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If you were to ask ten people what stress is, you’d probably get ten different answers! Stress is different to different people… What causes “stress” for one person, may not cause stress for another person. And, of course, everyone reacts differently to stress.

The word “stress”, as it is used these days was coined by Hans Selye in 1936. Selye defined it as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”. Selye was a scientist who subjected laboratory animals to annoying physical and emotional experiences – such as bright light, deafening noise and extreme cold. His experiments showed that the animals all suffered from similar problems after being subjected to the annoying experiences. They developed stomach ulcers, their adrenal glands became enlarged and their lymphoid tissue shrunk.

In later experiments, he showed that persistent stress could cause these animals to develop many diseases similar to those seen in humans, including heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease and even arthritis.

Years ago, most “stress” was caused by physical threats – finding shelter, finding food and fending off enemies. Today, stress tends to be caused primarily from psychological rather than physical threats.  Stress can cause our bodies to go haywire. It is associated with many reactions over which we have no control that were originally designed to be beneficial such as:

• Causing heart rate and blood pressure soar to increase the flow of blood to the brain to improve decision making,
• Making blood sugar rise to give more fuel for energy as the result of the breakdown of glycogen, fat and protein stores,
• Shunt blood away from the gut, where it is not immediately needed for purposes of digestion, to the large muscles of the arms and legs to provide more strength in combat, or greater speed in getting away from a scene of potential peril,
• Making clotting occur more quickly to prevent blood loss from lacerations or internal hemorrhage.

In battle mode, these things would all be very important. But when you’re worrying about paying your bills, these instincts are much less important and cause undue wear and tear on your body.

Today, stress affects nearly everyone in the United States in one way or another. The most common cause for stress these days is probably work. In fact, a Gallup Poll commissioned in 2000 found that 80% of workers felt stress on the job!

Time magazine has called stress the #1 health problem in America. However, knowing what stress is, what causes it and how to handle it can make a huge difference!

So, back to what the definition of stress is… If I ask you what stress is, what comes to mind?

I’ll bet that your answers were about negative things. Am I right?

Was anything on your list about something positive? For example, starting a new job can be stressful. And, believe it or not, so can winning the lottery.

What does stress do to your life?

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