What is stress?

What is stress?  We hear about ‘stress’ fairly often, so what is stress? My Webster’s New World Dictionary describes stress as mental or physical tension.  Another way to describe is as “a feeling you get when faced with a challenge.  In small doses, stress can be good for you because it makes you more alert and gives you a burst of energy.” http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/stress-your-health.cfm   In large doses and/or for a long time, stress wears on a person mentally and physically. 

When stressed, our bodies release chemicals called catecholamines (dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine) and steroid hormones.  These chemicals cause the “fight or flight” response which prepares our bodies to run or fight.  “These chemicals divert the body’s blood supply to vital organs (away from non-vital organs).  This causes the heart, lungs, and skeletal muscles to receive increased blood circulation.  The person’s breathing rate and heart rate increase and muscle tension increases.  The person is primed for action.” 

When pre-historic man stumbled into a bear or tiger, the fight or flight response helped save his life.  Few people these days deal with tigers or bears.  “This response to acute stress happens today when things go awry, such as an auto accident, a lost job or contract, or a child’s problem that demands a parent leave work to solve.  Often, there’s no physical outlet for all the chemicals flooding through a person’s system.”  (Hohler, SE, Arthritis: A Patient’s Guide, (McFarland & Co., Inc, Jefferson, NC, 2008), 193.)