. It can cause both an increase in synthesis and a sharp decrease in hormone production.

• Failure of the menstrual cycle. Severe stress can disrupt the functioning of the ovaries, which is manifested by delay and pain during menstruation. Problems with the cycle may continue until the situation is completely normalized.
• Decreased testosterone synthesis, which is manifested by a decrease in potency.
• Slowdown in growth rates. Severe stress in a child can reduce the production of growth hormone and cause delays in physical development.
• Decreased synthesis of triiodothyronine T3 with normal levels of thyroxine T4. Accompanied by increased fatigue, muscle weakness, decreased temperature, swelling of the face and limbs.
• Decrease in prolactin. In nursing women, prolonged stress can cause a decrease in breast milk production, up to a complete stop of lactation.
• Disruption of the pancreas, responsible for the synthesis of insulin, causes diabetes mellitus.

4. From the cardiovascular system. Adrenaline and cortisol increase heart rate and constrict blood vessels, which has a number of negative consequences.

• Blood pressure increases, which increases the risk of hypertension.
• The load on the heart increases and the amount of blood pumped per minute triples. Combined with high blood pressure, this increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.
• The heartbeat accelerates and the risk of heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmia, tachycardia) increases.
• The risk of blood clots increases due to an increase in platelet counts.
• The permeability of blood and lymphatic vessels increases, their tone decreases. Metabolic products and toxins accumulate in the intercellular space. Tissue swelling increases. Cells are deficient in oxygen and nutrients.

5. From the digestive system disruption of the autonomic nervous system causes spasms and circulatory disorders in various parts of the gastrointestinal tract. This can have various manifestations:

• Feeling of a lump in the throat;
• Difficulty swallowing due to spasm of the esophagus;
• Pain in the stomach and various parts of the intestines caused by spasms;
• Constipation or diarrhea associated with impaired peristalsis and the release of digestive enzymes;
• Development of peptic ulcer;
• Disruption of the digestive glands, which causes gastritis, biliary dyskinesia and other functional disorders of the digestive system.

6. From the musculoskeletal side systems Long-term stress causes muscle spasms and poor blood circulation in bone and muscle tissue.

• Muscle spasm, mainly in the cervicothoracic spine. In combination with osteochondrosis, this can lead to compression of the spinal nerve roots - radiculopathy occurs. This condition manifests itself as pain in the neck, limbs, and chest. It can also cause pain in the area of ​​internal organs - heart, liver.
• Bone fragility is caused by a decrease in calcium in bone tissue.
• Decreased muscle mass – stress hormones increase the breakdown of muscle cells. During prolonged stress, the body uses them as a reserve source of amino acids.

7. From the skin

• Acne. Stress increases sebum production. Clogged hair follicles become inflamed due to reduced immunity.
• Disturbances in the functioning of the nervous and immune systems provoke neurodermatitis and psoriasis.

We emphasize that short-term episodic stress does not cause serious damage to health, since the changes caused by it are reversible. Diseases develop over time if a person continues to acutely experience a stressful situation.

What are the different ways to respond to stress?

Highlight three strategies for dealing with stress:

Rabbit– passive reaction to a stressful situation. Stress makes it impossible to think rationally and act actively. A person hides from problems because he does not have the strength to cope with a traumatic situation.

a lion– stress forces you to use all the body’s reserves for a short period of time. A person reacts violently and emotionally to a situation, making a “jerk” to solve it. This strategy has its drawbacks. Actions are often thoughtless and overly emotional. If the situation cannot be resolved quickly, then the strength is depleted.

Ox– a person rationally uses his mental and mental resources, so he can live and work for a long time, experiencing stress. This strategy is the most justified from the point of view of neurophysiology and the most productive.

Methods for dealing with stress

There are 4 main strategies for dealing with stress.

Raising awareness. In a difficult situation, it is important to reduce the level of uncertainty; for this it is important to have reliable information. Preliminary “living” of the situation will eliminate the effect of surprise and allow you to act more efficiently. For example, before traveling to an unfamiliar city, think about what you will do and what you want to visit. Find out the addresses of hotels, attractions, restaurants, read reviews about them. This will help you worry less before traveling.

Comprehensive analysis of the situation, rationalization. Assess your strengths and resources. Consider the difficulties you will face. If possible, prepare for them. Shift your attention from the result to the action. For example, analyzing the collection of information about the company and preparing for the questions that are asked most often will help reduce fear of an interview.

