Symptoms And Signs Of Chronic Stress

Stress is one of the most common forms of disorders present in the world. Almost each and every person of this planet earth has faced and is facing some sorts of stress or other. Stress is actually omnipresent. One of the interesting facts is that, according to research some level of stress is both necessary and beneficiary for each and every individual to cope up with everyday challenges. However if the stress level increases beyond the threshold level, it might well prove dangerous and threatening for an individual. Thus one needs to always have a control in one’s stress level.

- Sayak Karmarkar

Stress can only be controlled if someone knows what stress is and more importantly what are the symptoms of stress. But identifying the symptoms of stress is not an easy task. Most of us are not able to understand when the threshold level of stress increases as we all are all stressed at a given of point of time. Let us thus understand the meaning and various symptoms of Stress.

What is Stress?

Stress can be defined as a body’s reaction to harmful situations which can both be real or perceived. When someone feels threatened, a chemical reaction occurs in the person’s body that allows the person to act in a defensive way to get protected from the injury. This reaction is known as “fight-or-flight,” or the stress response. During stress response, the common signs and symptoms are, increase in heart beat, quick breathing, increase blood pressure and tightening of muscle. This is how a person protects itself from a stressful situation.

The stress response is thus the mechanism in which the body of a person protects itself. When the stress response works properly, it helps a person to stay alert, energetic and focused. A stress response can even save a person’s life in case of emergency situations. Thus the stress response is actually the life saving guardian of a person’s body. Our bodies are designed to handle small doses of stress. But, when the stress level goes beyond the normal level, the stress response is also not effective in such cases. In other words, a person’s body is not equipped to handle long-term, chronic stress without serious consequences.

The meaning of stress can differ from person to person. What can be a factor for a cause of acute or chronic stress in one person, may be of little concern for the another one. Thus the concept of stress is really dynamic in nature. Some people are better able to handle stress than others.