Effects of Stress

STRESS

By Justina Hu 3ºB

                Nowadays, our lifes are full of stress, stress in school, stress at work, and stress with relationships. We talk a lot about the word “stress” but, do we know exactly what it is?

  Stress is just a normal physical response to an effector, or many of them, and makes you feel threatened, or upset in some way.  For example, I feel stress when I have got a lot of exams and projects during a short period of time and I have to do it all, and do it well. On the one hand, stress can be good for our lives, for example, it can make you run faster in case you see a lion, but, on the other hand, it can affect your mood and health in a bad way.

  An interesting way of comparing those effects of stress with our daily life is Psychologist Connie Lillas’ way, she compare it with how you drive. For example, foot on the gas, means that you are very agitated, and you can’t stand there without moving; foot on the brake, means that you don’t show any emotions, and you don’t move, just like the opposite of the “foot on the brake”; and the third one: foot on both, it shows that you look very relaxed, but actually you are very agitated and stressed.

  There are lots of effects of stress: Physically, you have less memory, so you won’t remember lots of thing that happened just before.  Also, you have frequent colds, and you have more habits, like for example, you bite your nails (a common habit when people are stressed); Mental, you feel depressed, that everything is going to be bad, you think of the negative aspects of the things; etc.

  With the information given above, I think that stress is essential in our lives, in both aspects: positive and negative. So, after reading all this, do you think you are as affected by stress as you thought before?

References

Helpguide.org

Stress Symptoms, Signs & Causes: Effects of Stress Overload

In-text: (Helpguide.org, 2013)

Bibliography: Helpguide.org (2013) Stress Symptoms, Signs & Causes: Effects of Stress Overload. [online] Available at: http://www.helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm [Accessed: 29 May 2013].