Stress

Stress is difficult for scientists to define because it is a subjective sensation associated with varied symptoms that differ for each of us. In addition, stress is not always a synonym for distress. Situations like a steep roller coaster ride that cause fear and anxiety for some can prove highly pleasurable for others. Winning a race or election may be more stressful than losing but this is good stress.

Increased stress increases productivity – up to a point, after which things rapidly deteriorate, and that level also differs for each of us. It’s much like the stress or tension on a violin string. Not enough produces a dull raspy sound and too much an irritating screech or snaps the string – but just the correct degree of stress creates a beautiful tone.

Similarly, we all have to find the right amount of stress that permits us to make pleasant music in our daily lives. You can learn how to utilize and transform stress so that it will make you more productive and less self-destructive.

The UK’s government agency the Health and Safety Executive says there is a convincing link between stress and ill health. Its research with Personnel Today Magazine recently showed that over 105 million days are lost to stress each year– costing UK employers £1.24 billion. The research is based on responses from almost 700 senior HR practitioners and almost 2,000 employees.

Other findings are:

• 11% of absence is attributed to stress
• 52% say stress is increasing
• 60% claim stress is damaging staff retention
• 83% think stress is harming productivity

Pressure itself is not bad. In fact, many thrive on it. But when those pressures exceed a person’s ability to cope, then that is when the problems start. It follows, therefore, that we can tackle stress either by reducing pressures or by increasing coping resources – or a combination of the two.

Stress is caused by two things. Primarily it is down to whether you think situations around you are worthy of anxiety. And then it's down to how your body reacts to your thought processes. This instinctive stress response to unexpected events is known as 'fight or flight'.

Fight or Flight

The fight or flight response was first noted by one of the early pioneers in stress research, Walter Cannon. In 1932 he established that when an organism experiences a shock or perceives a threat, it quickly releases hormones that help it to survive.

In humans, as in other animals, these hormones help us to run faster and fight harder. They increase heart rate and blood pressure, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to power important muscles. They increase sweating in an effort to cool these muscles, and help them stay efficient. They divert blood away from the skin to the core of our bodies, reducing blood loss if we are damaged. As well as this, these hormones focus our attention on the threat, to the exclusion of everything else. All of this significantly improves our ability to survive life-threatening events.

Life-threatening events are not the only ones to trigger this reaction. We experience it almost any time we come across something unexpected or something that frustrates our goals. When the threat is small, our response is small and we often do not notice it among the many other distractions of a stressful situation.

Everyone is programmed to recognise stress, and respond with ‘fight or flight’. But does that really do us any harm? Is it really worth worrying about?

If severe stress is allowed to go unchecked in the longer term, performance will ultimately decline. Not only that, the constant bombardment by stress related chemicals and stimulation will weaken a person's body. And ultimately that leads to degenerating health.

NE Therapy and GN Coaching says 'Yes'. Study after study shows that prolonged severe stress has a negative impact on health. It implicated in everything from high blood pressure to infertility.

Links between stress and poor health include:

• Allergies \ Skin Conditions
• Asthma
• Constipation
• Depression
• Heart Attack
• High Blood Pressure
• Indigestion
• Menstrual Difficulties
• Migraine
• Overactive Thyroid Gland
• Peptic Ulcers
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• ME\Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

I teach people techniques which help them deal with stress using techniques of hypnosis, coaching, EFT (emotional freedom technique) NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). I teach them to recognise there inner self talk and change negative or destructive patterns they may have.