STRESS EFFECTS

STRESS TRIGGERS

Just as there are numerous types of stress (i.e., physical, psychological, and psychosocial), there are multiple types of experiences in our environment that can initiate our Fight-or-Flight response. A stress trigger refers to the problem or challenge creating stress.

 Environmental stress is one type of stress trigger which can contribute to multiple types of stress. For example, it can create physical stress if we have asthma and walk into a dusty home or psychological stress if construction outside our window makes it difficult to concentrate while we’re trying to work. Chemical and nutritional stress triggers can also impact our levels of stress. For instance, the foods we eat throughout the day can affect both psychological and physical stress. Caffeine raises the amount of stress hormones in our bodies and can make us grumpier. Too much sugar leads to a larger release of insulin, which saps our energy, and too much salt can raise blood pressure, adding even more stress on the body. In addition to these specific sources of stress, we may experience stress through eating an unbalanced or unhealthy diet. Also, certain dietary deficiencies or excesses can cause discomfort and illness, which also generates stress. Work or our professional roles can become a primary stress trigger for many people for different reasons. We may feel overwhelmed by our workload or worried about impending project deadlines. Or we can become upset when we’re not given promotions we deserve. We may feel underappreciated when we are underpaid. Personal and family problems commonly trigger stress as well. Almost all of us can probably remember times when money problems, disagreements with family and friends, or health issues increased our stress levels. Feeling hurried can also be a stress trigger, and often results in a vicious circle of stress that involves rushing through jobs and performing poorly. This under-performance causes feelings of frustration and failure, which causes more stress, which in turn leads to more hurrying and more future failures. This cycle of stress can repeat again and again.

EFFECTS OF STRESS

Unsurprisingly, the longer and more frequent initiation of the Fight-or-Flight response due to stress triggers in our everyday lives affects us in many ways. Indeed, stress can have both short-term and long-term effects on our mind, body, and behaviors.

 Some of the short-term physical symptoms of stress are similar to the Fight-or-Flight response itself, including increased heart rate, sweating, and breathing; colder hands and feet; nausea; dry mouth; and an increased urge to urinate. Stress can also affect short-term performance by interfering with our judgement and making it difficult to concentrate and make good decision in real time.

 In addition to the short-term effects of stress on physical sensations and performance, chronic stress can create longer-term problems for the body. Adrenaline normally prepares us for action by diverting resources to the muscles from areas of the body which carry out body maintenance. When we become stressed, the body gets exposed to adrenaline for too long and body maintenance stalls. This means that if we are exposed to adrenaline for a sustained period, our health may start to deteriorate. We may feel tired and become sick more often, experience headaches, aches and pains, problems with metabolism, sexual problems, and more. Some research shows that 60%-90% of all doctor’s visits can be linked to stress. Long-term stress can also disrupt our concentration and make us prone to making errors, and is related to more restlessness, aggression, and reliance on substances. Research even suggests that stress can shrink the hippocampus, an important center for our memories, and harm neurogenesis, the process through which the brain creates new neurons.

 In this way, stress affects almost every aspect of our lives. Our feelings, our cognitive abilities, our behaviors and performance, our health, and even the anatomy of our brains. In addition, the impact of stress has consequences for our wellbeing both in the short term and the long term. 

YERKES-DODSON PRINCIPLE

It’s also important to note that stress does not always lead to the negative effects we’ve been discussing. There are times when stress can push us to be our best selves and, without stress to motivate us, we are often unlikely perform our best. Yet, we also know that when there’s too much stress is harmful to our performance. The Yerkes-Dodson Principle holds that there is an optimal level of stress, not too much and not too little, that enables peak performance. Furthermore, this optimal level changes depending on the task at hand. Typically, we need more stress to perform well on tasks that are easy but need endurance, while we need less stress to complete challenging tasks. For example, difficult or intellectually demanding tasks may require a lower level of arousal for optimal performance (to facilitate concentration), whereas tasks demanding stamina or persistence may be performed better with higher levels of arousal (to increase motivation). It is important to keep the Yerkes-Dodson Principle in mind when beginning to investigate the impact of stress on your own life, since the role of stress may change depending on the task and your environment at any given time.