Stress Stress is the body’’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. Stress is a normal part of life. Many s that happen to you and around you—and many things that you do yourself—put stress on your body. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. How does stress affect health The human body is designed to experience stress and react to it. Stress can be positive, keeping us alert and ready to avoid er. Stress becomes negative when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges. As a result, the person becomes overworked, and stress-related tension builds. Stress that continues without relief can lead to a condition called distress—a negative stress reaction. Distress can disturb the body’’s internal balance or equilibrium—leading to physical symptoms including headaches, upset stomach, elevated blood pressure, chest pain, and sleeping problems. Research suggests that stress also can bring on or worsen certain symptoms or diseases. Stress also becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try to relieve their stress. Unfortunately, instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, these substances tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems. Consider the following facts: -Forty-three percent of all s suffer adverse health effects from stress. -Sy-five to 90% of all doctor’’s office visits are for stress-related ailments (烦恼) and complaints. -Stress is linked to six of the leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis (硬化) of the liver, and suicide. -The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. In terms of lost hours due to absenteeism, reduced productivity and workers’’ compensation benefits, stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually. -The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic (长期的), untreated stress reactions. What’’s normal anxiety The cold sweat of anxiety is that "fight or flight" response that kept our early relatives safe from grizzly (灰色的) bears and other scary characters. That adrenaline rush still serves us well under certain circumstances. Anxiety is a natural reaction to those very real stresses. In today’’s world, that reaction helps motivate us, prepares us for things we have to face, and sometimes give us energy to take action when we need to. Big job interview is coming up, and it’’s got you in knots. So you spend a little more time getting dressed or rehearsing what you’’re going to say. You’’ve got an appointment with the divorce lawyer, so you do more homework. That kind of anxiety can motivate you to do better. It helps you protect yourself. But as we know too well, sometimes it doesn’’t take a specific threat—only the possibility of cr—to send humans into anxiety mode. The difficulty comes in learning to tone down that automatic response—to think, "How serious is the er How likely is the threat" The thing about anxiety is, it can take on a life of its own. Everything becomes a potential cr. The unthinkable has happened. So around every corner, there’’s the next possible disaster. What are symptoms of harmful anxiety When anxiety is taking a toll, your body knows it. You have trouble sleeping, eating, and concentrating. You get headaches; your stomach is upset. You might even have a panic attack— the pounding heart, a feeling of lightheadedness. Anxiety may also feel like depression. The two sometimes overlap. When anxiety becomes so overwhelming that it interferes with day-to-day activities—when it keeps you from going places, from doing things you need to do—that’’s when you need help. Generalized anxiety disorder is a bigger syndrome—like a worry machine in your head. If it’’s not one thing, it’’s another. You’’re procrastinating to the point that you’’re almost afraid to take a step. You’’re so nervous about going to your child’’s school to talk to the teacher, you just don’’t go —you miss the appointment. In the case of such overwhelming anxiety, people are not good decisions. They’’re avoiding things, or they’’re unable to rise to the occasion because the anxiety is too much. They’’re procrastinating because they can’’t concentrate, can’’t stay focused. It’’s really interfering with their day-to-day life. At that point, they may have a more serious anxiety problem and need professional help. How Can You Cope To cope with plain-vanilla anxiety, separate out the real risks and ers that a situation presents and those your imagination is worse. It’’s a twist on the old adage: "Take control of the things you can, and accept those you can’’t change. " Ask yourself: Where can you take control of a situation Where can you make changes Then do what needs to be done. What things do you simply have to accept That’’s very important. Very often, it’’s possible to get past an anxiety cycle with the help of friends or family— someone who can help you sort out your problems. But when anxiety becomes overwhelming, it’’s time for a therapist, or perhaps medication. Here are two strategies that therapists use to help us conquer anxiety: Challenge negative thoughts Ask yourself: Is this a productive thought Is it helping me get closer to my goal If it’’s just a negative thought you’’re rehashing, then you must be able to say to that thought: "Stop." That’’s difficult to do, but it’’s very important. Rather than becoming paralyzed with anxiety, here’’s another message you can send yourself: "I may have to take a job I don’’t like as much, may have to travel further than I want, but I’’ll do what I have to do now. At least I will have the security of income in the short term. Then I can look for something better later. " The most important thing: "to realize when you’’ve done everything you can, that you need to move forward." Learn to relax You may even need "breathing retraining". When people get anxious, they tend to hold their breath. We teach people a special diaphragmatic breathing—it calms your system. Do yoga (瑜伽), meditation, or get some exercise. Exercise is a terrific outlet for anxiety. Most of all, try not to compound your problems. When things are bad, there is a legitimate reason to feel bad. But if you don’’t deal with it, you’’re going to lose more than just a job—you’’ll lose relationships, your self-confidence, you could even lose technical abilities if you stay dormant in your profession. Try not to compound one stress by adding another. Often your ability to work through anxiety—get past it—varies depending on the type of cr you faced. The more severe, the more surprising it was, the longer it’’s going to take to get over it. You may be on autopilot for several weeks. If you’’re depressed, that can complicate things. In the case of divorce, it may take months to years to really get back to yourself. But take heart. If you’’re doing well in one aspect of your life—in your work or your relationships—you’’re probably on your way. Fear and anxiety are no longer running your life. It’’s possible to get past an anxiety cycle with the help of friends or family—someone who can help you______________________.