Understanding Stress: Introduction
What causes you stress?
Grades? Finals? College? The Future? Dating? Friends? Peer Pressure?
Both young people and adults have a lot of stress in their daily lives. Understanding what stress actually is, where stress comes from, and ways to limit or relieve it can help you develop stronger mental and emotional health, not to mention your physical well-being.
What is stress?
Stress is the body’s and mind’s natural reaction to life changes and events. When something changes in your life, a stressor is introduced. Stressors can be small, such as losing an hour of sleep one night, to large, such as a traffic accident or the death of a loved one. Your body meets the challenge of its stressors by reacting with heightened levels of awareness, focus, and physical reactivity.
To protect itself from the effects of stressors, the nervous system adjusts by triggering the release of hormones such as adrenaline and cortisone into the bloodstream. This release changes a person’s breathing rate, heart rate, metabolic rate, and it increases blood pressure. These changes cause the muscles to respond by getting ready to act immediately to keep the body safe. Stress also causes sweating, chills, energy, and nervousness.
This process, called the stress response, allows a body to respond well to everyday life pressures. It actually works to protect the body. But with prolonged or repeated exposure to stressors, the stress response can cause health problems when it remains active for too long or activates too often. It is important to know what causes stress and how to manage it to support strong mental and emotional health.
