faiezkirsten.com

I would like you to picture this scenario if you will…

Everyday, across the world, millions and millions of people visiting - no, inundating – doctor’s surgeries, clinics and hospital emergency rooms.

Now my question to you is: What drives these millions and millions of people to these places all of the time when I’m sure they would prefer doing something more useful with their time?

Of course your answer will be: Because they are sick!

And you are right.

Yes, it is sickness which compels millions and millions of people to visit these places.

Now my second question to you is? What is the commonest cause of their sickness? In other words what is the commonest reason why people visit a doctor’s surgery, clinic or hospital emergency room?

The answer to that question is the subject of my talk today.

And the answer is………..STRESS!

Yes stress is the cause of up to 90% of the illnesses that are treated in a primary healthcare setting such as a doctor’s surgery, clinic or hospital emergency room.

So today I will talk about stress: What it is and What it does to you.

But a more important question you would like to have answered I’m sure is: Can one eliminate stress completely from one’s life?

I will answer this question briefly below.

Alright, I will start off by describing what stress is.

However, before describing what stress is, it is important that I explain to you what a stressor is.

A stressor is anything that brings on or activates a specific response – called the stress response - within our brains and our bodies. This response is characterized by physiological changes such as a change in our heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, pupil size and chemical balance amongst others.

So what then is stress? 

Stress is the experience we have in response to exposure to one or more stressors.

And the reason that the body and brain respond the way they do to the stressor is due to the perceived threat that the stressor poses to the survival or well-being of the person exposed to it.

Now there are 3 types of stressors - physical, chemical and psychological or emotional.

Physical stressors include things such as cold, heat or injuries.

Chemical stressors are things such as pollutants, toxins and poisons etc

And

Psychological stressors include worry or concern about various things, relationship difficulties, conflict at work etc. In fact a closer look will reveal that these stressors are actually the thoughts associated with the situations just mentioned i.e. they are your thoughts you generate about, or your perceptions of, these situations.

It is important then to realize that…

Your very thoughts alone can induce the stress response and cause you to experience stress!

So what does stress do to us?

Well, as we have said, stress  is responsible for up to 90% of the illnesses that are treated in a primary healthcare setting. And they include both physical and emotional illnesses such as high blood pressure, spastic colon, depression and anxiety and panic disorders amongst the many others.

Now at this point it is important to mention that the stress response is  in fact a normal response. It is an attempt by the brain and body to correct the physiological imbalances which are brought on by exposure to one or more stressors.

The stress response is thus a survival response and the body and brain are well-equipped and designed to withstand short episodes of the stress response i.e. episodes which last from a few minutes to an hour or two at most.  For example if we are threatened by an aggressive dog our stress response kicks in and we run to a safe location. The stress response then dissipates and we return to our normal physiological state.

This normal and short-lived stress response is known as acute stress.

The problem arises though when we are continually exposed to stressors such as continual negative thoughts for example, then the stress response is turned on all, or most, of the time. And since we humans have not been designed to withstand such a persistent onslaught , a continually turned-on stress response causes severe damage to our brains, our minds and our bodies. In other words we become emotionally and physically ill.

This is the unfortunate result of chronic or persistent stress which occurs due to a stress response which remains activated over a period of days, weeks, months or years. And so by reducing - or preferably eliminating - chronic stress from our lives we will become happier, healthier, and even more intelligent.

Now let me get back to the question I asked earlier viz. Can you eliminate stress completely from your life? And of course I am referring to chronic stress.

The answer?  Yes! Chronic stress can be completely eliminated from your life.

There are many powerful techniques, technologies and practices which you can use to help you eliminate stress from your life. However discussion of these is beyond the scope of this article.

Wishing you a life of Health, Wellness and Great Performance!