What is stress

Thu, 11 Mar 2010

Stress occurs at multiple levels originating from a variety of sources, each and every one of us have our own version of stress and its sources. Stress manifests itself on several levels including, psychological, physiological, social and spiritual. All these levels are intertwined and interact with one another, and in most cases manifestation on one level is likely to lead to an impact on another level. For example, anger starts as an internal reaction to stress but can manifest itself both physiologically in terms of increased blood pressure, increased heart rate as well as changing the behavior thus impacting upon others.

Is stress the cause of the pressure we feel or the effects of those pressures, in other words, is stress the stimulus or the response to the stimulus? Stress is the response to the cause of stress, the stressor.

Stressors can be both external and internal. External stressors can come in the form of exposure to extreme conditions, diseases or physical danger while internal stressors can the take form of thoughts, beliefs or feelings. No matter where the stress comes from, it inevitably influences physiological response in our efforts to adapt to the actual or perceived demands and pressures. Moreover, in some circumstances our actual attempts to respond to the pressure and changes irrespective of their source might in themselves lead to further stress, breakdown and disease.

How you see things and how you respond to them determines how much stress one will experience.

Meditation has been shown to be highly effective in managing stress. "Meditation comes from the Sanskrit word Dhyan which mean awareness, it is simple, non-toxic and portable, even the Mental Health Foundation and NICE are now encouraging GP’s to prescribe Mindfulness instead of the less effective highly addictive and toxic anti-depressants ", says, Davinder Panesar teacher of mindfulness and Symran meditation practices.

EXERCISES:

Symran (by Dav Panesar)

Mindfulness (by Dav Panesar)


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