Who among us has not experienced stress? Sudden joy or fear, bad news or new experiences while traveling - all this provokes stress reactions in the body and is inherent in us by nature. The only difference is that “good” (short-term) stress mobilizes our body, allowing it to escape from a maniac on a dark night and achieve its sports and career goals. If the stress is “bad” (long-term), then on the contrary - our performance decreases, the body wears out and the quality of life decreases significantly.
Today we will discuss this important topic for modern people, especially for HR, and we will understand what stress is, what its consequences are, why it is important to monitor your stress level and how to respond to stress correctly.
What is stress and how does it happen?
Stress is the body’s reaction to the influence of various physical and psychological unfavorable factors, for example, annoying noise or the need to make a quick decision in a short time. Stress can be brought not only by real threats, but also by imaginary ones.
Regardless of the nature of the stimulus and its definition (positive or negative), the body activates the sympathetic nervous system, releasing the same hormones: adrenaline, cortisol, norepinephrine and corticosterone. Endorphin and serotonin, the hormones of happiness, begin to be produced to protect the body from stress, and the production of insulin and growth hormone decreases.
What happens to the rest of the organs of our body:
- vessels leading to the brain, skin and internal organs narrow to prevent possible bleeding, pressure increases;
- heartbeat increases;
- the digestive system works slowly so that the body does not waste excess energy;
- blood glucose levels rise;
- vision and hearing become sharper,
- attentiveness increases.
As you can see, our body mobilizes all systems for survival. These reactions were formed by our ancestors, who hunted mammoths, fought for a partner to procreate, and adapted to various climate changes.
But the fact is that modern people are much less likely to encounter real physical threats, and their body still puts all its organs on full alert every time it encounters stress.
The good news is that our body adapts to a certain type of stress if the stressor is repeated regularly. For example, you feel uncomfortable meeting people, but when you meet people again and again, your body adapts. This means that your tenth acquaintance will already be accompanied by a minimal level of stress.
On the other hand, the body cannot cope with prolonged or severe stress and exhausts us as if we were doing something like hunting a mammoth every day. This is already called “distress”, where the prefix “di” means “destruction”.
As a result, a person may develop neuroses, mental disorders, and worsen somatic or chronic diseases. Long-term stressful conditions undermine our health and reduce our overall quality of life.
Stress and stress tolerance
Stress and stress tolerance
Psychiatrist
dispensary department
Kalashnikov V.N.
Our life is unthinkable without stress. Stress is the body's response to various physical and psychological factors that disrupt the homeostasis (relative constancy and balance) of a person. No matter how old you are, 25 or 60, stress awaits you at every step, in this case age does not matter, because at 25 you can react more aggressively and intensely to situations in which at 60 you will be completely calm, and vice versa.
The intensity of stress directly affects our body; the stronger our tension, the more serious the consequences of such a state . Studies of the stressful state of the body have led to the conclusion that there are sub-syndromes of stress, 4 in total: the first is the emotional-behavioral syndrome, when changes become noticeable in a person’s behavior. The second syndrome is vegetative, in which significant changes occur in protective autonomic activity. Then the cognitive subsyndrome, during this phase of the reaction to stress, mental activity changes significantly. The last subsyndrome is social; at this stage, dramatic changes in communication occur. It should be noted that stress subsyndromes are its development phases. In order to prevent the development of stress and its impact on the body and life in general, you need to take care of your psychological state.
A person's psychological state is determined by three main factors: environment, behavior and abilities. The environment is decisive in stressful activity. Household appliances stop working, the minibus is stuck in a traffic jam, and you are late for work, quarreled with someone you love, etc. All this can cause a stressful state, in order to calm yourself and restore full functioning of the body, you need to change this environment. Research has shown that in many cases a person brings himself to a state of stress through his behavior. By changing your behavior, you can avoid overstrain and fatigue of the body emotionally. Stress levels can be kept low if you have the ability to calm yourself and let things go. If you are a pessimist and constantly imagine everything in gray colors, then you have the ability to escalate the situation and thereby drive yourself into a stressful state. For some, it may take 25 minutes to calm down, while others bring themselves to the point of exhaustion with their thoughts and ideas in just 5. And at the same time, they cannot get out of depression on their own.