Reducing the significance of a stressful situation. Emotions prevent you from considering the essence and finding an obvious solution. Imagine how this situation is seen by strangers, for whom this event is familiar and does not matter. Try to think about this event without emotion, consciously reducing its significance. Imagine how you will remember the stressful situation in a month or a year.

Increased possible negative consequences. Imagine the worst case scenario. As a rule, people drive this thought away from themselves, which makes it obsessive, and it comes back again and again. Realize that the likelihood of a disaster is extremely low, but even if it happens, there will be a way out.

Setting for the best. Constantly remind yourself that everything will be fine. Problems and worries cannot continue forever. It is necessary to gather strength and do everything possible to bring a successful outcome closer.

It is necessary to warn that during prolonged stress, the temptation to solve problems in an irrational way with the help of occult practices, religious sects, healers, etc. increases. This approach can lead to new, more complex problems. Therefore, if you cannot find a way out of the situation on your own, then it is advisable to contact a qualified specialist, psychologist, or lawyer.

How to help yourself during stress?

Various ways to self-regulate under stress will help you calm down and minimize the impact of negative emotions.

Autotraining– a psychotherapeutic technique aimed at restoring balance lost as a result of stress. Autogenic training is based on muscle relaxation and self-hypnosis. These actions reduce the activity of the cerebral cortex and activate the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. This allows you to neutralize the effect of prolonged stimulation of the sympathetic department. To perform the exercise, you need to sit in a comfortable position and consciously relax the muscles, especially the face and shoulder girdle. Then they begin to repeat the autogenic training formulas. For example: “I am calm. My nervous system calms down and gains strength. Problems don't bother me. They are perceived as the touch of the wind. Every day I get stronger."

Muscle relaxation– technique for relaxing skeletal muscles. The technique is based on the assertion that muscle tone and the nervous system are interconnected. Therefore, if you can relax your muscles, the tension in the nervous system will decrease. When doing muscle relaxation, you need to strongly tense the muscle and then relax it as much as possible. The muscles are worked in a certain order:

• dominant hand from fingers to shoulder (right for right-handers, left for left-handers)
• non-dominant hand from fingers to shoulder
• back
• stomach
• dominant leg from hip to foot
• non-dominant leg from hip to foot

Breathing exercises. Breathing exercises to relieve stress allow you to regain control over your emotions and body, reduce muscle tension and heart rate.

• Belly breathing. As you inhale, slowly inflate your stomach, then draw air into the middle and upper sections of your lungs. As you exhale, release the air from the chest, then draw in the stomach a little.
• Breathing on a count of 12. While inhaling, you need to slowly count from 1 to 4. Pause – count 5-8. Exhale on a count of 9-12. Thus, the breathing movements and the pause between them have the same duration.

Autorational therapy. It is based on postulates (principles) that help change the attitude towards a stressful situation and reduce the severity of vegetative reactions. To reduce stress levels, a person is recommended to work with his beliefs and thoughts using well-known cognitive formulas. For example:

• What does this situation teach me? What lesson can I learn?
• “Lord, give me the strength to change what is in my power, give me peace of mind to come to terms with what I am not able to influence and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.”
• It is necessary to live “here and now” or “Wash the cup, think about the cup.”
• “Everything passes and this will pass” or “Life is like a zebra.”

An effective addition to exercise will be taking medications and supplements that stimulate cell nutrition - for example, the drug Mildronate: it optimizes intracellular metabolic processes, allowing you to maintain the nutrition of neurons at the required level even at times when there is not enough oxygen, for example, under stress. Protected from starvation, brain cells work much more efficiently, the building of neural connections accelerates, which helps the body cope with stress.

Psychotherapy for stress

Psychotherapy for stress has more than 800 techniques. The most common are:

Rational psychotherapy. The psychotherapist teaches the patient to change his attitude towards exciting events and change incorrect attitudes. The main impact is aimed at a person’s logic and personal values. The specialist helps you master the methods of autogenic training, self-hypnosis and other self-help techniques for stress.

Suggestive psychotherapy. The correct attitudes are instilled in the patient, the main impact is aimed at the person’s subconscious. Suggestion can be carried out in a relaxed or hypnotic state, when the person is between wakefulness and sleep.

Psychoanalysis for stress. Aimed at extracting from the subconscious mental traumas that caused stress. Talking through these situations helps reduce their impact on a person.

