Why Stress Makes You Sick

Unfortunately, stress is something we all experience.  It is unfortunately, just an addition to living life.  We may not even induce it, but if we are trying to live a successful life, or even just sustain a healthy one, it can become challenging.  But since everyone is stressed, that should make it better, right?  Wrong!  It doesn’t feel that way at all.  This is because society is very individualized.  We think about our own situations in the worst case scenario possible.  This makes us even more stressed.  It’s a vicious cycle.  However, we can learn to manage the stress in our lives, so there is good news!

First, let’s discuss the issues that stress can bring on.  It genuinely makes us sick.  When we are stressed we…

·      Lose hair

·      Lack focus

·      Have little to no energy

·      Decreases sex drive

·      Have trouble sleeping

·      experience muscle tension and fatigue

·      It can bring on panic attacks

·      Increased heart rate

As mentioned previously, all of these symptoms that occur just create even more stress.  The original problem could have been an intense workload, but now we’re also worrying about why our hair is falling out and how to sleep through the night.

            Have no fear though; there is a way to help this!  To start, we need to begin thinking of this from a different perspective.  For a moment, take yourself out of your body.  Stress is a feeling.  You are not identified as stress!  You might be feeling stressed in the moment, but it does not need to consume you and your day to day life.  Everything passes, and you’ll look back and thank yourself that you completed those tasks.  They will get done.

            Another helpful tip is to split your big task into smaller tasks.  For example, if you need to get a huge research paper done for school, use a small portion of your time to plan out how you will work on this.  The first day you can look for your resources for the paper, then you can split up your paragraphs based on your sources, then you can write a paragraph each day.  By doing this, it’ll feel like a lot less work and you’ll be more motivated to tackle the small tasks than one big one.

            A final piece of information for you, is to set a specific time you will work on this project.  This is why it is so great to utilize a planner.  It will help you stay organized, which will assist in you getting things done.  If you set out a 1-hour timeslot at 2:00pm to get a section done of your project, then you will make plans around that timeframe.  This will allow you to devote time to this task and ensure you’ll get it done.  The feeling of productivity is one of the best feelings.

            To conclude, you will get through whatever stressful situation you are encountering.  Your work will get done, and you’ll be able to relax.  There is more to life than work, so enjoy the ride.  It’s a beautiful thing!

-Written by Jessica Skrelunas