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STRESS: No one is immune to daily pressures
Published March 17, 2009
Everybody’s been there. Driving to work, stuck in traffic, and your mind starts to go overboard.
I’ll be late. My boss will see me walk in late. I’ll lose my job. Without a paycheck, will I be able to afford the mortgage?
“By the time I get to work, I’m fired and bankrupt in my mind,” said Dr. Jennifer Rothfleish, a licensed psychologist in Pearland.
Rothfleish calls it “catastrophizing,” and it’s just one way stress can take hold of our lives.
“Most of our stressors are not that much of a catastrophe,” Rothfleisch said. “It may feel that way at the time, but it’s really not.”
Stress can take on the form of muscle tension, stomach ulcers and a weakened immune system, said Carie Fletcher, Brazoria County Community Coalition coordinator. It can result in the loss of patience, a frenetic attitude and depression if not treated.
Stress hits people in various ways, depending on pre-existing medical conditions or mental stability, doctors say, but one thing is for sure: it affects everyone.
“Your stress is going to affect the people around you, your perception of things, your reactions to things and your patience,” Fletcher said. “There are a lot of things that tend to affect others, your family senses it and your coworkers see it.”
STRESSING OUT
Stress, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is “a physical, chemical or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation.”
Stress can be caused by time management difficulties, work atmosphere, family situation, money — even traffic, Rothfleisch said.
If someone tends to be negative or pessimistic, more often than not, little things that happen, such as getting stuck in traffic on the way to work, can be blown out of proportion, she said.
THE STRESS EFFECT
Some stress, called eustress, can be good for the body, such as the stress involved in winning the lottery and trying to figure out how to spend the winnings. But it can also be bad, or distressing.
Gastrointestinal problems can arise as a symptom of stress, and existing medical conditions can be exacerbated, said Beverly Bernzen, a licensed clinical social worker who owns The Family Resource Center in Lake Jackson.
“You’ve got your nervous system and you’ve got your parasympathetic nervous system, which involves your gastrointestinal system,” Bernzen said. “So a lot of people when they’re stressed will get indigestion or they might get diarrhea or a stomach ache or acid reflux. Those are ways that stress can affect your body.”
In people with pre-existing neurological conditions, stress actually can aggravate the conditions or set off a chain reaction in the body and even lead to heart attack or stroke, Brazosport Regional Health System Neurologist Dr. Forbes Barnwell said.
“Many neurological conditions you can think of, Alzheimer’s and many, many types of dementias are likely to be worsened by stressful situations,” Barnwell said. “It’s really the handling of stress, or the lack of the body’s ability to handle stress, that aggravates many of these conditions.”
The body’s existing conditions can act like an “Achilles’ heel,” Bernzen said.
“If you’re prone to back problems, when you get stressed you’re likely have a back problem,” she said. “If you’re prone to kidney problems and you get stressed, and you’re not able to manage that stress or reduce that stress, then the weakest part in your body is what’s going to react.”
COPING WITH STRESS
Learning how to relax in stressful situations can keep people from having negative physical, emotional or mental reactions, though, doctors say.
“The mind, the body, and the spirit are all integrated and stress can affect you on all those levels,” Bernzen said.
The key is to be aware of your body and its reaction to stressors, and to know when stress is a factor in your life, Rothfleisch said.
“You want to ask yourself what’s stress-relieving for you to do,” she said.
Journaling, exercising, talking with someone, reading a novel or visualizing a serene scene can help decrease stress, Rothfleisch said.
“I’m always amazed at how a little break can help if I just take five minutes for myself,” she said.
Erin McKeon is a reporter for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0152.
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