Sociology: Defining Stress

786 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effect of stress on health

Part A: Defining Stress 1. What is Stress? Stress is how the body, specifically the nervous system, reacts to mental pressure. The person may feel under pressure, overloaded, overwhelmed, strained or anxious about certain tasks or events. Stress can be a good thing where it can motivate the person to reach their full potential but stress can also be a bad thing as it can damage a person’s health. 2. Physiological Effects of Stress This refers to how stress physically affects the body of a person whether it is inside the body within the internal organs or outside the body on skin, and these effects can be easier to notice than psychological effects. • Musculoskeletal System: when a person is stressed, the muscles tense up until the stress …show more content…

Stress may cause people to breath harder and rapidly, which becomes a form of hyperventilation leading to a panic attack. • Esophagus: Stress causing a person to either eat in larger amounts or in smaller amounts. There might be an increased intake of alcohol or cigarette usage. Stress also causes heartburn and acid reflux. 3. Psychological Effects of Stress This refers to how stress affects the state of mind of a person therefore stress will have an effect on the emotions, mood, behavior, personality and mental health of a person. • Personality Changes: When a person is stressed they may experience feelings of irritability, hostility, anger aggression, miscommunication, isolation, disinterest in appearance, impulsivity such as gambling and compulsive behavior rituals such as cleaning. • Depression: This is a result of chronic stress where the person is unable to complete normal activities, cant concentrate, cant make decisions, experience feelings of worthlessness, guilt, self-hate and have suicidal thoughts. • Anxiety: The signs of anxiety include excessive worrying, inability to cope with normal activities, feeling of helplessness and sense of impending …show more content…

• Internal Pressure: Stress increases when a person has personal expectations for themselves therefore pressure are developed in a person’s mind. • Time Pressure: When a student has not enough time to prepare for the exam or does not have enough time to answer all the questions in the exam, both these situations become stressful. 5. Important to Draw Attention to Problem of Stress I feel that it is important to draw attention to the problem of stress because stress has so many effects on the health of people as stress can lead to several physiological and psychological diseases, which will then lower the life expectancy. If people are aware of stress they will adopt ways of to prevent stress and also be better equipped to deal with it when they are faced with stress. 6. Symptoms of Stress • Frequent Colds: Stress lowers the efficiency of the immune systems which decreases its ability to fight against infections therefore the person is more likely to get sick. • Frequent Crying Spells: When a person feels overloaded they will react emotionally in the form of crying which is linked to feeling of

Show More
Related

  • Family Reciprocal Determinism

    889 Words  | 2 Pages

    The stress of a person has the ability to alter his or her health by means of affecting one’s physical activities, sedentary behavior, and food intake. Also, the stress of one family member may be capable of influencing the health behavior of the remaining family members in the household.

    Read More

  • Stress

    588 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing surroundings. It has physical and emotional effects on us and can make good or bad feelings. As a good influence, stress can help motivate us to do something, or help us through the day. As a bad influence, it can result in feelings of distrust, rejection, anger, and depression (overall, make you feel really crappy), which in turn can lead to health problems such as headaches, upset stomachs, rashes, insomnia, ulcers, high blood pressure, heart disease, and strokes. With the death of a loved one, the birth of a child, a job promotion (or demotion), or a new relationship, we experience stress as we change our lives to cater to this. In so adjusting to different circumstances, stress will help or hurt us depending on how we react to it.

    Read More

  • What Stress Is

    2588 Words  | 6 Pages

    Stress means different things to different people and stress effects people in different ways. Some people think stress is something that happens to them such as an injury or a promotion and others think that stress is what happens to our mind, body and behaviors in response to an event. While stress does involve events and how one responds to them these are not the critical factors, but our thoughts about the situation in which we are involved are the critical factors. Essentially, stress exists whenever homeostasis is disturbed or cannot be maintained (Stress and the Social System Course Guide, 2013). Homeostasis refers to the body's ability to keep the internal chemical and physical environments constant. As your body begins to react to stress several changes occur. These changes include increased heart rate, blood pressure and secretion of stimulatory hormones. Ones body prepares itself in stressful situations to either stand ground and fight or to flee from the situation. Walter Cannon called this stressful reaction the fight-or-flight response (Greenberg, 2012).

    Read More

  • Stress And Stress Essay

    1900 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stress and the anxiety may manifest as physical changes like increased heart rate, fast breathing, stomach aches, headache, muscle tension, and constantly feeling tired etc. Learning to recognize these signs of stress and anxiety can help us to be less afraid of it.

    Read More

  • Transtheoretical Model and Chronic Stress Management

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    Unmanageable stress can cause depression. Never getting a chance to focus on yourself and always being busy may cause you to be over stressed. Taking time to prioritize life’s obligations and allowing time to take care of yourself is a way to prevent feelings of being tired, sad, anxious, or depressed.

