Stress Is Subjective Part 1

Do you feel stressed and overwhelmed sometimes and it feels like the people around you don't get it?

The key is: stress is subjective.

The threat can be real or imagined; it’s the perception of the threat that triggers the stress response. What feels as eustress to one person may be felt as distress to others. Only the person experiencing it can determine with self-awareness (see below) whether it's present and how severe it feels. No matter what other people think or say, if you feel stressed and overwhelmed, it is real for you.

Ongoing stress reactions can interfere with your productivity, relationships, and health and it is highly recommended to be aware of how you feel and take action.

Keep reading if you would like to know more about the types of stress. Next week I will share a few stress-coping strategies in Part 2. Stay tuned.

It is important to know that not all stress is bad. Stress is a typical human reaction that happens to everyone. Stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain (WHO). Stress is our body's response to anything that requires attention or action. In fact, the human brain is designed to experience stress, react, and adapt to it. This adaptation and growth process in the brain is called neuroplasticity - the brain's ability to modify, change, and adapt both structure and function throughout life and in response to experience. 

Stress responses help our brain and body to adjust to new situations. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert, motivated, and ready to avoid danger. For example, if you have an important test coming up, a stress response might help you to be more alert and awake longer. 

Stress becomes a problem when stressors continue and the brain adaptation process is overwhelmed. Lack of recovery and an overactive nervous system can create altered physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses. 

Types of Stress

There are two categories of stress: eustress and distress

Eustress is a positive form of stress having a beneficial effect on health, motivation, performance, and emotional well-being. Eustress is short-term and is perceived within our coping abilities. It gives us a positive outlook and makes us capable of overcoming obstacles and sickness.

Distress is pain or suffering affecting the body, a bodily part, the mind, and the nervous system. Distress can make us feel overwhelmed because our resources (physically, mentally, and emotionally) are inadequate to meet the demands we are facing. Distress occurs in form of acute stress, acute stress disorder, and chronic stress.

Strategies, techniques, and drills change the input and the neural integration process in the brain. Most often a change in exteroceptive and interoceptive inputs creates the positive output that we desire. 

Exteroception includes the five senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste, and exteroceptors thus take a variety of forms (e.g., photoreceptors—retinal rods and cones—for sight; cutaneous receptors—Pacinian corpuscles, Meissner's corpuscles, Merkel's tactile disks—for touch).

Interoception is the perception of sensations from inside the body and includes the perception of physical sensations related to internal organ function such as heartbeat, respiration, and feeling full after a meal, as well as the autonomic nervous system activity related to emotions.

Stress Self-Awareness:

Here are a few areas to pay attention to when assessing one's stress level:

Physical

• Feeling a rapid heartbeat
• Sweating
• Having difficulty sleeping well
• Difficulty breathing
• Muscle aches
• Headache
• Chest pain and high blood pressure
• indigestion or heartburn

Cognitive

• Having racing thoughts
• Having difficulty with relationships, school or work performance, social activities, and recreation
• Having excessive, uncontrollable worry about events or activities
• Having difficulty concentrating

Emotional

• Feeling unusually irritable, angry, or “jumpy”
• Panic attacks
• Anxious
• Afraid 

Behavioral

• Avoiding people and places that remind you of events
• Impatient
• Sense of dread
• Using alcohol or other substances as a coping strategy

Note: This is not a complete list and if you feel that multiple areas are severely impacted please reach out to a licensed healthcare professional.

Next week, I will share a few stress-coping strategies in Part 2.