Stress

Stress of any kind puts us in a state of emotional, physical and mental turmoil where we feel compelled to respond to outside forces and pressures.  Mentally, we feel irritated, worried, tense, lose concentration and sleep.  Physically, our blood pressure, heart rate and nervousness increases. Our nervous system activates our body systems differently when we are faced with any kind of change or demand whether it is external or internal, positive or negative, good or bad.  The sympathetic nervous system mobilizes our body when we are faced with stress and we feel a decrease in appetite, sleep and sexual activity, mouth dries up, eyes widen, and the heart rate increases.  The parasympathetic nervous system brings our body activities back to normal after the pressure has passed.  We need to learn to control our body activities by making healthful and productive responses so that we can deal with stress by making behavioral adjustment to relax in adversity.  Learning stress management and relaxation techniques will help us to rise to the challenge of outside forces, take control of our lives and health, and take care of others who are important to us.