Healthy Living

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Stress and Depression Management

Introduction

1. Stress can be considered to be anything that stimulates you and increases your level of alertness. Life without stimulus would be incredibly dull and boring. Life with too much stimulus becomes unpleasant and tiring, and may ultimately damage your health or well-being. Too much stress can seriously interfere with your ability to perform effectively. The art of stress management is to keep yourself at a level of stimulation that is healthy and enjoyable. We will discuss strategies to reduce or eliminate sources of unpleasant stress and also explain what can happen when one does not control stress properly. So briefly we will discuss how to optimize stress levels by:

a. Knowing different types and causes of
b. Adjusting your lifestyle
c. Adjusting negative elements of your personality
d. Looking after your body and health
e. Using physical stress reduction techniques
f. Using mental stress reduction techniques

What is Stress

4. Doubtless all of us feel sad some times. Usually though, we probably get over it after a while. Depression or stress is much like sadness, except instead of a gray cloud which hangs on for a while and then vanishes , it is more like black chains . When we are depressed, these chains of sorrow pull upon our heart. Stress brings about a loss of pleasure and hopelessness. It can strike anyone when he is weak. Serious depression consumes about 10 million Americans a year, and recent studies show that as much as 10% of all teens are considered seriously depressed . Stress is thus an inescapable part of life.

5. To deal with stress , we first have to understand it. What is stress then ? Stress is the body and mind’s reaction to normal and abnormal pressures of everyday living. Stress tests humans’ abilities to cope. Everyone responses to stress differently. It can last for two days, two months or even twenty years.. It is important to identify and recuperate from it, or perhaps save others who are already in its grasp .The key rule here is ."Whatever you are doing, love yourself for doing it; Whatever you are feeling, love yourself for feeling it." --Thadeus Golas .

Types of Stress

6. There are certain types of stress depending on their outcomes but broadly there can be two major types :

a. Eu stress . Is stress necessary for life? Believe it or not, but some stress is good for you. It is called eustress and occurs when you use stress to your advantage. To motivate or propel yourself forward. Athletes sometimes use the stress of competition to psyche themselves up so that they can perform at the highest level.

b. Negative stress . when you’re stuck and can’t deal with the stress, you encounter negative stress called distress. Distress can occur quickly and pass-away (acute distress) or it can plague you over the


long term (chronic distress). Chronic distress is particularly dangerous as it wears out the body by depleting the immune system. Under such stress your production of natural killer cells called T-Lymphocytes and macrophages seems to be inhibited. Because these killer cells are responsible for guarding your body against infections and diseases, stress is related to over 80% of all the major illnesses, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer and others.

Causes of Stress

7. There are several major types of stress according to their stimuli that controls them or the causes that produce such types of stress. Most people realize that aspects of their work and lifestyle can cause stress. While this is true, it is also important to note that it can be caused by your environment and by the food and drink you consume. The major types of stress in this regards are :

a . Survival Stress. This may occur in cases where your survival or health is threatened, where you are put under pressure, or where you experience some unpleasant or challenging event. Here adrenaline is released in your body and you experience all the symptoms of your body preparing for first phase of stress.

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