What Are the Sources of Stress?

Stress is an everyday fact of life. Some stress experts say that by simplifying our life we can reduce stress, but we certainly can’t avoid it. Stress is any change you must adapt to, ranging from physical danger, financial problems, difficulties at work and with the family to falling in love or achieving some long-desired success. We will presently learn that not all stress is bad for you. In fact, stress is not only desirable but also essential to life. One golden rule about stress is: Whether the stress you experience is the result of major changes (stressors) or the accumulative effect of daily hassles (having to fetch children to and from school, rushing to meet deadlines or losing your purse and credit cards or car keys), it is how you respond to these experiences that determines the impact stress will have on your life.

Sources of stress include:

The environment bombards you with demands to adjust. You must endure noise, traffic, pollens, weather and pollution.

You must also cope with social stressors such as deadlines, inter-personal conflict, financial problems, job interviews, presentations, disagreements; demands for time and attention and loss of love ones.

Another source of stress is physiological. Illness, ageing, lack of exercise, poor nutrition, inadequate sleep, injuries, all tax the body. Your physiological reaction to the environment and social threats and changes can also result in stressful symptoms such as muscle tension, headaches, stomach upset and anxiety.

A fourth source of stress includes your thoughts and emotions. Your mind/brain interprets complex changes in your environment and body and determines when to turn on the ‘emergency response’. Chronic stress is closely related to negative and destructive emotions such as anger, depression and anxiety.

A fifth source of stress includes your personality type. People with type A behaviour are identified by a constant sense of time urgency and easily aroused irritation and aggravation. It is an individual who tries to do more and more in less and less time, thinks about or does two or more things simultaneously and frequently becomes angry in response to trivial happenings. Type A’s might be described as agitated, hard driving, hasty, hostile, hurried, impatient or irritable. They are often poor listeners, rushed, over-competitive and over ambitious. People who have very few of these characteristics are described as Type B. They are calm, content and controlled, easy going, good listeners, not easily irritated, patient and unhurried.