Battling Stress

‘She drove me to drink’ used to be a popular phrase. Its essential meaning is that stress induces people to consume alcohol. While it’s true that stress can be an incentive to drink, it’s equally true that heavy alcohol consumption causes stress.

Moderate alcohol intake, to be sure, can have beneficial effects. Research suggests that small amounts can even improve mental functioning and increase performance in problem solving while stressed. But, there are also studies that demonstrate that large quantities, particularly when consumed for long periods, actually worsens stress.

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No doubt it’s impractical to try to ‘cure’ stress in the sense of eliminating all occurrences. But there are several practical short-term and effective long-term strategies for minimizing it and its effects.

Most individuals under stress will let it build, ignoring it for too long. They cite the need to get a work project completed, or view their situation as unchangeable. “That’s life,” many will say. But no form of ill-effect is inevitable, nor is it necessary or wise to passively accept one.

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One of the facts that makes identifying the causes of stress difficult is that they can be nearly anything and can differ from person to person.

Losing a job, ending a close relationship, discovering a health problem… in the modern world there is no shortage of possible initiators. Also, some people react to these facts very differently than others. While some will be anxious, others will be stoic. Some people may thrive on the challenge of finding a new love, others may feel lonely and despair at the odds of fulfilling their dream.

The causes are neither entirely external nor internal, but generally involve both.

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