Added: June 17, 2006
“Stress” is commonly understood as feelings of tension and discomfort. It is often used to mean distress. In fact stress does not mean distress alone. It can also mean a state of intense experience of pleasant emotions, for instance, the joy a student experiences when he hears about his creditable success in an examination. Some psychologists have used the term “Eustress” to denote this creative tension. Stress or distress is a reaction of a person to a real or perceived threat to oneself in the environment. It develops readiness to deal with the conditions that cause stress.
Stress is accompanied by heightened physiological activities like increased heart beat, increased pulse rate, slowing of digestion, etc. To the extent that it serves as a warning signal and helps the person to mobilise his energies, it is normal. But, if the stress reaction is prolonged or if the person experiences stress too often, depending on the personality of the person, it can lead to a number of diseases as well as mental problems.
Some of the health conditions which prolonged stress can cause are heart problems, high blood pressure, excessive sweating, digestive problems (such as lack of appetite, diarrhoea, constipation) nausea and vomiting, headache, and pains and aches in the body, sleep disturbances, complaints of vision, memory disturbances etc. There may be loss of body weight. Suppression of immune system resulting in increasing susceptibility to disease can occur.
Skin allergy, impotence in males and infertility in females, premature greying of hair and again, tendency for over-eating and consequent obesity are other changes which may be seen.
Some of the mental symptoms are anxiety, tension, depression, nervousness, getting irritated easily, feeling constantly under pressure, impatient, or feeling run out of energy.
Loss of interest in activities, inabilities to concentrate on any activity, losing confidence in oneself, being touchy, suggestible and heavily dependent on others, feelings of hostility, hatred, jealousy and rivalry, showing inertia, and always complaining of sickness of one kind or other may occur. Some of the above opposite feelings and impulses can alternate in expression. For example, a person may be hostile at one moment and withdrawing and depressed at another. Persons under stress can also take to excessive smoking and drinking and to drugs.
Let us examine the characteristics of a relatively stress-free state. Some of these are feeling relaxed, energetic, confident and hopeful; general feeling of satisfaction with one’ day-to-day life and, sense of purpose. There will be a feeling of control over events and circumstances or the feeling that one can make things happen.
The person is able to get absorbed in an activity; take an interest and get involved in whatever activity one is engaged in; keeps calm, cool and composed when a problem situation presents itself; and has the ability to renew energy and mood through rest. He or she is aware of their own strengths and weaknesses. The individual is able to keep an overall positive image of oneself. He or she experiences the desire to work hard and tries and achieves goals in life. There is the ability to adjust socially and to get absorbed in hobbies, and creative pursuits. How can we prevent or minimise stress and stay in a relatively stress-free state most of the time? There are several methods one can adopt. Let me describe three classes of individual strategies for coping with stress.
1. Application of mental health principles in our life.
2. Prayer, meditation, yoga and exercises of relaxation
3. Providing healthy outlet to our emotions and impulses by participation in sports and games and other physical exercises and following hobbies and creative pursuits.
Application of mental health principlesWe should not allow ourselves to be overpowered by problems. We should approach problems with a calm and mind squarely. Develop the habit of analysing problems factually without emotionalising. Be ready for action. Do not be heavily preoccupied with the consequences of action. A person who is ready for action is less likely to experience prolonged stress than a lethargic person. Too much preoccupation with the possible outcome of one’s action disturbs the equanimity of one’s mind and one is not able to act appropriately.
We know that a student who broods over the possible results of an examination is not able to concentrate on his or her studies. Development of the feeling of failure while confronting a problem, leads to stress. Instead of a fear of failure, we should develop a sense of success, by reassuring ourselves and deriving inspiration from our past success and achievements. While confronting a problem, we should think of instances of our past success. We will find that we are more confident in facing a new problem.
Reading success stories of great people can also be helpful in empowering one’s mind. Proper balancing of aspirations and achievements can help to keep oneself free from stress. We should aspire to only that which we can achieve with our own best efforts. Aspirations should always follow effort.
Prayer and meditationPrayer and meditation help us to minimise stress. While in prayer, we focus our attention on a Divine Symbol and relieve our body from the weight of our impulses, conflicting motives and other negative emotions and allow it to work in its natural rhythm. The same effects can be achieved, if we sit quiet in a place close our eyes and focus on the rhythmic beat of our heart or the rhythmic movement of our lungs.
Western scholars have brought out a number of relaxation exercises such as Jacobson’s Progressive Relaxation Technique, Bio-Feedback and the exercises, proposed by Hans Selye given in his book Stress without Distress.
Providing healthy outlet to emotions and impulses Regular daily exercises, playing games and participating in sports help to work out the accumulated tension. In addition it builds up the personality which is empowered to resist stress. Of course one should be serious in participating in these activities, in the sense that one should enjoy these activities.
Spending time on hobbies and in creative pursuits also help to sublimate the conflicting impulses and in turn to relieve oneself of tension. Spending some time with pets like dogs and cats can also help to relieve oneself of tension induced by stress, as these animals respond to human love and affection.
In short, one should adopt a life style which is not stress inducing and also involve in certain activities, which help to absorb the stress.
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