Use the power of stress!

We see and hear that almost every person, including ourselves, from every age group, from every profession, is faced with stress in daily life and is trying to cope with it. So what is this stress that has become a part of our lives? Why do we get stressed? How does it affect our body? What negative situations does it create? Is it always bad or can we take advantage of it or even manage it? If you have wondered about the answers to all these questions, this article is for you! Stress is the feeling of being unable to cope with mental or emotional pressure. It is characterized as a disease of the 21st century and not only affects the health of the person, but also greatly affects the quality of life of the person, from social life to business life. Anyone can feel stressed. Our view of the world, our environment, our thoughts, our body and many other sources can also be stress factors. Humans naturally tend to cope with stress and react to it physiologically. There are three different types of stress. These are: Acute Stress: It occurs with the tensions of daily life. It is temporary. Often there are situations that we don’t like that need to be resolved. casual and temporary
This type of stress can usually be coped with. Because our body does not recognize this type of stress, it immediately reacts to resolve it. For example, the feeling we experience when an item is lost and we cannot find it is an example of this type of stress. Chronic Stress: It can be said that it occurs with the continuation of acute stress. The person exposed to this type of stress cannot find a solution to get rid of the stressful situation, so it is long-term. Poverty can have many causes, such as poor work life or unemployment, ongoing family problems, constant care for the elderly or sick, relatives, neighbors, events. This type of stress can wear you down for weeks or even months. The person cannot perceive the chronic stress he feels constantly as something new, starts to see it as familiar and acceptable, and therefore neglects it and normalizes living with it instead of developing a solution. Traumatic Stress: It is the type of stress that occurs against major and sudden events. Rape, accident, natural disasters, war, concentration camps etc. seen in people exposed to catastrophic situations such as In this type of stress, memories of the traumatic event remain vivid even after years, and sensitivity to other minor events increases. People with this condition can sometimes be diagnosed with PTSD. In the moment of stress, the alarm starts to sound in our body. Adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol levels rise, making a stimulus that prepares our entire body, especially our kidneys and gallbladder, to work overtime. Essentially, this stimulation is physiological changes that help us cope with threat or danger. This is called the stress response or the ‘flight or flight response’. For example, if a wild animal is chasing us, releasing the hormone adrenaline is beneficial for our survival, but it is dangerous for us to secrete stress hormones all the time, since we almost never encounter such a situation in our daily life. If the secretion does not stop in the first few minutes and continues, the secretion of these hormones is an important factor in the emergence of many diseases, including cellular deterioration in the brain structure, colds and cancer, as the body is forced to work extra and unaccustomed. In addition, our respiratory system (shortness of breath, asthma), immune system (infections), skeletal and muscular systems (muscle tension, stiffness, pain, migraine), cardiovascular system (hypertension, heart attack, stroke), endocrine system (growth, development, reproduction) problems), our digestive system (heartburn, pain, reflux), our reproductive system (impaired sperm production, erection problems, disruption in the menstrual cycle) and our intestines (abdominal pain, swelling, nausea, diarrhea, constipation) are also adversely affected by stress. Let’s not forget that during our visits to the doctor, we hear that most of our health problems are due to stress! When stress becomes constant, it causes deterioration in our healthy thinking and problem-solving functions, with its negative effects on our body, that is, chronic stress makes us stupid. With the decrease in brain volume and the deterioration of the amygdala’s function, cognitive abilities weaken, attention deficit, daily life adaptation problems, forgetfulness, loss of emotional meaning of events can be seen; Since the hippocampus is suppressed by stress, we can say that the formation of new neurons stops. But besides all these, if it is not traumatic, it is not the effects of stress, the brain, body and metabolism are programmed to return to their original state after stress. We must remember that each person’s response to stress is different, and that what makes us sick is not stress, but how we react to and manage stress. Negative situations created by stress are not only physical and mental, they are also seen in our social life. Stress such as unmanageable work, excessive workload, not getting help, long working hours, low salary, work-related problems, role conflicts between home and work, emotional needs, work pressure
factors can negatively affect our private and working lives and cause us to suffer material and moral losses. So, is the stress that we mentioned above causing so much negativity really a bad thing? We’ve talked enough about the damage that stress causes to our body and its socio-economic damage is a bad thing. But stress also has its upsides; Stress isn’t all bad, it’s a healthy and necessary part of our lives. Stress triggers the release of noradrenaline and other hormones, a hormone that plays a key role in forming new memories. Noradrenaline is responsible for the development of our temperamental characteristics. For example; Trying to learn to ride a bike and swim may not be enough to finish a thesis or assignment.
