CHAPTERS

Chapter 4: It Has Now Hit The Fan

All of us deals with stress differently, and stressors are different for each one of us. One stressor is not necessarily what the stressors would be for another. In most cases, identifying what elicits the stress in us can be pretty straightforward and obvious. Stress can stem from a bad relationship, an argument with someone, subpar working or living conditions, and suffering from health issues are just some of the more obvious reasons for the onset of stress. In other cases, determining the root cause of the stress being experienced is more difficult.

Finding the origin of your anxiety can be a little more challenging especially if the stress does not manifest itself in forms we recognize and understand. If you find yourself feeling more stressed out than usual try keeping a journal of what sets off the stress hormones in you. This is a good way of recording what it is that causes you uninvited stress and worry.

When you start to feel these emotions and physical reactions overwhelm you, it is a good time to take stock f the situation and answer questions like the following:

• Is it someone in particular that sets off the stress alarms in me?
• Is it a particular place that triggers dark emotions?
• What time of the day do I feel most on edge?
• Do I make unsound decisions under stress?

When we start recognizing the patterns, this will be when we would be better able to understand what triggers stress for us. When we are able to understand these, then we shall be better equipped to handle the stress.

Some of the things that we worry about is what stresses us out on a daily basis. These could be mundane things and others are more pressing matters that either needs our attention or situations that bring about anxiety that we have no control over. Research has shown that an average person would suffer between two hours and thirty minutes stressing out about things such as, where to have lunch, and what to have for lunch. We worry about how we look and what to wear. We worry if there is enough gas in the car. We fret over payments we need to make and if there is enough food in the refrigerator.

These concerns are just some of the more common causes of stress that we can identify. For those who work, some of their more stressful concerns include job satisfaction, workplace environment, and keeping balance between home and work life. More and more, keeping a work-life balance has become very important to working individuals. Not surprisingly, working people are very concerned about how they are managing and balancing their daily lives, including family, career, and self.

Stress is sometimes higher for some people, especially those who have families. We shall be talking about the more common stressors that most of us experience on a daily basis and look into what we can do to alleviate some of the effects of stress when it rears its head.

It has been noted that all of our minor worries cost us at least two hours and 28 minutes of our lives stressing, every day. Women’s teams to stress out more than men do with women spending at least 2 hours and 35 minutes each day on worries and men spending a little less than that at 2 hours and 18 minutes each day on the average. This data shows us that yes indeed women do worry more than men do but with the very slight difference in time spent worrying women and men are not so different after all. It has been noted that stress levels usually peak at the beginning of the week on a Monday morning, sometime before lunch, when people usually spend time planning out the hectic schedule of the week ahead.

Research over the decades has revealed that although the kind of stressors which set off the release of stress hormones are varied with each individual, there are is in fact a commonality in the elements to the situation which causes the stress hormones of people experiencing stress to rise. These studies showed that the novelty of a situation especially unexpected and unanticipated, was one of the reasons for stress hormones to elevate. Another situation that would cause stress hormones to increase is the sense of losing control over a situation as well as when there is a perceived threat to the person or their ego.

Top 10 moments which lead tutorial stress levels in women.  56% of women are said to stress out during a job interview as opposed to 47% of men. 44% women worry about not earning enough, whereas 33% males stress about the amount of money they make.

At 43% there are more women who are worried about getting a presentation or a speech in front of a crowd then 37% of the male population. 41% more women worry about the lack of time during the day as opposed to 26% of males who feel they do not have enough time in a day to do what they need to do. Women, at 40%, worry more about their first day on the job than men (29%) do. Men worry less about being cheated on pegging the numbers at 17%, than women do at 32%.  Women, at 34%, stress over disagreements with friends, whereas men are more cavalier about it at 23%. Men worry more about job security at 27%, whereas women, at 24%, seem a little more secure about their paycheck source.

Both men and women worry about being underachievers, almost equally, with women pegged at 24% and men at 23%. Women seem to worry more about being first time parents, making them either prepare for an eventual arrival of their addition, or position women in a manner where they can get all the help they need or afford. Some of the other things that men worry about are going on first dates, concerned about not having enough time and losing hair.

The national mental health institute says that 40 million adults in the USA are affected by anxiety, with countless more who suffer from depression related disorders. It has been reported that about 18% of adults suffer from depression related conditions while the rest of us are particularly stressed out during child-rearing ages and prime productivity between the ages of 18 to 55.  However there are some folks who, for specific reasons, suffer more from stress and anxiety for various reasons that could be due to a genetic mutation or their strong stressful experiences could be triggered by episodes caused by past trauma.

A person who seems less equipped to deal with the pressure of stressful events could be suffering from an underlying, undiagnosed medical condition of the brain. The stress could also be attributed to an idiosyncratic chemical imbalance. Often times we witness similar situations experienced by different individuals that result to totally different outcomes.  Some people who have been able to have themselves diagnosed for disorders suffer more intense versions of the same situation than other people do because they are more affected by circumstance of the situation which they feel they have no control over.

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