Indications for psychotherapy for stress:

• a stressful state disrupts the usual way of life, making it impossible to work and maintain contact with people;
• partial loss of control over one’s own emotions and actions against the background of emotional experiences;
• formation of personal characteristics - suspiciousness, anxiety, grumpiness, self-centeredness;
• a person’s inability to independently find a way out of a stressful situation and cope with emotions;
• deterioration of somatic condition due to stress, development of psychosomatic diseases;
• signs of neurosis and depression;
• post-traumatic disorder.

Psychotherapy against stress is an effective method that helps you return to a full life, regardless of whether the situation has been resolved or you have to live under its influence.

How to recover from stress?

After the stressful situation has been resolved, you need to restore your physical and mental strength. The principles of a healthy lifestyle can help with this.

A change of scenery. A trip out of town, to a dacha in another city. New experiences and walks in the fresh air create new foci of excitement in the cerebral cortex, blocking memories of the stress experienced.

Switching attention. The object can be books, films, performances. Positive emotions activate brain activity, encouraging activity. In this way they prevent the development of depression.

Full sleep. Devote as much time to sleep as your body requires. To do this, you need to go to bed at 10 pm for several days and not get up on the alarm clock.

Balanced diet. The diet should contain meat, fish and seafood, cottage cheese and eggs - these products contain protein to strengthen the immune system. Fresh vegetables and fruits are important sources of vitamins and fiber. A reasonable amount of sweets (up to 50 g per day) will help the brain restore energy resources. Nutrition should be complete, but not too plentiful.

Regular physical activity. Gymnastics, yoga, stretching, Pilates and other exercises aimed at stretching muscles help relieve muscle spasms caused by stress. They will also improve blood circulation, which has a positive effect on the nervous system.

Communication. Hang out with positive people who put you in a good mood. Personal meetings are preferable, but a phone call or online communication will also work. If there is no such opportunity or desire, then find a place where you can be among people in a calm atmosphere - a cafe or a library reading room. Communication with pets also helps restore lost balance.

Visiting a spa, bathhouse, sauna. Such procedures help relax muscles and relieve nervous tension. They can help you get rid of sad thoughts and get into a positive mood.

Massages, baths, sunbathing, swimming in ponds. These procedures have a calming and restorative effect, helping to restore lost strength. If desired, some procedures can be performed at home, such as baths with sea salt or pine extract, self-massage or aromatherapy.

Techniques for increasing stress resistance

Stress resistance is a set of personality qualities that allows you to endure stress with the least harm to health. Resistance to stress may be an innate characteristic of the nervous system, but it can also be developed.

Increased self-esteem. The dependence has been proven - the higher the level of self-esteem, the higher the resistance to stress. Psychologists advise: develop confident behavior, communicate, move, act like a confident person. Over time, the behavior will develop into inner self-confidence.

Meditation. Regular meditation several times a week for 10 minutes reduces anxiety levels and the degree of reaction to stressful situations. It also reduces aggression, which promotes constructive communication in stressful situations.

Responsibility. When a person moves away from the position of a victim and takes responsibility for what is happening, he becomes less vulnerable to external influences.

Interest in change. It is human nature to be afraid of change, so surprise and new circumstances often provoke stress. It is important to create a mindset that will help you perceive change as new opportunities. Ask yourself: “What good can a new situation or life change bring me?”

Striving for achievement. People who strive to achieve a goal experience less stress than those who try to avoid failure. Therefore, to increase stress resistance, it is important to plan your life by setting short-term and global goals. Focusing on results helps you not to pay attention to minor troubles that arise on the way to your goal.

Time management. Proper time management eliminates time pressure, one of the main stress factors. To combat time pressure, it is convenient to use the Eisenhower matrix. It is based on the division of all daily tasks into 4 categories: important and urgent, important non-urgent, not important urgent, not important and non-urgent.

Stress is an integral part of human life. They cannot be completely eliminated, but it is possible to reduce their impact on health. To do this, it is necessary to consciously increase stress resistance and prevent prolonged stress, starting the fight against negative emotions in a timely manner.

A detailed explanation of what stress is, what types it comes in, what its causes and symptoms are, and how to deal with it.

I have long wanted to write an article about what is stress.

Do you know why?