    Read More

  • Stress Management

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stress is defined as “any circumstance that threatens or is perceived to threaten one’s well-being and thereby tax one’s coping abilities” (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 72). Stress is a natural event that exists literally in all areas of one’s life. It can be embedded in the environment, culture, or perception of an event or idea. Stress is a constant burden, and can be detrimental to one’s physical and mental health. However, stress can also provide beneficial effects; it can satisfy one’s need for stimulation and challenge, promote personal growth, and can provide an individual with the tools to cope with, and be less affected by tomorrow’s stress (Weiten & Lloyd, 2006, p. 93).

    Read More

  • Stress, Stressors and Stress Responses

    3964 Words  | 8 Pages

    Stress is the combination of psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions that people have in response to events that threaten or challenge them. Stress can be good or bad. Sometimes, stress is helpful, providing people with the extra energy or alertness they need. Stress could give a runner the edge he or she needs to persevere in a marathon, for example. This good kind of stress is called eustress. Unfortunately, stress is often not helpful and can even be harmful when not managed effectively. Stress could make a salesperson buckle under the pressure while trying to make a sales pitch at an important business meeting, for example. Moreover, stress can increase the risk of developing health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and anxiety disorders. This bad kind of stress is called distress, the kind of stress that people usually are referring to when they use the word stress.

    Read More

  • Causes And Effects Of Stress Essay

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    One must watch out for signs like depression, lack of sleep, and compulsive disorders that may be signs of an overload of stress on the body. Spotting these damages can be fairly easy as they come with many signs that are caused by stress. Physically the body can give off many signs which can be associated to other health issues so one may not notice associate these signs directly to stress. Some of the physical signs caused by stress are dizziness, sweaty palms, lack of sexual desire, weight gain or loss, difficulty sleeping, headaches and indigestion just to name a few

    Read More

  • Stress: Causes And Effects

    786 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, stress is defined as an unpleasant state of emotional and physiological arousal that people experience in situations that they perceive as dangerous or threatening to their well being (Patel, 14). Stress is a universal feeling to everyone but the word stress means different things to different people. Some people define stress as events or situations that cause them to feel tension, pressure or negative emotions such as anxiety or anger (Patel, 15). Other people may view stress as a process involving a person’s interpretation and response to a threatening event. In any case, stress has many facets of how one perceives and responds to the certain predicament that is ailing them.

    Read More

  • Essay On Effects Of Stress On The Body

    1606 Words  | 4 Pages

    Stress has various effects on the body, both psychological and physiological. Stress can have positive effects on the body and can be beneficial, but frequent stress will eventually cause negative effects on the body.

    Read More

  • Cause And Effect Essay On Stress

    1254 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Stress is a natural physical and mental reaction to both good and bad experiences which can be beneficial to your health and safety." (8 Ways Stress Is More Dangerous Than You Think) Everyone 's body responds to stress by releasing hormones, also, you brain receives more oxygen. Stress starts to occur when we become worried about a task or responsibilities we face. Major stress is called chronic stress. It can cause symptoms that can affect your health in a larger way. Some people may say that they succeed more under stress, but sadly, that’s rarely the case. Research has shown that "stress makes a person more likely to make mistakes" (Stress Symptoms, Signs, & Causes). For most people, stress is extremely normal for them that they don 't see it as anything but ordinary. However, stress can motivate someone while under pressure and even get you through a tough or dangerous

    Read More

  • Stress In My Life

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stress affects my health I normally have minor headaches throughout my day, I tend to sleep a lot, during the cold season I get sick easily. My eating habits are irregular, anxiety levels are through the roof.

    Read More

  • Stress Informative Essay

    736 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some causes of stress can be life changes, work, financial problems, relationship difficulties, and family.

    Read More

  • Stress In Everyday Life Essay

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stress is in our everyday lives. We allow things such as the way we live, school, work, family, relationships etc to stress us out. Some people deal with stress way different from others. Some may know how to cope with stress better than others. We allow stress to take a major toll over our lives when we are suppose to fight it, but a lot of people can’t do that. Stress makes you act and do things that are not like yourself. Stress is a negative word; it comes in all different shapes and forms.

    Read More

  • The Causes Of Stress In Modern Life

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Long – term stress can even require the brain, leaving you more vulnerable to anxiety, and depression; it can be a main cause of moodiness and frustration. Many of us are aware of the physical symptoms of stress-muscle pain, rapid breathing or an increased pulse. At the same time, they also suffer from emotional of stress which can be like roller coaster of highs or lows. emotional effects rang from emotional overeating to a feeling of being overwhelmed and pressure. stress impact many other components, which leads to difficulties in making decisions, loss sense humor, poorer concentration, negative thinking. As can be seen, stress nearly brings serious effects to people. Apart from the effects above, it can be the main reason which creates your decreased productivity at work. stress makes people less control their pace work, which leads to dissatisfaction. about 40% employees said that they are burned out because of work-related stress and loss $300 billion each year in the workplace . In addition, your relationship with people around also become worsens because of your stress. In fact, stress makes people puzzled and their life can undergo a considerable

    Read More

More about Sociology: Defining Stress

Open Document