What is Stress?
Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that brings anger, frustration, and anxiety. Stress is the body's reaction to a challenge or demand.
Stress is considered a normal feeling and can either occur positively or negatively. Positively, stress allows the body to deal with flight and fright reactions. While negatively, stress occurring for a prolonged period becomes harmful to the body both physically and emotionally.
The body reacts to stress by releasing hormones. These hormones increase brain alertness, cause your muscles to tense, and increase your pulse. These reactions are good when it is short termed because they can help you handle the situation causing stress and this is your body's way of protecting itself.
Tech professionals are exposed to stress both physically and emotionally, they experience stress physically as pain at various joints due to improper body positioning, headaches, increased blood pressure, trouble sleeping, etc. Emotionally, they experience stress as anxiety towards work and tasks, being easily irritated, feelings of depression, and panic attacks associated with various things (work notifications, phone calls, responsibilities).
Types of Stress
Stress can be classified into two types:
Acute stress: This is short-term stress that goes away quickly. It helps you manage dangerous situations. It also occurs when you do something new or exciting. All people have acute stress at one time or another.
Chronic stress: This is stress that lasts for a longer period of time. You may have chronic stress if you have money problems, an unhappy marriage, or trouble at work. Any type of stress that goes on for weeks or months is chronic stress. You can become so used to chronic stress that you don't realize it is a problem. When you have chronic stress, your body stays alert, even though there is no danger. Over time, this puts you at risk for health problems like High blood pressure, Heart disease, Diabetes, Obesity, Skin problems, such as acne or eczema, Depression or anxiety, etc.
Symptoms
Stress symptoms can occur in two ways:
Physical symptoms:
- Aches and pains.
- Chest pain or a feeling like your heart is racing.
- Exhaustion or trouble sleeping.
- Headaches, dizziness, or shaking.
- High blood pressure.
- Muscle tension or jaw clenching.
- Stomach or digestive problems.
- Weak immune system.
Emotional symptoms:
- Anxiety or irritability.
- Depression.
- Panic attacks.
- Sadness.
When am I Stressed?
Stress is subjective, i.e it is not measurable with tests. Only the person experiencing it can determine whether it's present and how severe it feels. A healthcare professional may use questionnaires to understand your stress and how it affects your life. But it is ultimately dependent on you to determine what you are experiencing and to what degree you are experiencing it.
What am I doing to make me stressed as a Tech Professional?
- High task repetition
- Repetitive or sustained awkward postures
- Poor rest and recovery
- Poor nutrition, fitness, and hydration
- Poor overall health habits
- Taking on excessive responsibilities
How do I avoid Stress?
- Try relaxation activities, such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, breathing exercises, and muscle relaxation.
- Take good care of your body each day. Eating right, exercising, and getting enough sleep help your body handle stress much better.
- Take rest between tasks
- Accept that you can’t control everything. Find ways to let go of worry about situations you cannot change.
- Break down larger goals into smaller tasks to ease completion
- Say “no” to additional responsibilities when you are too busy or stressed.
- Stay connected with people who keep you calm, make you happy, provide emotional support and help you with practical things.
- Consider therapy when you feel overwhelmed with stress and worry.
While stress is a normal part of life, too much stress is clearly harmful to your physical and mental well-being.
Fortunately, there are many ways to manage stress, and there are effective treatments for both anxiety and depression that may be connected with it. Try relieving and managing stress using a few simple strategies. But if you feel overwhelmed, talk to your doctor.