The depth of influence of a stress factor on a person, of course, also varies. Thus, the death of a loved one, according to the scale of Dr. Thomas Holmes, is 100% out of 100. Divorces, divisions of property, imprisonment, death or separation from a loved one range from 60 to 75%. Serious injury, illness, marriage, job loss, retirement, pregnancy up to 50%. Problems in sexual terms, unstable financial situation, instability of business, work, death of a friend, change in type of activity up to 40%.
Stress occurs in the life of every person, but all people react to the same events, factors, and phenomena differently. Consequently, the harm to the body, in this case, is different. Why does this depend? From stress resistance – the body’s ability to resist the harmful effects of stress factors. Stress resistance is a complex of human internal resources that allows us to withstand physical and mental stress. “Loads” mean not only emergency, difficult situations, but also daily life, with its worries, contacts, relationships with other people. Why does one person remain productive, have a positive attitude, and the ability to make decisions even in a difficult situation, while another is unsettled by a carelessly thrown word? Stress “tests the strength” of the sphere of feelings. Let's take a conflict situation as an example. With normal stress resistance, in conflict, a person experiences anger, rage, indignation, a sense of injustice, but at the same time, remains within his internal boundaries, not allowing them to be violated. Does not run away from conflict, forgetting about his interests, and does not show excessive, inappropriate situations or aggression. Stress resistance makes it possible to remain in contact with your feelings, to express them adequately, while your head remains “clear”; in the event of a conflict, you have the opportunity to gently and calmly protect your interests. The ability to come into contact with feelings - your own, arising in response to a reaction from the outside, and the feelings of your interlocutor, while maintaining internal boundaries - is a huge resource. The more stress-resistant a person is, the less likely he is to develop psychosomatic diseases, the more successful he is in school, work, and in communicating with people. On the contrary, low stress resistance can significantly complicate the life of a person who cannot withstand everyday stress and suffers from it.
The question arises: what does a person’s stress resistance depend on and is it possible to increase it? Stress resistance is determined by temperament, lateral profile (individual combination of the leading hemisphere of the brain and leading modalities - eyes, ears, arms and legs), character traits. If temperament (a type of higher nervous activity) is mainly inherited and is difficult to correct, then the lateral profile and character traits can be corrected, increasing stress resistance. Neuropsychological correction aimed at strengthening interhemispheric interaction in the brain can have a good effect on the lateral profile of a person. And character traits, such as a tendency to self-criticism, hyper-responsibility, perfectionism, procrastination and others, which significantly reduce a person’s resistance to stress, can be worked on with the help of psychotherapy. How to increase stress resistance on your own?
* Healthy lifestyle (sufficient sleep, healthy foods, physical activity, better in the fresh air, no bad habits, proper rest);
* Diaphragmatic breathing, which normalizes the level of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the body;
* Relaxation (massage, warm bath, aromatherapy, music therapy, art therapy);
* Daily planning of current affairs and events, avoiding emergency situations both at work and at home, prioritizing the order of tasks;
* Positive thinking;
* Timely release of accumulated negative emotions (beat a pillow, scream with all your might, sing loudly at karaoke, throw pebbles into the water on the shore of a pond, kick a ball, dance and other things that help you);
* Hobbies that improve your mood.
Increase your resistance to stress , and be healthy and happy!
How to recognize signs of “bad” stress in yourself?
The opposite of distress is called eustress - a short stressful reaction to a stimulus. The difference is that after eustress you quickly recover and after a few hours you continue to live at your own pace, calmly going about your business. Or your body adapts to it if, for example, you started to harden yourself, go to the gym, or move to another place of work. Initially you feel uncomfortable, and then the sensations return to normal.
