|
"Without stress, there would be no life"
One can hardly pick up a newspaper or magazine or watch TV without
seeing or hearing some reference to Stress .Why all the sudden fuss and
fascination? After all, stress has been around since Adam and Eve were
evicted from the Garden of Eden. Is it because there is much more stress
today? Is it because the nature of contemporary stress is somehow different
and more dangerous? Or is it because scientific research has increasingly
confirmed the crucial role stress can play in causing and aggravating
different disorders and the diverse mechanisms of actions responsible for
mediating its multitudinous effects?
Stress is an unavoidable consequence of life. However, just as
distress can cause disease, it seems plausible that there are good stresses
that promote wellness. Stress is not always necessarily harmful. Winning a
race or election can be just stressful as losing, or more so, but may
trigger very different biological responses. Increased stress results in
increased productivity -- up to a point. However, this level differs for
each of us. It's very much like the stress on a violin string. Not enough
produces a dull, raspy sound. Too much tension makes a shrill, annoying
noise or snaps the string. However, just the right degree can create a
magnificent tone. Similarly, we all need to find the proper level of stress
that allows us to perform optimally and make melodious music as we go
through life.
The body may contain its own best pharmacy. Good health is more than
just the absence of illness. Rather, it is a very robust state of physical
and emotional well-being, that acknowledges the importance and
inseparability of mind/body relationships. There is no single level of
stress that is optimal for all people. We are all individual creatures with
unique requirements. As such, what is distressing to one may be a joy to
another. And even when we agree that a particular event is distressing, we
are likely to differ in our physiological and psychological responses to
it.
It has been found that most illness is related to unrelieved stress.
If you are experiencing stress symptoms, you have gone beyond your optimal
stress level; you need to reduce the stress in your life and/or improve
your ability to manage it.
|