Coping with Chronic Stress

Coping with Chronic Stress

With today's modern lifestyle and the demands of work, family and living standards, we are definitely opening ourselves up to stress related illnesses. Some people might become stressed occasionally, while others suffer from chronic stress.

Before we look at ways to go about coping with chronic stress, let's read the following:

Chronic stress arrives routinely and often stay for days or weeks, but can also affect the person for months at a time. People are affected in such a way that they are unable to think about anything other than everything that there is to worry about. It would be easier to treat the condition if it was only the worries to be concerned about, but people are left fatigued and unable to concentrate. This leads to problems with memory and even lack of proper sleep which makes coping with chronic stress even more difficult. The outcome of chronic stress usually leads to a complete nervous breakdown , which normally leaves the person incapable of doing anything.

Over and above the mental symptoms, chronic stress also leads to a weakened immune system, leaving one vulnerable to disease as well as high blood pressure, coronary disease and even strokes. This is because stress tends to elevate the blood pressure, which is very dangerous if it continues too long. And as the heart continues to pump too quickly, it will swell up and eventually break down. Stress also "tells" the body to create more platelets, which are designed to stop bleeding in cuts. These can also lead to blood clots, such as those that cause hearts attacks and strokes.

Coping with chronic stress continues:

One source of chronic stress can actually be post-traumatic stress disorder. This is a syndrome that occurs when a person has had some sort of sudden, severe stress that has shocked the mind so violently that it is incapable of moving beyond that moment. In fact, s research has show, that a severe shock to the system can actually change the chemistry of the brain so that it becomes suddenly accustomed to stress and it actually desires to stay in a state of stress. So, instead of moving beyond a severe shock, the brain gets "stuck in the moment" and gets "addicted" to the sense of stress. This may seem to contradict the fact that bad stress is seen as a health hazard, since the stress is usually unpleasant.

Chronic stress can also result from a long period of stress, which may come from a situation, where you worked under intense pressure, or a rough period of time with the family. Like in the case of post-traumatic stress disorder, the brain becomes accustomed to having all those exciting chemicals flowing through it, so wants to return to the days when it was working at such an intense rate. The problem one faces is to get the brain to become less accustomed to stress and this is not an easy task, since the brain's chemistry is now attuned to the feeling and its receptors have a higher sensitivity to stress.