“Bad” stress brings obvious discomfort that you feel constantly. It can be:
- physiological problems : headaches, muscle tension, fatigue, sleep disturbances, stomach problems or hypertension;
- psychological : irritation, anxiety, depression.
Important! If you notice disruptions in your body's functioning due to prolonged stress, be sure to visit your doctor.
You can also independently assess the level of stress you are currently at. This can be done in the “Workshop on psychodiagnostics of stress” or in online tests. Check your stress level as often as possible to understand what state your body is actually in and prevent the development of distress.
Everything you wanted to know about stress: prevention methods. Part 1
Publication date: November 24, 2021 Articles
the “Helpline” department of the State Budgetary Healthcare Institution SKKSPB No. 1, tells the story .
Stress is a destroyer, stress is a creator
The word “stress” has become firmly established in our everyday life. And yet, what kind of phenomenon is this? I propose to look at a familiar concept from a somewhat unexpected side.
Translated from English, the word “stress” means pressure, load, tension, as well as external influences that cause this condition. Stress that causes negative consequences is called “distress”, positive ones are called “eustress”.
The founder of the concept of stress, G. Selye, gave the following definition of stress: “The body’s nonspecific response to any demand that is placed on it.” What does a non-specific response mean? This means that in various extreme situations, the behavioral response of each person’s personality and the consequences for his body will be different (non-specific). Those. one person’s blood pressure rises, another’s gastritis or ulcer worsens, the third gives a mental reaction, even a pathological one. With the same load, each person “breaks the weakest link” in the body.
At the same time, the internal physiological response will be the same and will be expressed in three stages of stress development:
1) anxiety (shock phase): the body’s defense mechanisms are activated;
2) resistance (adaptation or stabilization phase): the body’s adaptation to new conditions that impose increased demands is achieved. But if exposure to stress factors continues, the third stage develops;
3) exhaustion: wear and tear of the body’s adaptive and protective mechanisms occurs and a violation of the coordination of vital functions increases. As a result, somatic and mental illnesses develop.
Is it possible to avoid the onset of the exhaustion stage? Yes, I have. Stress prevention methods:
- Lead an active lifestyle and don’t forget about rest! Even the busiest person should always find time to relax. It is important to rest not only your body, but also your soul. You can take a walk, read an interesting book, watch an exciting movie, chat with friends, play with your pets. It is enough to change the direction of activity - work intellectually, do physical work. So much for rest. If you are physically overworked, overload your brain.
- eat food enriched with vitamins;
- get enough sleep. Healthy sleep is a very good protection against stress in general and a good prevention of exam stress. A well-rested person has a higher resistance to stress, and all cognitive functions definitely work better. If you really can’t stay up late, try at least not to eat three hours before bedtime, and not to drink tea, coffee, or alcohol before bed. It’s better to take a walk for half an hour or at least just stand for a while near an open window or on the balcony (without a cigarette, of course). It is advisable not to forget to ventilate the bedroom;
- give up alcoholic beverages and do not use drugs; Limit your consumption of caffeine (coffee, strong black tea). I especially want to note the harm of drinking energy drinks (just expensive, heavily advertised coffee with a heavy dose of sugar). The harm of energy drinks is as follows: frequent consumption of them increases blood pressure. The drink itself does not provide energy to the body; it works from personal reserves, which the body takes from itself . The consequences of taking energy drinks are irritability, sleep disturbance, depression, addiction to caffeine. The increased content of vitamin B in energy drinks increases the heart rate and provokes trembling of the limbs. And don't forget about their high calorie content;
- do not watch or listen to anything that gives unpleasant feelings and impressions (movies, music, news). Learn to analyze information pouring in from all sides and not take dubious videos on faith;
Prevention of stress should consist of increasing your resources and taking care of your body. And any stimulation of oneself is an attempt to raise a driven horse. Even the word stimulus in ancient Greek means “whip, driver’s stick.”
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Why shouldn’t you “fight” stress?
“And just as it should be!”, you say. Moreover, in the minds of many, stress is an enemy that must be defeated once and for all. But it is not so.
