Stress, a word that reaches our ears more and more often. It is impossible not to know it and not recognize it. We find it in everyday life and consider it responsible for many of our affections. But do we know exactly what are the stress factors?
We have challenged some of the specialists in the ATLAS community to reveal to us a top of the stress-causing factors they have encountered and give us information on how to recognize and combat them.
The second article in the series is written by psychologist Andrei Moise, the first article you can read here.
We all experience stress in everyday life. Because health problems are caused or influenced by stress, it is important to understand how stress can affect you and how you can manage it.
What ‘s stress?
Stress is the body’s response to change, it occurs when situations, tasks or problems are perceived as threatening or difficult to solve.
Stress can be beneficial, producing an impulse that will help you through various situations, such as deadlines or exams, which is called eustress. However, an extreme amount of stress (distress) can have health consequences and may affect the immune, cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and central nervous system, having a severe emotional effect.
Research shows that it can contribute to the development of major health problems, such as:
- heart disease
- depression
- obesity
- anxiety
- insomnia
- a weakened immune system
How can you identify the source of stress?
Many people are stressed by their jobs, their relationships, financial problems, health problems and more trivial things like urban congestion or agile programs. The skills to cope with these stressors can help reduce the stress experience.
To identify the source of stress, I thought you would help a top of stressful factors according to the studies:
- Financial problems
- Workplace
- Personal relationships
- Parenting
- Daily stressors (urban agglomeration, traffic, delayed, etc.)
To identify the source of stress, think about the sources listed above and see which one you associate with the symptoms of stress.
What are the symptoms of stress?
These are the signals that you’re not OK:
1. Daily stress (urban agglomeration, traffic, delayed, etc.)
- Emotional symptoms
- Frustration
- Anger
- You feel overwhelmed as if you lose control
- You feel bad regarding your own person (low self-esteem)
2. Physiological symptoms
- Low Energy
- Headache
- Nausea
- Tension and muscle pain
- Chest Pain
- Tachycardia
- Insomnia
- Common infections
- You catch colds more often
- Low sexual desire
- Sweats
- Cold hands and feet
- Dry mouth
3. Cognitive symptoms
- Frequent concerns
- Inability to focus
- Low reasoning
- Pessimistic thinking
- Poor memory
4. Behavioural Symptoms
- Procrastination
- Aggressive behaviour
- More frequent use of alcohol, cigarettes or drugs
- Compulsive eating
Because people cope with different stress, symptoms may vary and may be mistaken for other conditions. That’s why it’s important to talk to your therapist.
How can a specialist help you with short-term online psychotherapy sessions?
Cognitive psychotherapy for stress is based on the premise that not the events in our lives cause us stress, but the way we think about them, how we perceive them.
Not a few times I heard that traffic and time “lost on the road” are a source of stress to the people I work with. But how is it not a source for all people? One can see that situation as an opportunity to listen to music, to listen to an audiobook or to read, another may not realize the clutter, and the third one can stress terribly.
Some people stress because the tasks received at the job and others do not.
How do we explain these differences? Our thoughts colour events. Dysfunctional thinking patterns, cognitive distortions (errors of logic), can lead to maladaptive behaviours, such as avoidance, and negative emotions, such as anger or anxiety.
A specialist will teach you to identify and modify this pattern to achieve a better quality of life.
Recent studies have shown that online psychotherapy is at least as effective as going to the psychologist’s cabinet and also gives the customer the necessary flexibility and comfort of his own home (or other equally familiar place).
Online meetings will save you the time you lose on the road.
Schedule a meeting with Andrei now.
