Stress & How to Manage It
What is Stress?
Most people associate the word stress with distress that can cause harm. However, this is not the only type of stress a person can experience. Stress is also more than the emotional response, it is also biological (how your body responds to stress), psychological (how your mind processes stress), and social (how your relationships and environment influence your response to stress) (source).
To understand how you are impacted by stress, it's important to know the differences between good and bad stress and learn how to reduce the harmful impacts of stress. Doing so can also help you use stress as a tool instead of feeling trapped or burnt out by it.
Distress is the bad stress in your life. This includes your response to difficult working or living conditions, negative feelings, or other life experiences with negative connotations.
Eustress is the good stress in your life. This is stress from a life experience that has positive connotation and can help improve performance and encourage effort and focus. Life events that can involve eustress can include a job interview, graduating, getting married, etc.
Acute stress is your fight or flight response. Acute stress can be triggered by your nervous system response, which causes your body to enter a state where it will defend itself. Acute stress affects your digestive system and emotional/behavioral health. Trauma and prolonged exposure to acute stress can cause long lasting impacts such as chronic health issues.
Chronic stress can be caused by unchecked acute stress as well as the cost of daily life (juggling bills, jobs, relationships, and other life stressors). Chronic toxic stress (as mentioned in the last paragraph) can lead to problems with your physical health.
You are most vulnerable to stress when you are:
Not getting enough sleep
Not having a network of support
Experiencing a major life change such as moving, the death of a loved one, starting a new job, having a child or getting married
Experiencing poor physical health
Not eating well
(source)
It is also important to remember that everyone is affected by stressors differently. What one person may experience as a stressful event, someone else may not. For example, some individuals experience extreme stress in crowded spaces which may not affect someone else the same way.
How Stress Affects You
Stress can affect all areas of your health. In fact, the impacts of stress can go unnoticed if you are not aware of the signs.
The emotional and mental health impact of stress can include a wide range of symptoms. Some symptoms of stress are commonly associated with other mental health concerns such as anxiety (feeling nervous or afraid,racing thoughts you can’t “switch off,” and having a sense of dread) or depression (feeling overburdened, uninterested in life, irritable, aggressive, impatient, loss of sense of humor, etc.).
When your mental health is negatively impacted by stress, it can also become evident in your behavior. Some examples of stress-induced behavioral changes include: difficulty making decisions, avoiding situations that are associated with stressors, snapping at others, nail biting, skin picking, difficulty concentrating, eating too much or too little, smoking more, consuming more alcohol, restlessness, and increased crying.
Furthermore, mental and physical health are connected and if stress is affecting your mental health, it can also affect your physical well being. Physical signs of stress include, shallow breathing/hyperventilation, panic attacks, muscle tension, blurred sight or sore eyes, sleep problems (falling asleep, staying asleep, nightmares, etc.), problems with sex, being tired all the time, grinding teeth or clenching your jaw, headaches, chest pain, high blood pressure, indigestion/heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, and feeling sick, dizzy, or faint.
Physical impacts of stress are not exclusively short term. When left unchecked, the physical impacts can worsen. This is because there is a neurological connection between experiencing stressors and our bodies. During times of stress, our brains produce signals in our brain to preserve energy and prepare for fight or flight (such as decreasing our appetite or pumping chemicals to our muscles to prepare for movement). This is a naturally occurring reaction designed to keep us safe (and was very useful for when humans were hunters and gatherers). Since our brains are not very good at telling the difference between stressors that are caused by evident physical danger and stress caused by our day-to-day jobs and responsibilities, sometimes our nervous systems get thrown out of balance by the day-to-day stressors. Because of this, our bodies can be producing stress hormones and sending signals through the body long term, which can lead to chronic, toxic stress.
Ongoing stress can lead to chronic health issues. Stress Management Society likes to use the Bridge Analogy to highlight this connection: “When a bridge is carrying too much weight, it will eventually collapse. It is possible to see the warning signs before this happens, the bridge would bow, buckle and creak.” In this analogy, a person is the bridge, the weight is the total amount of stressors the person is experiencing, and the cracks are the warning signs that the stress is building up to a potentially disastrous outcome. What happens when the bridge collapses? This can look like mental and emotional breakdowns, dying by suicide, cardiovascular disease (the hear is the first organ in the body to experience stress and heart disease is the number one killer on the planet), other organ function illnesses and disease (gastrointestinal diseases), and high blood pressure, which can lead to strokes.