Chuck Palahniuk described stress in his book The Diary: “Any amount of stress... good or bad, love or pain, can overwhelm our common sense and give us thoughts and abilities that cannot be obtained in any other way.”
And he's right. In addition to the fact that we need stress for survival, by helping to mobilize the body at the right time and solve the current situation as quickly as possible, it gives us the opportunity to achieve more. The athlete who ran first at the Olympics made serious physical and mental efforts, he is clearly under incredible stress. But along with it, due to the release of the hormone endorphin into the blood, he feels euphoria and then calms down. Endorphins act as a natural pain reliever and reduce stress levels.
All processes in our body are interconnected, and if it can respond to stress, then we need it for something.
How to develop stress resistance?
Stress is a constant companion in our lives. If we learn to perceive it correctly, it can even benefit us. We’ll figure out how to react to stress and avoid distress, based on the book “Stress Resistance. How to remain calm and effective in any situation" by psychologist Sharon Melnick.
Stop controlling everything
We often experience stress when we are not able to fully control the situation. The more control, the higher the tension. In fact, every situation has 50% of factors that we can control and 50% that we do not. Stress reactions begin when we focus on the 50% that is beyond our control. We spend all our energy and effort trying to fix it. The very feeling of lack of control is stress. Realize that you can't control everything and focus on your 50%.
Press "OFF" occasionally
Think of the “ON” button as your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), which gives you energy and helps you concentrate. The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) is “OFF.” It controls resting body functions such as sleep, breathing and heart rate. Thus, the SNS turns on stress, and the PNS turns it off.
Borrow the interval training model from athletes: alternate between intense work and rest periods throughout the day. To recover, choose activities that personally relax you by switching to the imaginary “OFF” button.
Learn to step away
Yes, it's that simple. If you don’t see a solution that suits you, you need to constantly put in extra efforts to get at least some result - step back. The principle of “reasonable detachment” allows you to do everything that depends on you, but at the same time abstract from the results.
Set your priorities
Directed thinking is the ability to keep thoughts in one direction. You can “teach” your nervous system not to automatically respond to stimuli, but to “pause it.” The clearer your priorities, the more focused your thinking. Feeling overwhelmed actually means you lack clarity when prioritizing. Clarity in this vein is being aware of your real goals and understanding the reasons why they are your goals.
Adapt to change
Many of us tend to globalize problematic situations and “inflate” them to incredible proportions. We forget that everything that happens to us in life is a temporary phenomenon. Problems happen regularly, and the more effort and energy we spend on them, the less energy we have left for development.
Adapt to negative changes, they all bring new opportunities. This is called “development thinking,” when learning turns into a process in which making a mistake is not scary, because a mistake = new experience. Thus, you get out of the state of being a victim of circumstances, a depressed state and perceive everything that happens as an experience that is necessary for you, which teaches and strengthens you.
The concept of stress and stress resistance of the individual
In this article, the authors try to identify the relationship between the concept of stress and the formation of stress resistance in an individual.
Key words: stress, stress resistance, formation of stress resistance, individual.
Walter Cannon was the first to introduce the concept of stress, describing it as a universal psychological reaction of the human body - “fight or flight”. Later, Hans Selye, the founder of the biological concept of stress, began to use this term to define the general adaptation period. He defines stress as “a nonspecific response of the body to any demand presented to it” [1, p. 27]. A nonspecific reaction is understood as the body’s need to adapt to new circumstances, that is, to restore its previous state. Negative or positive factors surround a person; they equally influence the occurrence of stress.
In the modern world, many people are confused when defining stress; this term is often associated with something negative that makes a person feel bad and experience nervous tension. But in psychology there are two forms of it: eustress and distress. In turn, Selye G. identifies three stages of stress development (Fig. 1) [1]:
Rice. 1: Stages of stress according to Selye G
1) stage of anxiety;
2) adaptation stage;
3) stage of exhaustion.
