Introduction of Stress

Introduction of Stress

Stress is a fact of everyday life. When people reach out for help, they are often dealing with circumstances, situations, and stressors in their lives that leave them feeling emotionally and physically overwhelmed. It is any disturbance in a person's normal balanced state.

Stress is a biological term which refers to the consequences of the failure of a human or animal body to respond appropriately to emotional or physiological threats to the organism, whether actual or imagined. It can keep alert and motivate you to function at a higher performance level. For example, when you are preparing for an examination, your desire to succeed can create just enough anxiety to motivate you to study. On the other hand, if you become too anxious, you may be unable to focus on the task.

Definition of Stress

The term "stress", as it is currently used, was coined by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined that stress is "a non-specific responses to stressors or demands to the point at which equilibrium is disturbed, a generalized and predictable non-specific syndrome resulted; the general adaptation syndrome (GAS)".

According to Jeanne Benoliel (1976), in sociological terms, social stress as "a situation which places objective demands on an individual so as to over load his adaptive capacities."

Stress is a state produced by a change in the environment that is perceived as challenging, threatening or damaging the person's dynamic balance or equilibrium.

Characteristic of Stress

• It is universal phenomenon. All people experience it.
• Stress can have physical, intellectual, social and spiritual consequences. Usually the effects are mixed.
• Stress may contribute directly to the production of disease or it may contribute the development of behaviors such as smoking, overeating.
• Stress is a stimulus, a response and a transaction.

Sources of Stress

We can experience stress from following basic sources:

Physiological: Situations and circumstances affecting our body can be experienced as physiological stressors. Examples of physiological stressors include rapid growth of adolescence, menopause, illness, aging, giving birth, accidents, lack of exercise, poor nutrition, and sleep disturbances.

Environmental: The environment can bombard us with intense and competing demands to adjust. Examples of environmental stressors include weather, noise, crowding, pollution, traffic jam, unsafe and substandard housing, crime, etc.

Social: We can experience multiple stressors arising from the demands of the different social roles we occupy, such as parent, spouse, caregiver, and employee. Some examples of social stressors include deadlines, financial problems, job interviews, presentations, disagreements, demands for our time and attention, loss of a loved one, divorce, and co-parenting.

Financial: These stressors occur when people do not have the time to have jobs, no jobs, loans, medical cost, school fee, etc.

Thoughts: Our brain interprets and perceives situations as stressful, difficult, painful, or pleasant. Some situations in life are stress provoking, but it is our thoughts that determine whether they are a problem for us.

Psychological: We can experience multiple stressors arising from the psychological bases such as due to separations from home, parents, other family members and friends; change in role, anxiety, fear and pain, etc.

Biological: We can experience multiple stressors arising from the biological bases such as due to pathological organisms, cross infections, etc.

Chemical: We can experience multiple stressors arising from the chemical bases such as due to anesthetic agent, drugs and other toxic substances, reaction to blood given transfusion, etc.

Ecological: Ecology is defined as the branch of biology dealing with mutual relationship between organisms and their environment. For example, war can cause imbalance to the environment. War and disease are closely linked.

Occupational: Occupational factors can arise from job, some occupations are more stressful than others. Stressful job changes can include promotions, transfer, downsizing, restructuring, changes in supervisors and additional responsibilities.

Types of Stress

Selye identified two types of stress:

• Distress
• Eustress

Distress: It is negative, noxious, unpleasant, damaging stress that results when adaptive capacity is decreased or exhausted. 

Eustress: It is stress that protects health in motivating energy such as happiness, hopefulness and purposeful movement.

According to duration psychologists categorize stress into three different types:

Acute Stress: Of all forms of stress, acute stress is the most widely experienced one, since it typically is caused by the daily demands and pressures encountered by each one of us. Acute stress occurs only at a very short period of time.ome as nous avois

Episodic Stress: Acute stress that is suffered too frequently is called episodic stress.

Chronic Stress: Chronic stress is the total opposite of acute stress; it's not exciting and thrilling, but dangerous and unhealthy. Chronic stress tears the life of a person apart his mind, body or spirit.

