Students Of Success

Webster’s dictionary defines stress as: “a physical, chemical,
or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may
be a factor in disease causation”.

It’s important to realize that this “physical, chemical, or
emotional” tension is a part of life, and is essential to the
workings of the human body.

Stress occurs whenever we encounter something in our lives to
which we must react. This may be a small event, like swatting at
a fly that has landed on our arm, or something more significant,
like dealing with the death of a loved one.

When we run into stress, our body reacts by producing adrenaline
and cortisol. These hormones do good things for our body:
cortisol by improving our memory, and adrenaline by enhancing
our immune system and supplying us with energy. It’s when we
allow this stress to remain with us for extended periods of time
that bad things begin happening. When cortisone builds up it can
actually cause our brain cells to shrink and hinder our short
term memory. Unused adrenaline can eventually lower our immune
system and cause depression.

The healthy way to deal with stress is to allow it to take its
course the way nature intended. The adrenaline that your body
produces needs to be used-up, and the best way to do this is by
exercising. These hormones are meant to help out with short term
situations, so we need to find stress reducing activities to
deal with ongoing stress (like work or finances). Some ideal
relaxation and stress-reduction activities are yoga, tai-chi,
and meditation.