Sources of Stress

Stress is part of the flow of everyday life. A core part of stress management is understanding the sources of stress. We can experience stress from four basic sources: the environment, social stressors, physiological stressors and our thoughts.
The environment you live and work in can bombard you with intense and competing demands. Changeable weather can affect our wellbeing. Some people find too much or too little noise stressful. An area with a lot of pollution and crime can be a stressor. Another environmental stressor is traffic.
We can experience multiple stressors arising from the different social roles we occupy, such as parent, spouse, caregiver and employee. Some examples of social stressors include deadlines, financial problems,
job interviews, presentations, demands for your time and attention, loss of a loved one, divorce and parenting.
Situations and circumstances affecting our body can be experienced as physiological stressors. There are many types of physiological stressors, such as, rapid growth of adolescence, menopause, illness, aging, giving birth, accidents, lack of exercise, poor nutrition and sleep problems.
Our brain interprets and perceives situations as stressful, difficult, painful or pleasant. Some situations in life are stress provoking, but it is our thoughts that determine whether they are a problem for us.
Stress management is about understanding how your body reacts to these pressures and learning how to build your body’s resilience to stress.
For stress management using Indian Head Massage and Reiki, contact Tracy on 086-2202734 or visit www.relaxfromstress.ie
Published in the Connaught Telegraph newspaper on 30 January 2018