Stress

Stress is your body's response to a hard situation. Your body can have a physical, emotional, or mental response. Stress is a fact of life for most people, and it affects everyone differently. What causes stress for you may not be stressful for someone else.

A lot of things can cause stress. You may feel stress when you go on a job interview, take a test, or run a race. This kind of short-term stress is normal and even useful. It can help you if you need to work hard or react quickly. For example, stress can help you finish an important job on time.

Long-term stress is caused by ongoing stressful situations or events. Examples of long-term stress include long-term health problems, ongoing problems at work, or conflicts in your family. Long-term stress can harm your health.

When you are stressed, your body responds as though you are in danger. It makes hormones that speed up your heart, make you breathe faster, and give you a burst of energy. This is called the fight-or-flight stress response. If the stress is over quickly, your body goes back to normal and no harm is done.

But if stress happens too often or lasts too long, it can have bad effects. Long-term stress can make you more likely to get sick, and it can make symptoms of some diseases worse. If you tense up when you are stressed, you may develop neck, shoulder, or low back pain. Stress is linked to high blood pressure and heart disease.

Stress also harms your emotional health. It can make you moody, tense, or depressed. Your relationships may suffer, and you may not do well at work or school.

What causes stress for you may not cause stress for someone else. Only you can figure out whether you have too much stress in your life.

Answer these questions to learn more about your stress:

What job, family, or personal stress do you have?

Stress can be caused by an ongoing personal situation such as caring for a family member.

Have you had any recent major life changes?

Getting married, moving to a new city, or losing a job can all be stressful.

Do your beliefs cause you stress?

Some people feel stress because their beliefs conflict with the way they live their life.

How do you cope with stress?

The ways that you cope with your stress can help you or make stress worse. For example, sleep helps your body recover from the stresses of the day. Not getting enough sleep means you lose the chance to recover from stress.

You might try some of these things to help prevent stress:

• Manage your time. This helps you find time to do the things you want and need to do.
• Get enough sleep. Your body recovers from the stresses of the day while you are sleeping.
• Get support. Your family, friends, and community can make a difference in how you experience stress.
• Limit your news feed. Avoid or limit time on social media or news that may make you feel stressed.
• Do something active. Exercise or activity can help reduce stress. Walking is a great way to get started.

Breathing exercises are a good way to relax, reduce tension, and relieve stress.

Deep breathing is one way to lower stress in the body. This is because when you breathe deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then sends this message to your body. Those things that happen when you are stressed, such as an increased heart rate, fast breathing, and high blood pressure, all decrease as you breathe deeply to relax.

Breathing exercises are easy to learn. You can do them whenever you want. You don't need any special tools or equipment to do them. And you can try different exercises to see which work best for you.