What is stress and what are the symptoms?

We all have to deal with “stress” complaints. For many people, tensions have become so normal that they barely realize it anymore. We get up early and often don't have time for a good breakfast. On the way to work, we are stuck in traffic, we have deadlines at the office and we maintain our friends on Facebook in between. Once home, we are just in time to put the children to bed. We fill the evening with feelings of guilt about the lack of time and attention we still have for our partner and/or our children and whether this life is still really worthwhile. Wow, that was a stressful paragraph! Are there actually types of stress that are good for us?

What exactly is stress?

Stress is a physical response to an event or emotion. Stress is normal and gives your body extra strength, endurance or alertness. When stressed, your hypothalamus responds, which stimulates the adrenal glands to increase the production of adrenaline and cortisol. This causes your pupils to dilate, your glucose levels and sweat production increase, and muscle blood flow increases. This entire response pattern is part of the original “fight and flight” system, which allows us, for example, to quickly get away from predator attacks or other dangers.

When is stress good?

The physical response to stress can help you in case of an emergency, increase alertness during an exam and keep you energized and alert during an important event (such as a birth). After giving birth, it sometimes takes up to three days for the mother's adrenaline level to come down. It is the body's system to stay alert and ensure that nothing happens to the baby during the first period in this world. Good stress gives you faster reflexes and can save lives. After the stressful event, your body must return to a normal state, otherwise you will exhaust yourself.

When is stress bad?

Stress is bad when it is prolonged or recurrent and the body remains in a heightened emotional state or in a consistently high level of alertness. The result of bad stress is that the adrenal glands keep producing adrenaline and cortisol until the reserves are depleted. This leads to you becoming overtired and weakened and the immune system is depleted. Sleep problems, moodiness, panic attacks, difficulty concentrating and ultimately depression are the result. These phenomena are also known as “adrenal fatigue”. Frequent exposure to stresses, regardless of their cause, makes a person more susceptible to this adrenal fatigue.

Dealing with stress.

Short-term stress can be helpful in helping you meet deadlines or getting you through a difficult period in your life. Some people consciously 'use' stress as a motivating factor in difficult or exciting situations. However, stress can lead to health problems in the long term. Dealing with stress is certainly possible if you can link this to a realistic approach to what you want and can achieve. A well-known statement is: you should focus on the things you can influence and not get carried away with things you can't change. And we can't say it often enough: make sure you eat healthy, exercise regularly and sleep well. Your body can then relax and deal better with periods of high stress. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it, and avoid feeling like you have to be “perfect” at everything. Remember, there will always be some level of stress in your life, whether it's about your career, your family, your relationship, your health, your studies, your social life or your finances... it's sometimes really balancing. Once you're aware of this, it's up to you to take responsibility for how you (don't) respond to the stress you're experiencing in your life. If you look at stress differently and deal with it in the right way, more goals will become achievable, you will be more productive and you will control the additional stress yourself without this stress controlling you.