Eustress occurs at the adaptation stage; during this stress, the body’s adaptive capabilities increase, it adapts to the stressor, and as a result it is eliminated. In cases where the body's adaptive capabilities are significantly reduced, i.e., it cannot get used to new living conditions, stress moves to the stage of exhaustion - distress occurs, which leads to the development of adaptation diseases.
Distress is the most dangerous type of stress. It can last continuously and cause damage and death to neurons in the brain. An organism under constant stress loses the ability to adequately and rationally respond to what is happening around it.
The activity of external stimuli on a person stimulates his life activity. There are no irritants, there is no manifestation of life. With moderate intensity of stimuli, stress can cause the effect of a call to perform any activity, in turn, with an increased level of external stimuli, the development of psychological deviations is stimulated, which, on the contrary, inhibits various processes.
According to the US National Mental Health Committee, by 2020 depression will be the most common cause of disability [2]. Moreover, according to various sources, every tenth person suffers from regular panic attacks, and at least 30% of people who seek help from therapists, neurologists and other specialists suffer from somatoform disorders, i.e. physical symptoms caused by a mental disorder. Such patients most often suffer from increased anxiety and depression. Thus, specialists from the Canadian Center for Addiction and Mental Health have proven that people suffering from long-term depression experience changes in brain physiology. According to study leader Jeff Mayer, long-term depression inflames the brain and then leads to Alzheimer's disease [3].
Depending on the nature of stress and its effect on the body, psychological and physiological stress are distinguished. Psychological stress is divided into informational and emotional stress. Information stress is associated with information overload, lack of sufficient time to solve assigned problems and increased responsibility. Emotional stress occurs in situations of threat, danger, resentment, etc. Both of these subtypes of stress have a significant impact on a person’s mental state; sufficient exposure leads to emotional, motor and speech disorders (Fig. 2).
Rice. 2: Types of psychological stress and causes of their occurrence
Physiological stress is caused by the influence of physical factors on the body, for example, when we burn our finger, we experience physiological stress.
In addition to the above, it should be added that experts also highlight social and cultural influences on the development of stress in a person. A prosperous society promotes well-being and the cult of success. This cult has entered so deeply into the consciousness of modern people that its negative influence has ceased to be recognized. Nowadays it is popular to be a person devoid of emotions, to hide everything within oneself, which subsequently causes somatoform disorders. You can often find newspaper headlines like “Let’s throw away emotions”, “Let’s have no emotions!” etc. Modern culture encourages a person to give up emotions in order to appear more successful. But this leads to a further inability of the psyche to adapt to new requirements and the development of physical ailments [4].
In many cases, the individual cannot cope with stress. Sharon Melnick, a psychologist specializing in the topic of stress tolerance, states that “stress begins when, in certain circumstances, the demands placed on you exceed your ability to control them” [5]. Having sufficient control over the situation implies mental stability, the less a person tortures himself psychologically and physically.
Now that the problem of stress has been well studied, its effect on the body and development, much attention is paid to the development of stress resistance.
Stress tolerance is defined as “a set of personality traits that determine resistance to various types of stress.” It consists of three components that interact with each other:
1) a sense of the significance of one’s existence;
2) a sense of independence and the ability to influence one’s own life;
3) openness and interest in changes, treating them not as a threat, but as an opportunity for development.
Stress resistance also means emotional stability and a good ability to control one’s emotions [6].
N. I. Berezhnaya recognizes stress resistance as a personality quality that consists of a combination of certain elements [7]:
1) Psychophysiological (properties of the central nervous system);
2) Motivational (it is implied that the strength of motivation can largely determine emotional stability;
3) Emotional experience of the individual (experience remaining after the influence of negative and extreme situations);
4) Volitional (self-regulation, which brings actions into line with the requirements of the situation);
5) Professional preparedness;
6) Intellectual, which is responsible for assessing the requirements of the situation.
