Stress: The Good News and the Bad News

All stress comes from negative experiences, right? Wrong! Three of the top ten stressors are actually positive occurrences. See for yourself the top ten stressors according to doctors:

1. Death of spouse

2. Divorce

3. Marital Separation

4. Jail term

5. Death of a close family member

6. Personal injury or illness

7. Marriage

8. Fired at work

9. Marital reconciliation

10. Retirement

This certainly explains why young children sometimes throw tantrums at their own birthday parties – they’re experiencing stress. So who experiences the most stress? If you guessed women, children, young adults, and divorced and separated people, you’re right. Men, married people, and those between ages 55 and 64 tend to have lower stress levels.

Understanding that stress comes from good things as well as bad can help us to manage it better. It’s unrealistic to imagine that we can eliminate stress from our lives, unless we live in a cave and avoid human contact (who would do the dishes then?) and it’s not even desirable. Often the stress of deadlines and obligations motivates us to work harder, concentrate better, perform better.

Nowadays it’s common knowledge that stress results from the “fight or flight” response, which is one of the body’s defenses. When confronted with a dangerous (perceived or real) situation, the body pumps adrenaline and cortisol, diverts blood to large muscles and away from small muscles and prepares the body for exertion. When neither fight nor flight is taken, the adrenaline and cortisol have no outlet and therefore can damage the body.

How is the body damaged? People with chronic, long-term stress have more colds, heart attacks, strokes, immune deficiencies, arthritis, digestive problems, ulcers, headaches and obesity, and even respond less to vaccines.

To live longer and better, it’s crucial to learn to manage stress and to learn to use it to your advantage.