by David Stillwagon

Created on: December 04, 2009

At an early age, worry and fear enters your life. From worrying about the most mundane things to being fearful of things that might happen and things that might not, these emotional by-products are an important part of our lives. Through worry and fear our body produces stress. What is stress?

Although stress has been a part of man since the beginning of time, the actual term stress was credited to Hans Seyle, a Canadian endocrinologist who was a pioneer in studying stressors. He also came up with the concept of the General Adaptation Syndrome or GAS. This concept is based on the theory that animals of all kind react to stress in 3 distinct stages.

The first stage is alarm. Whenever a threat is recognized the body becomes alarmed and adrenaline is produced. This is sometimes referred to as fight or flight.

The second stage is resistance. The body comes up with some kind of resistance if the threat of harm continues. This resistance is limited and will eventually run out.

The third stage is exhaustion. The resistance of the second stage is exhausted. The body is unable to continue to the lack of physical resources to fight the stress.

A stressor is something that brings on stress, such as physical and emotional situations that you would find yourself in that would be uncomfortable. Usually in these situations you feel like you aren't in control or you don't have the ability to control the situation.

Hans Seyle also coined the term stressors which can be positive and negative. Positive stressors are such things as watching an exciting sporting event or being involved in an important moment in life like a marriage ceremony. Your adrenaline is pumped but in a good way. The term for positive stress is eustress, where the outcome is favorable.

Whereas a negative stressor could an upcoming talk with someone that may produce an angry response or worrying about how you will recover from an illness that you have. Unemployment and the fear of losing your job is certainly a negative stressor.

Stress not only can give you headaches and worry lines it can also create serious health issues like high blood pressure, heart disease, emotional problems and it could lead to drug and alcohol addiction. Luckily there are many ways to control stress. One of most successful ways is through therapy with a psychologist or a psychiatrist. A psychiatrist may prescribe medication to help you with stress.

And there are many things that you can do on your own to help manage stress. Exercise, even something as simple as walking is a great stress reducer. Any aerobic exercise is considered a good way to reduce stress. Deep breathing exercises when practiced daily can also control stress.

Stress is a natural and vital part of the continued existence of man and animals.

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