Because with this word, like a shield, lazy people, hysterical people, smart-ass people and other useless people often like to cover up their inability to work, solve problems, and fulfill their direct responsibilities.

I decided to dot the i’s once and for all and explain the history of origin, symptoms, causes, types of stress and ways to deal with it.

Ah, I'm stressed, although I have no idea what it is

It was no coincidence that I started talking about unpleasant people who like to hide behind stress.

I worked with one of these. This was the stupidest creature, placed in our acquaintance company, who could not complete a single task. Her name was Lucy.

And when the management task seemed especially difficult to her or the deadline was pressing, Lucy fell into a nervous state and shouted to everyone around: “I’m stressed. I can't do anything."

At one point, the boss realized that even many years of friendship with Uncle Lucy would not force him to keep this useless creature on his staff, and with a rebuke in the style of “do you even know what stress is, you lazy person,” he fired the young lady.

We all breathed a sigh of relief, because such valuable cooperation, when you have to do not only your job, but also Lucina's, was exhausting for all of us.

What is stress and what types does it come in?

The word “stress” itself is a tracing paper from the English stress, which translates as tension, load, pressure.

That is, stress is a reaction of the human body, which has been under the pressure of unfavorable factors and the influence of heavy loads for a long time.

Depending on the emotional component (positive or negative), the following are distinguished:

Eustresses are beneficial stresses that give a positive boost of energy to our body.

It's no secret that a small dose of adrenaline is useful for the human body, so that it cheers up, shakes itself out, and finally wakes up.

Distress is harmful stress that is caused by overexertion.

Single distress does not cause much harm to the body, but if you do not get out of this state for a long time, then stress can develop into something more dangerous, for example.

Stress is also classified depending on the factors that provoke its occurrence:

Psychological.

Most often it occurs when a person cannot establish interaction with society.

Emotional.

The reason for its occurrence is excessively strong emotions (both positive and negative) that a person cannot cope with.

• Informational – the body’s reaction to some unexpected information, most often negative.
• Management is the problem of all managers who have to make important decisions every day.

Who was the first to understand what stress is?

Of course, stress has always existed.

Surely even primitive people, who for a long time failed to catch a mammoth, suffered from nervous tension and stress, although they themselves did not understand the state of their body.

But this problem was seriously studied only in the first half of the twentieth century.

Nobel Prize laureate Hans Selye was the first to understand and describe what stress is in 1936. Before him, the term “stress” was used as a technical term and meant the resistance of some material to external pressure.

Selye decided that all this was applicable to the human body and began research, fortunately, not on people, but on rats.

Animal advocates will probably call the Nobel laureate a sadist and a flayer, and in some ways they will be right, but science is often unmerciful to our smaller brothers.

Selye's experiments consisted of tormenting rats in various ways (loud sound, immobilization, current, water), and then performing an autopsy on the experimental rodent, which showed that the internal organs of the rat had changed, most often they had a stomach ulcer.

Thus, Selye concluded that the internal organs of rats are susceptible to pathologies not from the very effects of electric current, water or loud noise, but as a result of the reaction of the rodents’ body to them.

Alas, it was possible to understand what stress is thanks to the inhuman experiments of the scientist.

How do you know if you are stressed?

Stress has its own pronounced symptoms, so covering up your stupidity, laziness, and unwillingness to take responsibility with your body’s reaction to external pressure means deceiving yourself.

You can safely say that you are stressed if you:

1. You constantly feel tired and overwhelmed.
2. You notice that your ability to remember new information has deteriorated, and you even begin to forget what you knew before.
3. They began to have trouble sleeping.
4. You have lost your appetite or, on the contrary, you consume huge portions.
5. You can’t get rid of the feeling of anxiety and the obsessive thought that something bad will happen soon.
6. Speak at a fast pace, which was not typical for you before.
7. You have stopped responding to funny jokes and are in a depressed state.
8. You are never satisfied with the results of your work.
9. Complain of headaches or stomach cramps.
10. You can't concentrate.
11. You easily fall into a state of rage.
12. Even simple work began to take much longer than before.
13. You make stupid mistakes.
14. You show stubbornness where you shouldn’t.
15. You feel sorry for yourself and think that your life has failed.

Individually, each of these symptoms is not scary, but diagnosing yourself with at least 5 signs from the list should make you wonder: am I stressed?

Causes of stress

Of course, the human body’s reaction in the form of stress does not appear on its own.