To learn more about the connection between your mental health and physical health, consider taking a Community Resiliency Training (MHA of Cleveland County will be hosting one in May) or reading The Body Keeps the Score.
How to Manage Stress
As we have discussed, stress can be very damaging to the body and mind. So how do you address it? Managing stress takes willingness to commit to learning about yourself and making some changes in your daily life.
Managing with a Mental Health Professional
If stress is negatively affecting your day-to-day life, then you may benefit from involving a mental health professional in your stress management practice. If you do not already have a mental health provider or do not know how to get started, the best first step is checking with your insurance provider to learn who they cover. Alternatively, we have worked with the Cleveland County Health Department to compile a list of mental health resources and what insurances they take, which you can find here under “Cleveland County Resource Guide.”
Finding a therapist, especially if it is your first time, can be intimidating and confusing. Doing the research to figure out what’s right for you can also be overwhelming. Consider starting with platforms like Psychology Today to find therapists based on your location. You can also filter results based on what support and expertise you’re looking for.
You can also start by following instructions from Mental Health America. Click here to get details on how to find help. Click here for places to find therapists.
Other Ways to Manage Stress
If you don’t feel like stress is out of control or you are not interested or ready to connect with a mental health professional, there are practices you can introduce into your daily life to help reduce the impacts of stress. They are:
Identify what’s triggering your stress:
What circumstances make you feel physically and mentally agitated? Can you avoid these circumstances or remove them? If not, consider learning tools to help you cope.
Practice relaxation techniques
Some common techniques are deep breathing, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation. Try utilizing these techniques after waking up and/or before going to sleep.
Eat well:
Our nutrition can greatly impact our mental health and help stabilize our moods.
Exercise daily:
Exercising naturally produces stress-relieving hormones. Schedule times to go for a walk, join an exercise class, or go for a bike ride. Make sure you pick something that is fun for you to do.
Manage your time:
Prioritizing your activities can help you use your time better. Consider developing a daily schedule to avoid feeling overwhelmed by daily tasks.
Set aside time for yourself:
Schedule time to do the things you enjoy (reading, going to the movies, etc.).
Get enough sleep:
Mental health concerns can be triggered by lack of sleep.
Practice relaxation techniques to calm yourself before sleep.
It is important to acknowledge that stress is ongoing and complex to address. There are often stressors in peoples’ lives that are out of their control or the root cause cannot be fixed by avoiding it or not participating in it. One example of this is chronic health conditions, poverty, lack of nutritious food, lack of access to walkable areas, etc. Solutions to these problems need to be addressed at the macro and meso level, as opposed to being placed on the individual experiencing the stress from these problems. However, it is important to equip ourselves with the tools and resources necessary to alleviate the symptoms and signs of stress. Even if the stressor isn’t gone, these tools can help you navigate through and develop skills to protect your mental and physical health.
Managing Unchangeable Stressors with Local Support
One way to address unchangeable stressors is to understand what free and low cost resources exist near you and how to access them. Not only does understanding your community resources help address basic needs, it also helps build a sense of connection with other people in your community.
Some local resources available in Cleveland County that are free and low cost are:
Broad River Market - a group that provides free groceries (including fresh produce) every Monday from 4 - 6 PM at Jefferson Park in Shelby, NC.
Mutual Aid Pop Up - a local group of individuals who get together once a month to share 100% items such as clothes and OTC medications. Upcoming dates are
April 13, 2025, 1:00 - 4:00 PM at 212 W Warren St., Shelby, NC
May 3, 2025, 1:00 - 4:00 PM at Got Books (814 S Washington St., Shelby, NC)
MHA of Cleveland County Depression & Anxiety Support Group - peer-led support group; no diagnosis necessary
Meets Thursdays 6:30 - 7:30 pm at MHA’s Office (205 S Washington St. (Upstairs), Shelby, NC
Community Fridge Shelby (Shelby Presbyterian Church)
24/7, open to all, free
Located at 211 E. Graham St./Harris St.
Cleveland County Health Department - Offers a wide range of physical health care regardless of insurance
Visit www.clevelandcountyhdnc.com/programs___services/index.php for health care resources
Community resources can be found at: www.clevelandcountyhdnc.com/community_resources/resource_guide/index.php
Aunt Bertha/NC 211
Visit Nc211.org or AuntBertha.com to search a database for local resources based on your location and need
Call 211 to get connected with NC 211 over the phone
