Why You Feel Stress

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The stress response, also known as the fight-or-flight response, is the body's way of dealing with thoughts that we have about what is happening in our world. Any time we sense a threat of any kind, be it physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, our body only knows one way to deal with it: the stress response.

Unfortunately, the majority of the threats that we perceive today are not ones that involve the need to run or fight. Studying for an upcoming test, having to speak in front of a group of people, getting a bad grade, or asking someone out on a date for the first time are all events that we might perceive as being stressful. They don't, however, require that we run from or fight someone or something in order to handle them. But our body isn't able to understand that distinction. It only hears our thoughts that something is threatening.  As a result, the stress response turns on whether we need it to turn on or not. And most of the time, we don't.

Having the stress response turned on makes things worse for us rather than better. It is only designed to last a few minutes, but our thoughts focus on the threat all day long. This results in long-term activation of the stress response (a very bad thing) and leads to a whole bunch of imbalances in the body. If you have ever had a tension headache, aching muscles, difficulty eating or sleeping, or you catch colds a lot, you are probably dealing with too much stress.

Fortunately, the effects of stress can be eliminated with regular stress reduction activities. If you turn off the stress, the health problem will fix itself.

That's what you learn how to do in the Stress Management Lab (and in the Stress Management Class).