Stress arises for completely objective reasons:

1. A large number of responsibilities that you cannot cope with.
2. Inability to rest and sleep for a long time.
3. The economic or political situation in the country is bad, so most news carries negative information.
4. A quarrel with someone close to you.
5. Negative changes in your personal or professional life: cheating on your significant other, dismissal, divorce, demotion, etc.
6. Deterioration of material condition.
7. Obsessive thoughts about past mistakes, unnecessary self-examination in the past, incorrect perception of negative experiences.
8. Long-term illness and poor health.
9. – constantly postponing things until a blockage appears that can no longer be cleared.
10. A series of minor failures.

How stress affects the human body and can it lead to death:

How to deal with stress?

Whatever the reason that leads to stress, you must find such a medicine to quickly normalize the condition of your body and never suffer from this dirty trick again.

The most effective ways are:

1. Healthy sleep and proper rest of the body.
2. Physical activity, meditation and breathing exercises.
3. Proper nutrition: more vitamins (greens, vegetables, fruits), nuts, fish, liver, cereals, honey, dairy products. Less sweets, flour, fatty, fried, smoked.
4. Planning time and making a to-do list to prevent them from piling up.
5. Learn to “step over” problems that you are unable to solve.
   Love the proverb “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” or “There can be no more trials than I can bear.”

Solve problems before they become unsolvable.

For example, if the car’s engine makes a strange sound, then you need to immediately go to a car service center, and not wait until the car becomes damaged and you have to invest a lot of money in repairs.

Eliminating the causes of stress.

Tired - take a rest, too many responsibilities - give some of it to someone, quarreled with your husband - make peace, etc.

6. See the positive even in negative moments.

Filter the information you absorb.

You are not responsible for all the negativity of humanity.

7. Believe that everything will be fine for you, because you, like no one else, deserve happiness.

Now you know, what is stress and, I hope, you won’t use this word inappropriately and inappropriately.

Useful article? Don't miss new ones!
Enter your email and receive new articles by email

An active social life, constant presence in the cycle of events, family, work - all this together causes strong stress and anxiety. Due to an unhealthy lifestyle, as well as exposure to negative situations, a person may experience stress, which in itself has a destructive effect on emotions and health.

What is stress: concept

Before looking for ways to get rid of the negative impact of external factors, you need to know what stress is, for what reasons it occurs and what signs can be used to judge its presence. Stress can be defined as the body's reaction to various stimuli. The magnitude and duration of action of these stimuli varies, and their influence and consequences largely depend on individual characteristics and the ability to cope with negative factors.

Stress is also called a state of increased tension and heavy load on the human psyche. It is known that not only negative factors can cause stress, although they are the most common cause, but also positive ones. For example, changes in the family, the birth of a child can also be a reason, although for most people such events are positive.

Thus, stress is defined as the body's response to stressors. These are those factors and elements in a person’s life that can directly affect his condition.

Causes

In order to be able to avoid the influence of negative stimuli on the body, it is important to know the causes of stress. A person’s resistance to external stimuli is of great importance. Different people react differently to the same event; accordingly, one person may experience stress while another may not. Main reasons:

• Chronic fatigue, when there is little time left for proper rest.
• Internal attitudes and beliefs of a person that do not allow them to adequately and calmly respond to certain stimuli.
• Traumatic life situations: illness of relatives and one’s own, death, sudden changes in life.
• Long-term financial problems.
• Life not meeting your own expectations.
• Pressure from loved ones, especially in the family.
• Intrafamily disagreements.
• Problems at work, the inability to find a common language with colleagues, conflicts with superiors, the impossibility of moving up the career ladder if a person expects it.

The type of human nervous system and its susceptibility to stimuli are of great importance. A weak nervous system and fears aggravate the impact of stress factors and lead to its intensification.

How to determine if you have stress: symptoms and signs

Now it is necessary to find out the main signs and symptoms of stress in order to begin its prevention and remove a person from a negative state in time. All symptoms can be divided into several categories:

• Emotional;
• Cognitive;
• Physiological;
• Social.

Emotional Signs

A person, being in a state of stress, feels irritability, aggressiveness, tearfulness, and a feeling of loneliness. Sudden and poorly controlled outbursts of anger are possible, which leads to conflicts with other people. Stress often causes the development of depressive disorder, which is why it is so important to minimize its impact. There is a change in mood from good to sharply negative.