Also an important factor that determines the degree of stress resistance is personal resources. The development of stress resistance implies the process of their accumulation, for example, knowledge of the phenomenon of stress and awareness of ways to overcome it, the ability to self-regulate a person’s psychophysical state, the ability to think positively, the ability to act rationally, awareness of a model of constructive behavior in stressful situations, and successful overcoming of stressful situations. These personal resources help to significantly reduce the significance of stressors for a person and, accordingly, the occurrence of stress reactions.
S. Hobfoll put forward the theory of resource conservation and identified the psychological conditions for the development of stress resistance [8]:
1) Sufficient knowledge about the phenomenon of stress itself and ways to overcome it;
2) Development of the ability to self-regulate the psychophysiological state;
3)Use of experience in successfully overcoming stressful situations;
4)Creating a model of constructive behavior under stressful conditions;
5) Development of positive and rational thinking of the individual;
6) Formation of awareness of one’s own behavior.
More and more methods of prevention and ways to combat stress are emerging:
1) Relaxation gymnastics;
2) Exercises for relaxation;
3) Regulation of breathing;
4) Physical exercises;
5) Specially designed exercises.
Following the above, we can say that stress resistance is a personality trait that includes various structural components, as well as certain conditions for its formation.
Today, there is enough scientific research on the influence of individual psychological characteristics on the stress response. Based on the results of these studies, we can say that an individual’s reaction to a stressor depends not only on innate qualities, but also on a set of properties and traits of the individual that develop in the process of his socialization.
The speed and intensity of the reaction to a particular factor depends on the individual qualities inherent in different individuals. Different people react differently to the same stressor.
According to the results of the study [9], the most susceptible to stress are people whose character is dominated by such traits as gentleness, warmth, sociability, kindness, kindness and sensitivity to people, as well as individuals with a high level of intelligence. In the first case, a person is endowed with a vivid emotional manifestation, which allows him to provide social support and show trust, while at the same time he is susceptible to the influence of situations with an increased stress factor. In another case, people are able to logically assess the situation, they can abstract from details, but at the same time they become hostage to stressful situations. People with a high degree of self-control are least susceptible to stress.
Literature:
- Hans S. Stress without Distress. - M: Progress, 1982.
- Murray C., Lopez A. The global burden of disease: A comprehensive assessment of mortality and disability from diseases, injurues and risk factors in 1990 and projected to 2021. - Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.
- Golovanov G. Long-term depression changes brain physiology. — Hightech, viewed 03/06/2019, https://hightech.fm/2018/02/28/depression-changes-brain
- Kholmogorova A., Garanyan N. Emotional disorders and modern culture. - M: Moscow Psychotherapeutic Journal, 1999, No. 2, 61–90 p.
- Melnik Sh. Stress resistance. How to remain calm and highly effective in any situation - M: Mann, Ivan and Ferber, 2014.
- Mileryan E. A. Psychology of labor and vocational education: Selected works - K: NPP "Interservice", 2013
- Berezhnaya N.I. Stress resistance of operational officers of customs authorities. — Yearbook of the Russian Psychological Society: Proceedings of the 3rd All-Russian Congress of Psychologists, June 25–28, 2003, No. 1, 453–457 p.
- Ivanova T. Yu. The theory of conservation of resources as an explanatory model of the occurrence of stress - Psychology. Journal of Higher School of Economics, 2013, No. 10, 119–135 p.
- Klenova M. A., Zakharova Yu. S. Individual psychological characteristics of a tendency to stress - Psychology, sociology and pedagogy, No. 4, viewed 02/08/2019, https://psychology.snauka.ru/2015/04/4873
Why is it important for HR to understand the nature of stress?
Working with people is often stressful. Finding an approach to everyone is not an easy task. Add to this the multitasking nature of the HR profession and organizational functions, and you are sure to get stress reactions and professional burnout. What about reducing stress levels among employees and motivating them to achieve new achievements? Wow, there is too much “stressful” stuff. That is why it is important for an HR specialist to understand the nature of stress and, first of all, to control his own condition, because he also has a whole staff of employees. By remaining resilient, he can help others overcome distress and make their workdays more productive.
