WHAT IS STRESS?
Before we dive into why stress is so high, we first need to define it.
We all have problems we run into, things we’re responsible for or need to take care of, or people depending on us.
We have upsets, losses in life, from losing people, failing to reach goals, and upsets with others or the conditions around us.
These are pressures from life of one sort or another.
We also have physical pressures.
We have to get up, move our bodies (whether we want to or not sometimes), be active, think and problem-solve.
We can experience low energy, brain fog, inability to sleep or lack of sleep, hunger, inflammation, soreness or exhaustion after a workout or strenuous day, pain or pain points, lessened strength, etc.
These are all daily points of pressure. We can call them stress, but they would be better defined as stress points.
Because when we think about “being stressed out” we’re not thinking about just normal everyday actions or problems, or individual points of pressure.
We’re thinking about how many there are. We’re thinking about all of them at once.
We’re thinking about feelings of overwhelm or “too much” to the point where it’s “hard to cope” or we “just can’t deal with it all.”
So for our definition, we’ll be talking about this latter point: so many stress points combined, to the point where it’s hard to cope or we just can’t cope.
But before we start getting stressed out thinking about what we’re stressed out about, take a deep breath and realize one thing: I wouldn’t be writing about this if I didn’t have some thing or things that can help reduce it, significantly.
Now, these stress points are tied together. They affect one another.
And they increase one another, making each point worse.
Here’s an example: Are we going through a break up? Or are we going through a break up and not sleeping and not eating?
Any breakup is stressful. But add in lack of sleep, or being hangry from lack of good food, and it can feel much worse and be harder to cope with.
Do we have trouble with our boss or do we have trouble with our boss and inflammation in our body, and lack of sleep so we can’t think as fast?
Each of these points alone may not be fun, but we can deal with them. But together, they double or triple the stress from each other point.
And, while maybe we can’t take away troubles with the boss, we can lower inflammation or improve sleep, or both, thus relieving some of the stress, and the boss becomes easier to deal with.
These are very simple examples, but it’s quite true.
We can’t take away all stress points — but we can take away many.
And the more we take away, the better we feel and the better we can deal with other stress points.
And you would be surprised at just how many stress points there are today compared to 5, 10, 20, 30 years ago.
And how many of them can be addressed to relieve overall stress levels so we’re more able to tackle the day.
Article FROM BODYHEALTH
