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WHAT IS STRESS?

Stress is actually an important part of life. Without stress, toilets wouldn't flush, engines wouldn't run, and nails wouldn't pound. The body needs stress to stay alive. Without stress chemical reactions couldn't take place. Life couldn't exist. All of life is composed of widely varying levels of stress. It is through stress that we develop and grow physically, mentally, and emotionally. But stress out of control can destroy. Even though some stress is good too much stress can have a negative effect on many parts of the body. The light and constructive side of stress is positive energy. The dark and deadly side is distress. Hot water heaters have pressure valves so that they won't blow up from too much water pressure. It is important to know and use our own pressure valves in order to learn coping tools when distress becomes an issue.

One relief valve is to understand the meaning of stress. Stress is the mental and physical response our bodies experience as the result of any type of change. Stress is a part of our body's natural "fight or flight" response. When we encounter a dangerous situation, adrenaline and other hormones are immediately released. These hormones increase our blood pressure, speed our breathing and heart rate and cause our muscles to tensereactions that prepare our bodies either to fight an enemy or to run away from danger. Unfortunately, the stress response often kicks in when there's no real danger. For example, it can occur as a reaction to anger or to a change in routine. Problems occur when stress is frequent or doesn't let up, at which point, our bodies can't fully recover.

Dark nights of the soul are not unique everyone has a story book: eldercare, childcare, job insecurity, information overload, homeland security, finances. Life is just plain stressful. The angst is going to be there no matter what. That's just part of the human condition. It's when we don't know how to deal with the angst that stress or hyper-arousal takes over.

When stress kicks in, hyper-arousal is triggered by pituitary gland. The pituitary then releases adrenocortoid, a hormone that tells the adrenal glands to secrete epinephrine (adrenaline) and cortisol-two master stress hormones that rev up the body. The more this happens the more we stay in the state of hyper-arousal and our body becomes habituated to living in high gear. Then back pain, insomnia, emotional over-reactivity, heartburn seems normal and our physical and emotional health slowly

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