Psychology

Most people face different demands, challenges and hassles in their lives everyday, making stress a common problem for them. For some, stress can motivate them to work under pressure, but when this constantly happens, they do not notice that their health is usually at stake. Understanding stress and effectively dealing with it is essential to reduce its harmful physical and mental effects.

What is stress
Frey defines stress as the total response by an organisms body to any kind of pressures or demands (2002, p.1). In Biogenics Health Maintenance, Shealy states that stress originated from the external environment, but its effects are experienced internally. It is unpredictable, but the effects can be controlled (1986, p.9).

The stress response
Generally, when someone feels stressed or senses danger, the nervous system releases a great amount of stress hormone that rouses the body for immediate action. This process, according to Walter Cannon, is known as stress response, or the  fight-or-flight  reaction (1929).  It is the bodys natural way for protection. It helps a person stay focused and alert, especially in times of danger. Stress response is also helpful to meet the challenges of everyday life. Therefore, stress for a short period of time can helpful, but long-term stress can have damaging effects.

Shealy claims that any type of extreme pressure can induce stress response, whether it is emotional such as anger or depression or physical such as trauma or thermal changes (p. 29, n.d.).

Causes of stress
According to Selye, the pressure or situation that induces stress is known as stressors (1973, pp. 693-699). Stressors can be divided into two categories external and internal. External stressors include stressful environmental conditions such as as the workplace, while internal stressors can either be manifested through psychological or physical (External and internal stressors, 2009).

Stress and its symptoms
There are different symptoms associated with stress, it can be physical, emotional or behavioral. Physical symptoms include loss of appetite, insomnia, nausea and vomiting, constipation or diarrhea, and increased heart rate or chest pain. Emotional symptoms include irritability, depression, inability to relax and sense of loneliness. Understanding these symptoms is important, and if a person experiences too many of these, the closer heshe might be to suffer stress overload (Understanding stress, 2009).

Long-term effects of stress
When the stress-inducing factors are persistent, the body continuously secretes stress hormones and the blood level remains relatively high. The body then starts to experience persistent changes related to the effects of hormonal increase. Some of the long term effects of stress include irritable bowel disease, decreased sexual drive, chronic head ache exacerbation of allergies and stroke (Stress focus, n.d.).

Coping with stress
Since many people know that stress is uncontrollable, it is important for them to learn how to effectively deal with it. There are many ways of coping with stress and the most common are the unhealthy ways such as smoking, excessive drinking, overeating and using of drugs to relax. However, these methods can only reduce stress for a short time, but its long-term effects is more dangerous.

There are more healthier ways to deal with stressful situations and these include (1) avoiding the stressor, (2) altering the situation, (3) adapting to the environmentperson, and (4) accepting the stressor. Avoding the stressor simply means avoiding a person, situation or environment that contributes to stress. Altering the situation is usually done when the stressor is unavoidable. If the stressor can not be avoided or altered, the adaptation technique can be effective. After a person adapted to the stressor, heshe can now learn to accept it. These positive and healthy approaches to stress can be more effective by performing relaxation techniques and having a healthy lifestyle. Strengthening the physical health can develop and increase resistance to stress, and these include eating a balanced diet, avoiding alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, and exercising regularly (Stress Management, 2008).

On the other hand, there are also medications that doctors prescribe for relieving stress. These include Xanax (alprazolam) and Valium (diazepam). Tranquilizers are also advisable, but only for a short period of time as they are habit forming (Stress focus, n.d.).

Other stress-coping methods
There are other coping strategies to stress and these include deep breathing exercise and progressive muscle relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation is done to relax the body, and is an effective coping strategy with positive physiologic reactions. It is done by relaxing  different body parts, such as neck, shoulders, arms, legs and arms, while slowly releasing the tensions of stress. Often partnered with the progressive muscle relaxation is the deep breathing exercise, a technique that decreases the emotional results of stress.

These coping strategies often reduce the risk of suffering from the long-term effects of stress or heart diseases

Conclusion
Unpredictable, uncontrollable and persistent stress has harmful consequences physically and mentally. Although stress is a normal event in everyones life, there are many stress-reducing techniques and healthy ways of dealing with it. This review discusses a better understanding of stress and its processes. It explains how stress occurs, as well as the common manifestations of a person experiencing stress. It also gives emphasis on the different alternative ways of dealing with stress and preventing its long-term effects.