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Stress is a normal part of everyone’s life. No matter whom you are or where you live, everyone experiences stress. You may be surprised to learn that having some stress is actually good for you. But too much stress is bad. Stress can have a cumulative effect on the human body. As it adds up, stress can affect you in many ways, both mentally and physically. Stress is a biological response. It is caused by either stimuli to the body or danger, either real or perceived. Back in the days of the cave dweller, the body used stress to help us get away from danger, such as wild animals. The body still gives us responses to danger, however, now the “dangers” are much different.

Stress is a chemical reaction in your body when you confront danger or perceived danger. Stress happens when your brain thinks something is threatening. The body releases chemicals into the nervous system that sends it racing. The heart pumps faster and you breathe more quickly to take in more oxygen. The body tenses up. Your reflexes get sharper. Your brain is preparing the body to deal with a dangerous situation. Although our modern stresses come from many places, they are no less real to us than dangers were to our caveman ancestors.

Doctors deal with stress-related problems every day. While medications can sometimes help to alleviate the symptoms, stress related issues are best dealt with by getting to the root of the problem and eliminating it. Stress causes many responses in the body. Anxiety attacks, while now quite common, are a typical response to an over buildup of stress. An anxiety attack can have very acute symptoms, many of which mirror symptoms of a heart attack. The body tenses up. Breathing becomes erratic, often hyperventilation occurs. Fear of dying is common. The erratic breathing can cause chest pains, again simulating a heart attack. For many, a trip to the emergency room reveals through an EKG that what they have experienced was not a heart attack, but was actually an anxiety attack. An anxiety attack is actually nothing more than an extreme build up of stress in the body. Victims of an anxiety attack are told to go home and to relax.

To better understand what stress is, it will help to know something about the human body. When you perceive a threat (either real or imagined), the communication systems within the body begin to activate. The nervous system triggers the release of hormones such as adrenaline. These hormones are secreted into the nervous system and cause a heightened arousal that increases the blood pressure and heart rate. Hormones are also released into the system that prepares it for action. They ready the body for quick response, getting the heart and muscles ready for action.

At the same time, the hypothalamus, a part of the brain, releases a substance that travels to the pituitary gland, which in turn triggers additional powerful hormones to be released into the bloodstream. These responses happen simultaneously and almost instantaneously. We feel the changes happen within our body. Our breathing becomes much more rapid.

You can get stress from a wide variety of circumstances. Some stress is rapid and lasts a relatively short time. This type of stress is usually quite intense for a short time, and then subsides. This is the type you experience when you have a close call, such as an accident or are involved in a fire or other disaster. Your body reacts to an external situation and produces the typical responses. This stress is mostly physical, that is, it is brought on by physical events. This quick-type stress goes away quickly. You do not accumulate physical stress in the body.

Other stress can be slow, and long term. This stress can have cumulative effects on the body. This type of stress may be more mental than physical. That is, it is more a product of the mind than of any actual physical danger. This is the type of stress that you may feel at work. When people say they are ’under pressure’ at work, what that really translates to is stress. There are varying degrees of stress. Many situations in life produce stress in varying degrees. Some situations affect some people more than others. There are many stressful situations that people are unaware of as causing stress. Raising children can be stressful at times. Arguing with your spouse is stressful. And we’ve all heard of ‘road rage’. This is stress caused by traffic situations.

You can rid yourself of the effects of stress. This is important in dealing with cumulative stress. In the case of ‘road rage’, a person does not have the opportunity to cool off and relax. The stress has consumed their mind and they react in ways they may not normally react. Although ‘road rage’ is an extreme example, we can see where stress accumulates inside you. Some people don’t release the stress and it manifests itself in the body, causing many illnesses and health problems.

Posttraumatic stress syndrome is stress that is caused by a traumatic event that happened a long time ago, often years. An example of posttraumatic stress syndrome is someone who has fought in a war and returns home only to later have nightmares, anxiety, and other stress related issues. The person can actually re-live the stress they felt during the original event. This type of stress is extreme and should be treated by a doctor.

Tension is stress that is manifested in your physical being. Some signs of tension include headaches, muscle spasms, jaw tension, and tight shoulders and neck. Treat the physical symptoms as normal, however you need to get to what caused the tension and alleviate it.