By Natalie Herr ‘25
April is a month designated to stress awareness. It brings attention to the various causes of stress, as well as symptoms, ways to get help, and coping mechanisms. Being educated in stress factors can help you manage a healthy lifestyle and offer support to others who may be dealing with stress.
According to Oxford Languages, stress is “a state of the mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.” Stress doesn’t only affect one’s mind, but also one’s body. It can motivate us to do daily tasks, but too much of it can prohibit us from doing our daily tasks as effectively.
Everyone experiences stress to different degrees. Different things can cause different amounts of stress as well. Some things may trigger one person’s stress, but not the other person’s stress. So how do you know if you’re experiencing stress? How do you know what can trigger it? How do you cope with it?
More times than not, stress causes difficulty in the ability to concentrate and relax, which could add feelings of irritability and/or anxiety. With these feelings come physical feelings like chills, headaches, sweating, shaking, and an upset stomach. It can also cause trouble sleeping, whether it be insomnia, messed up sleep schedules, nightmares, and inefficient and/or non- energizing sleep.
Stress also causes an imbalance in your brain, making it difficult to regulate feelings and make decisions. This can lead to impulsive/intrusive thoughts, which could create impulsive actions. An impulsive thought is a random desire or urge that can be dangerous to oneself or others. Any type of emotion can cause an impulsive thought; it doesn’t have to only be stress.
The three most common types of intrusive thoughts consist of sex, violence, and the usage of substances. Impulsive thoughts can sometimes be a person’s way to try to cope with whatever is stressing them out, or making them feel the way that they are feeling. This can lead to excessive drug use, self-harm, harm to others, and suicidal thoughts.
Realizing that you’re having an impulsive thought while in the moment is a really good way to cope. Accept that you’re having these thoughts, and give yourself time to pause, and think. But don’t engage in those thoughts. Don’t push them out of your mind either; you need to assess them to benefit yourself. Experiment with what helps you “get rid” of these feelings. Find things that help you take your mind off of those thoughts.
One of the most important ways to cope with stress is by taking care of yourself and your body. Eat healthy, exercise, get the right amount of sleep, and take breaks if need be. Avoiding drugs and alcohol is also very important. Yes, they may seem to help the situation, but all they do is add even more stress to it. Talk to someone about how you’re feeling. A lot of times talking through situations can relieve stress, even without an effective response.
Finally, remember that you are not alone. If there is something that you’re going through, there are people everywhere that you can communicate with. If you have no one you want to express your feelings to, there are hotlines you can use to text and call a real person who will help you walk through the situation. SAMHSA’s hotline is the most popular for any type of mental challenge, whether stress, anxiety, depression, and/or suicidal ideation.
It is very important to be educated on what stress is, how it occurs, and how to cope with it. After reading this you can now be equipped with some background knowledge that you can use in your life or the lives of others. Just because April is a designated month for Stress Awareness doesn’t mean it should only be discussed in April. Stress is an ongoing issue that keeps increasing throughout the world. So share what you know with others, and do other research on your own.
Sources:
https://hr.nih.gov/working-nih/civil/national-stress-awareness-month
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5573220/
https://www.reviveresearch.org/blog/intrusive-vs-impulsive-thoughts/
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/intrusive-thoughts
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/copingwith-stresstips.html
https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline?scrlybrkr=9d900b3e