by Joanne Smedley

Created on: June 13, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2008

Stress is part of your in-built fight or flight response to perceived danger. A little stress can be a good thing as it helps you deal with day to day challenges, increases your ability to cope, or improves your performance for certain sports.

Problems arise however when stress becomes excessive or prolonged. If stress builds up, or continues un-checked for any length of time, stress becomes harmful both to your physical and mental health.

SYMPTOMS OF STRESS

Physical symptoms include:

* Fatigue.
* Tension headaches
* Increased susceptibility to minor infections.
* Mouth ulcers
* Insomnia
* Reduced energy levels
* Anxiety
* Difficulty concentrating
* Irritability
* Tearfulness
* Impatience.

Stress can also aggravate other medical conditions such as:
* High Blood pressure
* Eczema
* Stomach Ulcers
* Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
* Psoriasis
* Menstrual disorders
* Impotence

CAUSES OF STRESS

Stress is usually triggered by an external source, an event or a circumstance that is often out of our control. These events can be both positive and negative.

How we deal with a stressful event will depend very much on our personality, and it this combination of a triggering event, and our reaction to the pressure, which leads to stress.

The top ten major events considered to be the most stressful are: the death of a spouse, divorce, moving house, personal injury, retirement, serious illness of a member of the family, pregnancy, marriage, losing or changing job and financial worries.

Long-term problems such as serious illnesses, unemployment or marital problems are also major triggers.

HOW TO DEAL WITH STRESS

Learning to identify stress early is essential to maintaining good health.

Many of us struggle with minor stresses day to day, but luckily there are 5 steps you can implement NOW which will prevent an excessive built up of stress.

1) Smile for 90 Seconds

Humour is a really quick way of reducing stress. It distracts your mind from the thing that is occupying it and it also releases endorphins.

Strangely even just forcing a smile will do the job and research has proven that smiling stimulates the "happy" feelings in our brain.

It uses more muscles to frown then to smile so why not give your face a rest and grin your way to feeling happier? Take a minute out of your day and find something funny to read.

2) Take a Deep Breath

Taking a deep breath will naturally relax muscles that you have been keeping tense. Breath in deeply through your nose and then let your shoulders drop as you exhale through your mouth.

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