It’s unfortunate, but stress is a fact of life. Any time you are in a situation where you must deal with other people or with the environment and you can’t control the outcome, the potential for stress is there.
The effects of stress on the body can not be underestimated. It has been linked to several life-changing illnesses — heart disease and diabetes are just two that come to mind.
The problem with stress is that there are times we may find ourselves in a stressful situation without realizing it. Our bodies know it, though, and it can produce unwanted effects if we don’t take steps to deal with it.
The rest of this article deals with four major types of stress that we can find ourselves subjected to on a daily basis.
Survival Stress
Survival stress comes into play when we are faced with physical danger, whether it’s real or perceived. This could come in the form of an attack from another person or a sudden change in your surroundings. Think about how you react when a dog barks at you from the other side of a fence. Even though you know he can’t get at you, just the thought that he might get through that fence is enough to cause a reaction in your body. This is the type of stress that produces the common “fight or flight” response that determines whether we run from the danger or stand and face it.
Mental Stress
One of the most common types of stress we face daily is our own mental stress. This type of stress is caused by worrying about things we have no control over. Internal stress exists in our own minds and this makes it very dangerous to our overall well-being. Since our thoughts create our reality, by worrying about things before they happen we can easily find ourselves in the middle of the very situation we were trying to avoid.
Work-Related Stress
Work-related stress is another type of stress that can play havoc with our well-being. It’s just as dangerous as mental stress because it can build slowly over time. When you work too much, whether by choice or because it’s a requirement of the job, your body will eventually rebel.
Environmental Stress
Environmental stress is a result of changes in your environment and is the easiest type of stress to deal with. Examples of environmental stress are loud noises, big crowds, and pollution. When it comes right down to it, just about everything associated with urban living has the potential to cause environmental stress.
Avoiding Stress
The easiest way to deal with any type of stress is to identify its cause and then set out to either change the situation or avoid it entirely. If avoiding the cause of your stress is not an option, there are several alternative ways to deal with it that we will focus on in future articles.
In the meantime, you can get some great ideas on how to relieve your stress with our free guide: 50 Simple Stress Relief Strategies available from TheAcornStash.com
