One of the biggest causes of all illness is stress. Stress itself leads to many disorders, such as digestive problems, headaches, body aches, fever, and even cancer. Stress weakens our immune system and places much strain on the nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for the fight or flight response in the physiology and the parasympathetic nervous system controls the rest and digest aspect of the autonomic nervous system. Stress activates the sympathetic nervous system.

There are many causes of stress, such as work, family, and school. Work related stress can include everything from making it to a meeting on time to meeting a deadline or your boss calling you in for a private meeting in which you do not know the topic of. Family stress can range from waiting for your child to come home to a fight with your spouse or even death or divorce. School stress can range from being called on to answer a question to doing your homework or taking a final exam. There are many types of stress and various ranges of each type of stress. Stress can also occur due to happiness such as the birth of a child to receiving a promotion to graduation from college or even winning the lottery. Extreme moments of any emotion can lead to stress upon the physiology.

Obviously, any sort of negative stress adds the most strain upon the physiology and is the one that disturbs the homeostasis of the physiology most. When under a lot of stress, most individuals feel like they don’t have enough time, their shoulders and back will ache, will have headaches, and tend to get irritated and react with anger. Those who do not have proper control over their levels of stress also tend to make wrong choices.

When under stress and the sympathetic nervous system on heightened alert, blood pressure can rise, and the heart will beat faster. If you eat during high levels of stress, you will not be able to effectively digest your food because the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for rest and digest, will not be active. Rather, the sympathetic nervous system will be active which will release hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline. 

For some people, just reading this article will lead to stress and for others, failing a test will create no sort of stress. The best way to deal with stress is to accept the stress and find ways to cope with it as well.

There are many methods for the reduction of stress. First and foremost is to be happy. The happier you are, the less stress you experience. Whenever possible, attempt to engage yourself in activities that make you happy, even if it is for five minutes. In order to most effectively deal with stress, it is important to take good care of yourself. You can do this by watching your diet and taking the time to do things you love and enjoy. When stressed, most people often go after the more fatty foods, which will only provide temporary satisfaction. Instead, eat more fruits and vegetables. Have some orange juice rather than having that chocolate shake. Have a fruit snack instead of the greasy potato chips. By simply watching your eating habits, you will feel better about what you eat and will have more energy to deal with the stress.

Next best way to deal with stress is to exercise. Whether its yoga, a jog, swimming, or lifting weights, exercise is a great way to release some stress. Exercise is not only very good for the body, but it will help ease away tension so that you can enjoy life for a bit. When it comes to exercise it is best to choose the type of activity that you enjoy. Otherwise, exercise will be no fun and you are less likely to do it.

On top of watching your diet and exercising, meditation and other relaxation techniques are excellent for stress reduction. Many research studies have been conducted on meditation and it has been shown to reduce levels of stress, reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. Meditation is proven to provide deep rest and deep levels of relaxation. This is a great way to ‘reset’ your physiology and clear your mind.

 Whether or not you see it, stress is in everyone’s lives. The only factor that differs is how you cope with it. The more effective you are in coping with stress, the happier you will feel throughout the day. All in all, spend some time doing something you love and automatically, you will feel much better.