Chillax

So sit back, read on and chillax!

What is stress?

Stress is the way that you feel when pressure is placed on you. A little bit of pressure can be productive, give you motivation, and help you to perform better at something. However, too much or prolonged pressure can lead to stress, which is unhealthy for the mind and body.

Everyone reacts differently to stress, and some people have a higher threshold than others. Too much stress often leads to physical, mental and emotional problems so it is important to recognise the signals and learn to manage your stress.

How does stress affect your body?

When faced with a situation that makes you stressed, your body releases chemicals which invoke a 'fight or flight' feeling. These hormones help us to run faster and fight harder. They increase heart rate and blood pressure, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to power important muscles. They increase sweating in an effort to cool these muscles, and help them stay efficient. They divert blood away from the skin to the core of our bodies, reducing blood loss if we are damaged. As well as this, these hormones focus our attention on the 'threat', to the exclusion
of everything else. All of this significantly improves our ability to survive life-threatening events.

However, when you're in a situation that isn't life threatening, such as being on an overcrowded train, in a meeting at work or in the classroom at school, these chemicals are not needed for survival but their effects are still felt by your body. So you need to learn to control these effects.

Music copyright of playpauseunwind.co.uk