Managing Stress

What is stress?

Stress is the way your body responds to a challenge or a threat.  Your muscles may tense, your heart beat faster, and your stomach churn.  These are signs that your body is getting ready to react to a change or demand.

When is stress helpful?

Stress is helpful when it enables you to meet a goal or take care of a problem.  It can give you the energy to focus on and react to a challenge.  Without challenges, life could be very boring.

When is stress harmful?

Stress is harmful when it goes on for a long time.  Your body also needs a time to relax.  Stress that does not stop can take its toll on your health and well-being.

What are some things that cause stress?

Stress producers can be physical, mental, or emotional.  What is stressful for one person may be relaxing for someone else.  Stress can come from something pleasant or unpleasant.  For instance, a wedding or the birth of a baby can be as stressful as an illness or a job loss.

Stress can come from a major change in your life or just from your daily hassles.  Some major events that can cause stress are having a baby, a death in the family, illness, losing a job, divorce, marriage, or moving.  Examples of daily hassles that can cause stress are traffic jams, whining children, lost car keys, or having too many errands.  At work, boredom, deadlines, and promotions can all be stressful.

What are some signs that you are under too much stress?

These are some signs of stress overload:

• feeling worn out
• irritable mood
• headaches
• upset stomach
• sex problems
• sleep problems.

Emotional upsets such as feeling cranky or depressed can also be signs of too much stress.  Each of these things could be caused by other illnesses.  However, you and your doctor may want to consider that you are just too stressed.

Another sign of too much stress is the feeling that you are being pulled in too many ways at once.  Too much stress can make you feel that you have lost control of your life.

What happens to me if I am under too much stress?

Constant stress takes away all of your energy.  It makes it harder for you to cope with changes and demands.  Too much stress and you cannot grow and be happy.  Stress can cause illness also.  It can cause headaches, asthma, and backaches.  It can upset your system with heartburn and diarrhea.  Too much stress can even lead to high blood pressure and heart attacks.

What are some ways we deal with stress that are harmful?

Many commonly used ways of dealing with stress do little to stop it.  Some of these are smoking, drinking alcohol, eating too much, and using drugs.  These things are more harmful than helpful.

How does having a bleeding disorder affect my stress level?

As with any health problem, the expense, pain, and hassles of a bleeding disorder can cause stress.  It has not been proven, but many people believe that too much stress can lead to more bleeds.