WHAT IS STRESS?

How do you know when you are stressed?  You might experience headaches, stomach, aches, or back and neck aches, or you might feel irritable, tired, anxious, and depressed.  Some people eat more, while others find eating difficult when they are stressed.  Stress refers to physiological and emotional responses to a significant or unexpected change or disruption in one’s life.  It can be brought on by real or imagined factors or events.

Stress was first described in the 1930s by Hans Selye, who observed that patients suffering from a variety of illness all showed common symptoms, such as fatigue, appetite disturbance, sleep problems, mood swings, gastrointestinal problems, and diminished concentration and recall.  He called this collection of symptoms – this separate stress disease – stress syndrome, or the general adaptation syndrome (GAS).  He also described this as “the syndrome of being ill.”

Selye defines stress as “the nonspecific response of the body to any demand whether it is caused by or results in pleasant or unpleasant conditions.  Stress can be both positive or negative: again it is our response to stress – how we manage stress – that makes a difference in terms of how it affects us.  Stress resulting from unpleasant events or conditions is called distress (from the Latin dis, meaning bad, as in displeasure).  Stress resulting from pleasant events or conditions is called eustress (from the Latin eu, meaning good, as in euphoria).  Both eustress and distress elicit the same physiological responses in the body, as noted in Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome model.

While stress may not always be negative, our responses to it can be negative, problematic, or unhealthy.  Both positive and negative stressful situations place extra demands on the body – your body is reacting to unexpected change or a highly emotional experience, regardless of whether this change is good or bad.  If the duration of your stress is relatively short, the overall effect is minimal and your body will rest, renew itself, and everything returns to normal.