Imbalance causes stress; if you either have too much or too little work to do, if you receive too much or too little information to perform your work, if you experience too many or too few changes or if you face too high or too low demands. What is too much or too little is an individual question that varies from person to person.
Most often, stress is a natural and healthy response to an abnormal situation. A moderate stress level can be positive and give you the strength to overcome a difficult situation. In many cases, stress does not become negative until you have a feeling of not being in control of the situation.
One dangerous situation is when you face high demands and only have little influence on the situation and need backing and support. Such a situation will often cause a high stress level. The situation improves when you gain more influence, just as support and backing are factors that can alleviate and offer protection against stress.
Your body’s responses to stress
- your muscles tighten
- your blood pressure increases
- your breathing becomes faster
- blood sugar and adrenalin are released
- you sweat
- your immune system weakens
- your digestion is reduced
- you become angry, anxious or afraid
- you feel exhausted
Long-term stress may result in various serious diseases and illnesses such as:
- cardiovascular diseases - high blood pressure, coronary blood clot, stroke
- pulmonary diseases – asthma
- gastrointestinal diseases – ulcer, irritable colon
- mental illnesses – depression, anxiety, burnout
Did you know that
stress = high demands +
little influence +
lack of support