Battling Stress

By Trevor Johnson

Stress is the result of the physical and emotional effects that continuous change has on our bodies and minds. Although stress can have positive influence on behavior, such as urging a person to quick action or offering a fresh perspective on problems, it does more harm than good. Stress can arouse emotions of anger, mistrust, rejection and depression and physical symptoms of rashes, migraines, indigestion and ulcers. More serious consequences of stress include cardiac problems, strokes and hypertension.

While it is true that stress is an inherent part of human life, it is not true that we have to live with the problem. Since it is usually change of some sort that brings about stress, adjusting comfortably to new situations can help combat stress and its unpleasant effects. We’re not trying to eliminate stress; we do need that kind of pressure and excitement to meet deadlines, compete and achieve high levels of performance. Without a certain amount of pressure, we would be bored and de-motivated. What we need to do is channelize stress, manage it, so that urges us on without breaking us down!

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Whether you have a spouse, a domestic partner or just someone who is the current live-in love of your life, living with someone close can cause stress. Note, the ‘can’ not ‘must’. Interacting with someone with whom you have that kind of relationship introduces a variety of potential problems, but those don’t have to lead to stress - for either party.

Stress results when someone feels caught in a perceived, unresolvable conflict between “I must” and “I can’t”. They feel there is something they have to do, but are blocked from or don’t have the resources to do.

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Some effects believed to be linked to stress have not been borne out by research. Ulcers, in particular, were thought to be caused by stress. Though the acid produced during moments of stress may increase discomfort, contemporary research points more to genetic factors in combination with certain stomach viruses as the likely culprit.

But evidence is accumulating that some health effects are strongly influenced by stress.

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