Stress

What is stress?

Stress can be defined as any type of change that causes physical, emotional, or psychological strain. It’s how we react when we feel under pressure or threatened and it usually happens when we are in a situation that we don’t feel we can manage or control. Everyone experiences stress to some degree. The way you respond to stress, however, makes a big difference to your overall well-being.

What causes stress?

Many things can cause stress. You might feel stressed because of one big event or situation in your life. Or it might be a build-up of lots of smaller things.

You may experience stress if you:

• Feel under lots of pressure, face big changes in your life, are worried about something, don’t have much or any control over the outcome of a situation, have responsibilities that you find overwhelming, etc.

Stress can affect our emotions, our body, and how we behave, in lots of different ways. Sometimes when we are stressed, we might be able to tell right away. But at other times, we might keep going without recognising the signs. The following are some signs that may develop if you are stressed

• Irritable, angry, impatient or wound up
• Over-burdened or overwhelmed
• Anxious, nervous, or afraid
• Like your thoughts are racing and you can’t switch off
• Unable to enjoy yourself
• Depressed
• Uninterested in life

  At Supporting Humanity we can help you develop techniques to manage your stress and to develop resilience to it.