Stress

How Stress Works

Whenever you come up against something that upsets you in some way, like it scares you, frustrates you, angers you, makes you nervous, sad or pissed-off, a part of your brain shoots stress hormones into your body. They trigger changes in the way your body is working. They can make your heart beat faster, your palms sweat, they can put a lump in your throat and knots in your stomach. They can make you "wired" or they can make you drowsy. BUT believe it or not, although the sensations they cause are usually unpleasant, they can be very GOOD for you.

The reason humans have stress hormones in the first place is to warn us when we may be in trouble. Your heart starts racing when you're scared because it's preparing to help you speed away from danger. You would need those extra heart beats to help you get away from something threatening. You may have heard it called a "Fight or Flight" reaction. The jumpy nerves you may have when a big test, a sports match, or an interview is coming up can motivate you to spend extra time preparing for it. The sinking feeling in your stomach when you're not prepared for class may help you get your homework assignments done. And the discomfort you may feel when you break your parents' rules may help you obey them and stay out of trouble.

Stress Can Be Very Bad For You

Stress can be very bad your and your body. Anything that keeps your body from working normally for any length of time isn't good for it. If your stress responses are brief -- just enough to warn you of danger -- then they aren't much of a threat to your health. But when they go on and on, they can do a lot of harm. Too much stress can make you feel lousy, give you a bad attitude and make you a real drag to be around. But worst of all, it can make you very unhappy and keep you from doing all you could do to have the kind of life you really want.

It is hard to keep stress responses under control. The reason is that stress works in a cycle, like this:

Something upsets you, so the stress hormones are released from your brain, the hormones throw off your whole system. Your body sends back a message saying that it's in trouble. The message makes your brain even more upset, and so your brain sends out more stress hormones. They only upset your body more and so it sends another distress message back to your brain. AND how does your brain respond? By sending out more stress hormones, of course! (Hey, you are getting good at this... NOT!)

Self-made Stress?  What to do?

No one sets out to make his or her life stressful, so chances are you aren't aware of how you put yourself under stress. No situation creates stress by itself, it is how you think about the situation that makes it stressful... in other words your own perception makes it stressful. For example, if you think that no one at your new school is going to like you, then going to your first day of school is bound to be stressful. And chances are good then that no one will like you. If you think that eating too much will make you fat, then you are very likely to fell under stress at mealtimes. What makes a situation stressful is different for everyone. You probably know at least one friend who likes to get up and perform for other people, whereas the thought of standing in front of a group of people might make you feel like passing out. The difference is that she or he is thinking of it as a chance to show off, and you're thinking of it as everyone's chance to see what a jerk you can be.

Some of The Most Stressful Thoughts...

Thoughts can make you feel that you have no control over your life. Until you begin to believe that this is YOUR life, thoughts like this will continue to put you under stress. Yes, as long as you're a teen a lot of people will have power over you and even make decisions for you. BUT you can influence the way they use that power by expressing your own ideas, taking on more responsibility for yourself, and making an effort to understand why people do what they do. OR you can just let yourself get stressed-out easily. The choice is yours. We didn't say it was going to be easy.

Stressful Thoughts You May Want to Avoid...

Your parents, teachers, coach, and friends put stress on you when they expect you to do more than you think you can do, or when they want you to be different than the way you are. There are ways to deal with this stress that comes from their expectations. Remember, different people react differently to the same events.

Ways to Handle Stress

thanx for sharing