Children are constantly screaming, your boss is angry because you are late in your tasks, and you have a lot of bills to pay. You are really stressed out.

Stress is not a disease, actually it is an essential part of normal life. Stress has many positive purposes: It can motivate you to achieve best and get promotions, to win a competition, and to study well for a test. As long as you have a handle on your stress and it is not a long-term issue, with no effect on your job performance, health and family, and your relationships with people, then it is fine.

Below you will find some causes of stress and how it can affect you negatively.

Work Stress

Stress Triggers are different from person to person. According to surveys the most common cause is work.

Some of the work stress causes are:

• You are unhappy in your job
• Workload is heavy
• Responsibility is too much
• You work for long hours
• The management at work is poor
• You don’t have clear expectations of the work
• You have no say in making decisions
• Working conditions are dangerous
• Insecurity about advancement chances
• Risk of termination
• You have to give speeches in front of others
• Discriminations or harassment at work place
• The organization is not supportive

Life Stress

Life stressors can add profoundly to the impact of work stress. Examples include:

• The Loss of a loved one
• Divorce/Breakup
• Job loss
• Financial difficulties
• Marriage
• Moving to a new residence home
• Injury or chronic disease
• Mood problems like depression, anxiety, and grief
• Care giving to an elderly od a sick family member
• Exposure to a traumatic event

Internal Sources Of Stress

Not all stress comes from outside. Sometimes it comes from within. You can bring stress to yourself just by worrying about stuff.

• Uncertainty Intolerance:

The stuff on the news can trigger fear. Things like terrorist attacks, war, global warming and diseases can make people anxious because they have no control over them. Although disasters are rare but their coverage in media is vivid and wide. You may also worry about closer things like inability to pay bills or finish a task or pass a test.

• Subjective perceptions:

The way you view the world or grasp a specific situation can affect whether it causes you stress. For instance, if an amount of money is stolen from your cars and take the attitude ; “It is Ok. My account is insured and the bank will give me the money back” you stress level will be far less than if you think, “ My money is gone. I will never have it back. What if the thieves manage to know my new credentials and steal again?”. In a similar fashion, people who feel like they are good at their jobs will be less stressed than people who thinks they are lacking some skills for the job.

• Being Unrealistic:

Don’t try to be perfect, no one is. If you want to do things right every time, then you are definitely going to feel stressed every time things don’t go as expected.

• Change:

All major life events are stressful even the good ones like graduation, engagement, wedding or promotion. Negative events such as divorce, financial loss or loss of a loved one are particularly significantly stressful

Other important factors include your personality and how you respond to different situations.

Some people tend to let things slip off their backs easily. Work and life stresses to them are just insignificant speed bumps in the street. But some people get sick from worrying themselves

Effects on Health

When in stressful situation, the body starts a response. This is why your find your beats accelerate, breathing speeds up, muscles get tense and even shake, and your hands sweat. This response is called the “fight or flight ” response; where your brain prepares you to either run or fight.

This is temporary and short-term and you usually recover from it quickly

But if this state remains longer than it should be you will go into chronic stress. This poses a major health issue. A lot of wear and tear can be put on your body due to the constant release of stress hormones into your systems. Many health issues can result.

On the short term you may notice the following signs:

• Headache
• Tiredness
• Difficulty sleeping
• Difficulty concentrating
• Upset stomach
• Irritability

And on the long term you may suffer from:

• Depression
• Unstable blood pressure
• Missing heartbeats(arrhythmia)
• Stiffness of the arteries (atherosclerosis)
• Cardiovascular disease
• Upset stomach
• Weight gain or loss
• Changes in sex drive
• Fertility problems
• Flare-ups of asthma or arthritis
• Skin diseases

This makes better management of stress an important action for you to take without delay

Sources:

CDC, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health: “Stress … At Work.”

American Psychological Association: “Mind/Body Health: Stress.”

Causes of stress, S.Watson on webmed