Stressor

A stressor is a chemical or biological agent, environmental condition, external stimulus or an event that causes stress to an organism. A stressor is any event or stimulus that causes an individual to experience stress. When a person faces stressors, responses are made responses are often referred to as coping mechanisms. The individual is constantly exposed to a variety of agents capable of causing stress. These agents are called stressors. Stressors are beneficial or harmful depending on the individual, the total situation, the intensity of the stressor, and the person's coping responses.

Types of Stressors

There are five general kinds of stressors, which are:

Biological Stressors: These may lead to biochemical imbalances, illnesses, and disabilities e.g. gypsy moths, certain types of algae, bacteria, etc.

Cognitive Stressor: This is the way you perceive things or what you expect from situations you encounter. Environmental Stressors: These include pollution, noise, crowding, poverty, elevated sound levels, or natural disasters you experience.

Personal Behavior Stressors/Chemical Stressors: These are physical and mental negative reactions caused by using substances such as tobacco, alcohol and drugs. Never getting out or exercising will also cause this.

Life Situation Stressors: Such as experiencing the death of a close relative or friend or trouble in relationships i.e. divorce, bereavement, etc.

Physical Stressors: cold, heat, etc.

Workplace Stressors: It arises from workplace environment and the nature of the work e.g. high job demand vs. low job control, repeated or sustained exertions, forceful exertions, extreme postures, etc.

Physiological Stressors: Physiological stressors are those that affect body structure or function. Stressors can also occur as normal life transitions that require some adjustment such as going from childhood into puberty, getting married, or giving birth etc. they may be chemical(e.g. poison, medication), physical or mechanical (e.g. trauma, cold), Nutritional (e.g. Vitamin deficiency), Biological (e.g. Viruses, Bacteria) and Genetic (e.g. inborn errors of metabolism).

Stressful Factors During Hospitalization

Body Response to Stress

Stress can have physical, emotional, intellectual, social and spiritual consequences. Usually the effects are mixed, because stress affects the whole person. Physically, stress can threaten a person's physiologic homeostasis. Emotionally, stress can produce negative or non-constructive feelings about the self. Socially, stress can alter a person's relationships with others. Spiritually, stress can challenge one's beliefs and values. Many illnesses have been linked to stress.

The body has a preserving mechanism that automatically comes in action in times of stress or danger. It may result from changes in the internal environment of the body. During stress and crisis, nervous, endocrine and immunological systems are most affected. These include CNS, adrenal gland, lymph glands that affect all organ of the body. If the body responds to stress, hypothalamus is stimulated, then sympathetic nerves prepare the body for self-defense.

Kinds of Stress Response to the Body

Physiological Response

Physiological response to a stressor is 'fight or flight' response in which the body prepares itself for survival. The fight or flight response refers to the physiological response to stress. It is the body's automatic response that occurs when we perceive a situation as dangerous or stressful. This sets off a chain of chemical and hormonal reactions, so our body can be ready to fight or flee to keep us from harm. The fight-or-flight response was first described in the 1920s by American physiologist Walter Cannon. Cannon realized that a chain of rapidly occurring reactions inside the body help mobilize the body's resources to deal with threatening circumstances. There are three major homeostatic mechanisms: Medulla oblongata, Reticular formation, Pituitary gland.

Medulla Oblongata: It controls vital functions, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration. Impulses traveling to and from the medulla oblongata can either increase or decrease these vital functions.

Reticular Formation: The reticular formation is a set of interconnected nuclei located throughout the brainstem. The neurons of the reticular formation all play a crucial role in maintaining behavioral arousal and consciousness. During stress, it also controls vital functions, continuously monitoring physiological status of body through connections with sensory and motor tracts. For example, certain cells within the reticular formation can cause a sleeping person to regain consciousness or can increase a person's level of consciousness when a need arises.

Pituitary Gland: Pituitary gland attached to hypothalamus, produces hormones necessary for adaptation to stress such as secretions of thyroid, gonadal and parathyroid hormones. Hormone secretion is normally regulated by a feedback mechanism that means it works in such a pattern that when hormone levels fall, secretions increase and when hormone levels rise, secretions decrease.

Adaptation of Stress

It is a process of making a person willing to fit himself and be comfortable in different circumstances or environment adjustment represents the end result of the coping process. Adaptation of stress can be categorized into two major forms which are given below:

General Adaptation Syndrome

General Adaptation Syndrome is physiological response of the whole body to stress. It involves several body systems, primarily the autonomic nervous system and endocrine system.