not forgetting any of our memories, such as working, or ‘He is very agile.’ ‘He is cold-blooded.’ We show our own temperamental characteristics such as the fact that we can find a creative solution when we encounter a problem; it’s all about being able to use noradrenaline properly, and it’s all called ‘creative stress’. Some types of acute stress are helpful; It has been determined by experiments that the immune system of people who watch a movie with offensive content under a stress condition is activated at that moment. made
Studies have also proven that stress has anti-aging effects and that good stress, defined as short-term and low-intensity, increases attention and mental performance, strengthens memory (Memorization in a time that we can not normally memorize before an exam)
as we can). Contrary to popular belief, stress has been shown to have benefits on cognitive functions and general health, although not excessively, so we definitely need a certain degree of stress; A good example of this is that we don’t rush through stress when we notice a speeding car coming towards us while we are crossing the street, thus avoiding being damaged. Apart from emergencies like this, we also need stress to perform our daily tasks. Everyone is always stressed to some degree.
because entertainment also includes stress, keeping our heart beating and the lungs working also includes stress. Based on all these, it is very important for us to manage stress, not us, not only for the fate of our mental health, but also for the protection of physical health. Daily low-filled stress, which does not become chronic and does not cause a constant state of anxiety, falls into the category of good stress, making it easier to cope with negative situations by providing extra energy concentration in situations that the mind perceives as a threat or problem. As long as we keep it at the right level! After explaining the bad and good stress, how to benefit from stress is a little bit of that.
Let’s talk. Low-level stressors strengthen the connections between neurons in the brain, increase productivity and creativity, and have positive effects on memory and learning processes. We can say that stress provides us with the ability to think like poison. Stress, which is released for less than a few hours, strengthens our immune system, increases our resistance and helps our body to protect itself against injury and infection. When the brain experiences a stress and stores it as good stress, it tends to be stronger when faced with another similar stressor. Acceptable good stress is a motivator and challenge to obstacles while reaching the goal. Also romantic dates, exploring new places, meeting new people etc. It can also be listed as positive stress sources and can give us positive features such as time management, being solution-oriented, quick thinking ability, and making the right choice. In order to benefit from stress, stress must be used correctly. For this, it is necessary to control the fear that creates stress. After all this information we learned about stress, we came to the management part. For this, first of all, we have to do something about stressors, which are events, people or all of the factors that cause stress for us. These are: 1- Modifying the stressor: For example, if we have a neighbor who gives us a lot of stress, trying not to contact or encounter him, or to have him contact someone else in our house instead of us, to see if the stressor can be changed to see if it can reduce my stress source. 2-Changing the perception and evaluation about the stressor: Trying to change our perception about the stressor, such as turning about our manager with whom we have scabies and accepting that he will not change after this age, that he is such a person, that he may have other unhappiness.
3-Changing the reaction to stress: Trying to change our previous reactions, such as shutting up if we shout when the stressor puts us under stress, or laughing if we are crying. 4-Stress vaccine: Trying to increase the good stress factors mentioned above. Apart from these, there are other things we can do to manage our stress. What we can and cannot control before our stress rises to dangerous levels, so as not to feel that we are out of control,
We need to learn what issues we can provide, what we can and cannot change, what we can do with the data we have, and define what we can do, what we can cut back on, how we can save time and how we can handle it in the most seamless way. Then we have to rank all the things we need to do in order of urgency and importance. (we can say a kind of action plan.) We have to accept the word enough. Vacation, we should take a break and slow down a bit. We must try not to think. We have to stop being defensive. We should experience relaxation techniques such as meditation, yaga, and breathing. By saying no, we should draw our boundaries against sources of stress. We have to create our own hobbies and interests. We should not hesitate to receive social and psychological support. Finally, most importantly, we should not go over the stress!