The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly about Stress
by John Thurman

Stress spelled backwards means desserts. While a slice of Coconut Cream Pie and the Village Inn might give you a little relief from stress, you will probably feel more depressed within a couple of hours after the sugar burns off.

With that happy notion, in this second article about the good, the bad, and the ugly about stress we will see just how big a deal stress is.

I do not want to sound like some cold-hearted, number cruncher, but having a working knowledge of how stress impacts our culture is an important step in lowering the negative impact of stress and stress related diseases.

Having spent some time in my life mismanaging stress, anxiety, and worry I hope to give you some tools that will help you deal with it in your life.

The impact of Stress, Anxiety, and Worry

The following information is from the American Psychological Association and comes from their publication, Stress In America, (2013) You can reference it at www.stressinamerica.org.

  • 72% of the respondents indicated that their stress had remained the same or increased over the past five years. Only 20% said their stress had decreased.
  • 20% said their stress was in the extreme category.
  • 37% felt that they were doing an average job of managing their stress.


The top stressors listed in the survey were:

  1. Money 69%
  2. Work 65%
  3. The economy 61%
  4. Family responsibilities 57%
  5. Relationship issues 56%
  6. Family health concerns 52%
  7. Personal health concerns 51%

 
Stress, Anxiety, and Worry impact us in 5 areas

  • Mental – Memory issues, concentration, racing thoughts, poor judgment, impulsiveness.
  • Physical – Pain, high blood pressure, lowered immunity, hair loss, teeth bringing, jaw pain; GI issues, ulcers, heart disease, abd diabetes.
  • Emotional – Mood swings, anger, frustration, crying, over reacting, loss of interest, procrastination, eating disorders, 
  • Behavioral – Appetite (+or -), insomnia, violent reactions, increased drug and alcohol abuse, isolation.
  • Spiritual – anger at God, detachment from God and church/small group. 


Two Major Types of Stress

Positive Stress (Eustress) – challenges, new tasks, growth, stretching for a goal/dream. It is the type of stress that motivates and inspires.

Negative Stress (Distress) – drains us mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Bottom line is that the more eustress, of positive stress we have the better we will manage out distress.

Looking forward to sharing some Stress Busting Tips with you.

Have a great week.