Stages of General Adaptation Syndrome

The general adaptation syndrome is a model that is comprised of three stages or phases which describe the body's response to stress which are given below:

Stage 1 Alarm stage

When a person consciously or unconsciously perceives a stressor and feels helpless, insecure, or biologically uneasy, their immediate/immediate, short-term, life-preserving, and entire sympathetic nervous system response kicks in. When a stressor upsets homeostasis during the alarm phase, the body sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus and releases a burst of energy to help the person deal with the stressor. The hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to release the stress hormones glucocorticoids whenever we are under stress, such as if we were strolling at night and a shadowy figure sprang out from behind a tree. To assist the body in reacting, the adrenal glands release cortisol and adrenaline. An rise in hormone levels causes a decrease in blood flow to the stomach, kidney, skin, and liver, while increasing blood volume, blood glucose levels, the quantity of epinephrine and nor-epinephrine, heart rate, and blood flow to muscles. Additionally, the eye's pupils enlarge to provide a wider field of vision. The organism turns on the systems that are essential for a quick physical reaction and reduces the energy supply to the organs that are less crucial in an emergency. An individual's bodily system changes to prepare them for the "fight or flight reaction," which can last anywhere from a minute to several hours. When the stress's root is dealt with, the body will return to normal. If the issue is not resolved, the person moves on to the stage of resistance or adaptability.

Stage 2 Resistance Stage

The body has responded to the stressor and made adjustments during this phase, starting the process of returning to homeostasis. The pituitary stops the significant hormone release at this point, and the alarm phase's effects start to fade. Even though the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems return to normal, true relaxation takes significantly longer. The resistance stage is the body's method of adapting, and it occurs as a result of an adrenocortical response in which the adrenal cortex continues to release "glucocorticoids" to support the body's reaction to the stressor until the stress is resolved or the body is unable to resist. The body's fight for survival is sustained by the adrenocortical response, which causes an increase in the utilization of body resources, endurance, and strength as well as tissue anabolism, antibody formation, hormone secretion, changes in blood sugar levels, and changes in blood volume. In order to preserve the person's optimum level of wellness, the body now fully adapts to changes in the internal and external environment. The body's reaction eventually returns to normal, but the body's defense mechanisms are overused during this phase, which eventually results in disease. If the stressor persists for a long time and the person is unable to adapt, they reach the fatigue stage.

Stage 3 Exhaustion Stage

In this stage, the body has run out of its reserve of body energy and immunity. Mental, physical and emotional resources suffer heavily. The body experiences "adrenal exhaustion". The blood sugar levels decrease as the adrenals become depleted, leading to decreased stress tolerance, progressive mental and physical exhaustion, illness and collapse. If stress continues, death may result because the body can no longer compensate for or correct homeostatic balance.

Local Adaptation Syndrome

According to Selye's theory, another adaptation mechanism of stress is local adaptation syndrome. The localized response of a tissue, organ, or system that occurs as a reaction to stress is the method used to wall off and control effects of physical stressor locally e.g. inflammatory response, reflex pain response. The local adaptation syndrome occurs in small topical injury such as contact dermatitis.

Response of body tissue, an organ, or a part of the body to the stress of trauma, illness, or other physiological change. It shares four characteristics:

• Localized
• Adaptive response
• Short term response
• Restorative response-homeostasis

If the local injury is severe enough, the GAS is activated as well.

Psychological Responses

A healthy individual develops psychological adaptive behavior to cope with stressor. These behaviors are acquired through learning and experience. Psychological adaptive behavior is self-referred to coping mechanism for stress management. Psychological adaptive behavior can be constructive or destructive. Constructive behavior helps an individual accept challenge to resolve the conflict. Destructive behavior affects an individual's reality orientation, problem solving abilities, personalities and in severe circumstances, his/her ability to function.

Effects of Stress

Coping Mechanisms of Stress

Coping is a process that a person uses to manage events that he or she encounters, perceives and interprets as stressful. It is the person's effort to manage psychological stress. (Lazarus- 1999). It may be described as dealing with problems and situations or contending with them successfully.