If you think that stress is negative, consider it is largely based on perception.
Stress seems to be everywhere. You are told to avoid it at all times. It is what is making you sick and tired and aging you before your time. What is stress? Hans Seyle, the researcher who coined the word, defined it as the nonspecific response of the body to any demand. This means that stress in your life is not positive or negative, but it is how the body responds to it that makes it positive or negative. It is largely this perception that alters how the body reacts.
When the body feels stress, it initiates the stress hormone cascade, which causes increased heart rate, increased breathing, decreased immune function, increased inflammatory response, increased stress hormones, and weight gain. The stress cascade is very useful in the event of a threat to your survival. The problem is that this stress cascade can be initiated from nonsurvival-threatening stressors, such as a work deadline or running late to an appointment.
People are often on a high-level of alert with the stress cascade activated constantly. A high state of stress leaves your body’s defenses weakened against colds and bacteria and increases the probability of getting sick and developing autoimmune disorders.
How you perceive a situation can affect the stress response in your body. “Life is largely a process of adaptation to the circumstances in which we exist” (Hans Seyle). Most of what is termed stress is what you decide to get anxious and worried about.
People are disturbed not by a thing, but by their perception of a thing.
– Epictetus
Fresh Ideas to Extend Your Expiration Date
How we perceive stressors is critical and key to how many sick days we have, our recovery time, and our overall quality of life. Stressors, good and bad, are inevitable. Your health is largely determined by how quickly your body is able to respond to the stressor, recalibrate, and return to a state of ease or homeostasis. The best way to handle life issues that present themselves as stressors is to ask, “what is the best way to deal with a negative stressor?” First, decide if it is life threatening.
- If it is life threatening, let your fight-or-flight survival instincts kick in. Run away from a vicious dog or harm-inducing situation.
- If it is not life threatening (includes most situations), then reframe it. Reframing it means to replace a negative thought with a positive one. For example, a consistent stressor may be running late to an appointment. Instead of stressing about it, let the person know you are running late and relax by taking deep breaths, listening to some good music, or just focusing on the moment.
Oftentimes, getting upset and activating the stress cascade are not productive to the situation. Developing better life strategies to maximize eustress and minimize distress will prove more beneficial than chronically activating the internal stress response. As author Michael Hyatt says when faced with a situation that appears bad, “Ask yourself, ‘What does this experience make possible?’” Look at it as potential rather than as a problem. Save your stress hormones for survival-threatening occurrences, and improve your quality of life!
Learn More
Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping, by Robert M. Sapolsky, is smart, witty, interesting, and science based. Sapolsky takes a physiologic look at how stress affects you and offers strategies for stress reduction.
