FEELING STRESSED?

Psychological stress is very common in today’s society. Especially in universities, students are expected to deliver high quality and have results of higher standards. Long term exposure to this tension or pressure can cause health issues, differing from simple headaches to a burn-out. Therefore, it is beneficial for one to be able to cope with stress or at least notice that one is experiencing it. The first step towards this, is to have some basic knowledge on how stress implements. What is stress? Why do we experience stress? And does stress affect our behaviour?

First of all, it is important to understand the biology behind stress. Considering humans as animals or organisms, stress is a natural response to the stimulus we call danger. In other words, when we feels endangered by something, we experience stress. This stimulus and its receiver can differ from a prey being chased by a predator to a student having an upcoming deadline. In both cases the psychological response from any organism would be to be stressed.

There are multiple ways for organisms to react to the danger that causes this stress. These behaviours are fighting, fleeing and freezing. To refer back to the previous example, a prey animal who notices that a predator is on its way, can choose to either fight the predator, flee from the predator or freeze and hope the predator won’t attack.

Which of the three reactions an organism subconsciously chooses, pertains to the type of stress they experience and the extent of it. There are mainly two types of stress; positive and negative stress. Positive stress, also called eustress, is the stress that awakens cautiousness and alertness. This helps to concentrate and motivates to work. Eustress is mostly expressed in the reaction fighting. Although, positive stress may sound harmless, being exposed to positive stress for too long or too much at once could cause eustress transferring into distress, which is appointed negative. Negative stress results in poor focus which makes it more difficult to achieve a goal. It is distress that causes a pressing feeling that mostly provokes fleeing or freezing.

For humans, this provocation of behaviour is no different. Students for example do the same as the prey animal which was mentioned earlier. When exposed to eustress, students fight stress by working hard on projects or studies. Distress on the other hand, causes them to freeze and procrastinate or even to flee from their responsibility by not showing up at a presentation or an exam.

Did you know? That your brain cannot produce stress hormones while you are eating. Therefore eating is a very common way of avoiding the feeling of stress.

To summarize, stress is an natural response to danger that provokes different types of (human) behaviour. This insight in the working of stress makes recognising stress much easier and can help us to notice it is time for a break. That continuously benefits mental- and physical health as well as the joy of work or studies.//

SOURCES 1 Bakker, E. (2017). Effecten van verschillende copingstijlen op eustress en distress en de algemene gezondheid van studenten (Thesis). Retrieved from https://essay.utwente.nl/72667/1/Bakker_BA_BMS.pdf 2 Geerling, R. (2016, 8 April). Van eustress naar disstres. Retrieved on 22 December 2019, from https://ttisuccessinsights.nl/van-eustressnaar-distress-en-weer-terug/ 3 Gray, J. A. (1987). The Psychology of Fear and Stress (2nd edition). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 4 Montero, O. (2010, 27 October). Illustration retrieved from https:// www.flickr.com/photos/osmont/5129078782