Cognitive signs of stress

Exposure to stress factors, especially long-term, leads to deterioration in thinking, memory, and attention. A person in this state solves current problems worse, it becomes more difficult for him to perceive new information and fulfill his professional duties.

Physiological symptoms

Stress causes disruption of many body functions. Headaches, pain in the heart area appear, and blood pressure rises. Often, a person under stress experiences insomnia, loss of appetite or an increase in appetite, which provokes a change in weight. Severe fatigue and weakness in the body may occur, and libido may decrease.

Social signs

A person in a stressful situation may enter into conflicts with other people, not always being aware of his own actions. People can transfer the impact of stress at work onto loved ones, taking out their anger on them. Stress in the family, in turn, can affect efficiency in professional activities, and constant negative thoughts provoke errors in work and sometimes injuries. A person who has been under stress for a long time may experience disruptions in social contacts, as people begin to avoid his aggression.

Types of stress

In medical and psychological practice, it is divided according to its mode of action: positive form and negative form.

Eustress is stress caused by positive events. It is divided into two groups:

• Caused by emotions.
• Mobilizing.

The first type occurs when a person realizes what is happening to him, he understands the tasks facing him and sees ways to solve them. The second type involves a small adrenaline rush, which helps you tune in and quickly switch to solving the current task. We experience mobilizing stress in the morning, when we need to quickly get ready for work. These are mild types of stress that help you deal with current problems and be active in the world around you.

With low resistance of the human body and psyche to the influence of external factors, eustress can turn into destructive.

Distress - this type of stress has a destructive effect on the human body. Mental activity is impaired, physical health deteriorates, and performance decreases. It can also be divided into several subtypes.

1. Physiological. Such stress appears when exposed to unfavorable environmental factors: temperature, weather, as well as internal factors - hunger, thirst, pain in various parts of the body.
2. Emotional. It occurs during situations when a person experiences strong emotions, and they can be not only negative, but also positive. Constantly experiencing the same emotions can cause fatigue, moral and psychological exhaustion. This type also occurs in the presence of a strong imagination, fantasies that can cause real stress.
3. Short-term. Occurs when suddenly exposed to certain factors, for example, sudden fear. Often associated with the instinct of self-preservation. It usually goes away quickly and has no after effects. However, when a highly traumatic situation occurs, the stress can last for several days and be profound.
4. Chronic. This is the most dangerous type. A person is daily and systematically exposed to certain stressors. At the same time, he gets used to their presence, stops noticing, however, they continue to act. Distress can lead to disruption of the body, various diseases, and nervous breakdowns. It often ends in its development in a severe form, even to the point of suicidal tendencies.
5. Nervous stress. It is often observed in people predisposed to nervous diseases, but can also occur against the background of severe stress. In this case, much depends on the type of nervous system and how a person usually reacts to stimuli.

Stages of stress development

Development takes place in several stages. You can experience both a state of excitement, when it is difficult to control your emotions and actions, and a state of inhibition and indifference to what is happening. There are 3 stages of stress:

The first stage is anxiety

This is the body's initial reaction to exposure to irritants. Anxiety, apprehension, and wariness appear. At this stage, a person can mobilize his strength to solve the situation. The stage lasts from several minutes to several weeks, it all depends on the individual characteristics of the psyche. As a result, a person may lose self-control, his behavior changes to the opposite of what is usual for him, tension increases, and relationships with loved ones and colleagues may be disrupted.

Resistance

At this stage, the body’s resources are activated and resistance to stressors occurs. Being at this stage, a person is able to most effectively cope with the impact of the stimulus. The body's resistance is overestimated, a person is capable of analyzing and finding the most effective solution.

The third stage of stress is exhaustion

If a solution and a way out of the situation is not found, and the person is unable to cope with his emotions, then the stress goes into the phase of exhaustion. You begin to feel severe fatigue, indifference, lack of strength and desire to do and change anything. High likelihood of somatic and psychological diseases.

If a person has enough of his own resources or has found methods to deal with stress, then he escapes its influence.

The psyche and resistance of each person to unfavorable factors is individual. One person experiences a little stress and easily finds a way out, while another reacts violently and aggressively to a similar situation. It is important to learn to identify the presence of stress and its type in time and take appropriate measures. Rest, change of activity, positive social contacts, sports will help reduce the influence of unfavorable factors and prevent mild forms of stress from developing into.