There are many facts about stress. We have partially considered them in the article “ Top Recommended Ways To Relieve Stress That Actually Work ”, but this topic is so big that it can be continued almost indefinitely. Therefore, we take this opportunity to disclose it on the pages of our site in as much detail as possible. In this article, as you understand, we will talk about facts on the topic of stress, but first, let's make a short introduction.
A Little About The History Of Stress
Throughout history, scientists have found many curious facts about stress. For example, some cite the work of the ancient Greek poet Homer, The Iliad, written in the 7th century B.C. It tells the story of the hero Achilles, who personified courage and integrity of personality. But even he was sometimes depressed and thought about suicide.
The heroes of the East had similar experiences. Surely you have heard of the ancient Indian religious-philosophical treatise called the Bhagavad Gita. One of its central characters named Arjuna experiences a whole range of not at all positive emotions: confusion of spirit, inner weakness, paralyzing panic horror, etc.
History is indeed full of evidence that people have been experiencing stress for centuries. The need to survive, fear of death, natural disasters, wars, and battles — these things have always been accompanied by acute negative experiences, not only in ancient times but also in the Middle Ages.
By the way, the term "stressor" originated at that time — it was the name of one of the torture instruments of the inquisitors. It was a device that squeezed the body of someone accused of some heresy, to make him confess to anything, as long as they stopped torturing him, although even after confessing the torture was no less horrible and could be a lifetime sentence.
However, today it is not quite correct to compare stress solely with painful emotional experiences, because the negative feelings of our ancestors and us have a lot of differences. Nowadays, there are many new psycho-emotional and physical experiences associated with high stress caused by the peculiarities of modern life.
Stress began to be closely studied by scientists relatively recently — approximately at the beginning of the 20th century, but even this small amount of time was more than enough to discover, from a practical point of view, a lot of interesting and even useful information about this phenomenon.
Common Facts About Stress
Below we will share fifteen facts about stress, which can be used to get a general idea of its effect on people. So, let's expand our knowledge.
#1 The stress came from the West
We are talking about the stress of modern humans. Many experts agree that stress came from the West, and in the East, it became apparent only after the Western lifestyle began to be introduced there gradually. An interesting nuance: the Japanese are the most stressed out of all the eastern countries, and Japan is the westernmost country in the East. Western countries are more stressed because the values and basic attitudes of their inhabitants are dominated by such things as competitiveness, desire for high achievements, and desire to earn more.
#2 Stress impairs brain function
Due to the effects of stress in the human body, the number of proteins increases, slowing down and even stopping the growth of synapses, which serve as connecting elements for neural networks. With the high intensity of this process, the human brain begins to dry out, and the volume of his prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for making decisions, becomes smaller. As a result, the brain loses its activity, and this is one of the very first reasons due to which Alzheimer's disease develops.
#3 Stress leads to physiological changes
Exposure to stress factors produces many physiological changes in the human body. Vivid examples of such changes are hair loss, obesity or weight loss, tinnitus, cirrhosis of the liver, cancer, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, heart problems, chest pain, respiratory failure, high blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, hyperglycemia (and this list is far from full). Interestingly, under the influence of stress, even a person's height can change - due to overexertion and anxiety, by the evening a person can become 1% shorter than the morning. And this is because the intervertebral cartilages dry out and the muscles of the shoulder girdle and those of the back are overstrained.
#4 Stress affects reproductive and sex life
Here we can note the equally negative impact of stress factors on both men and women. If stress affects a man for a long time, sperm motility decreases, libido decreases, troubles of erections emerge. If a woman regularly experiences stressful experiences, her egg doesn't mature enough, plus the sexual drive decreases. Overall, stress is responsible for 30% of infertility cases and also increases the risk of miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.
#5 Stress disrupts heart function
The systematic effect of stress on the body can lead to the development of the "broken heart" syndrome, also known as "cardiomyopathy", in which the heart muscle becomes very weak. Besides, stress makes the blood thicker, as if the body is preparing to withstand trauma, making it harder for the heart to pump it. Plus, spasms of blood vessels begin (by the way, because of this, from even with a small cut, blood can go for a very long time). And one more consequence of stress is the high probability of a blood clot forming, which in itself can lead to death.
#6 Stress Causes Disease
At times of stress, cytokines (these are small peptide information molecules), which are responsible for inflammatory processes, increase in the human body. Subsequently, cytokines cause serious health ailments such as tuberculosis and other lung diseases, cancer, cirrhosis of the liver, and other troubles, often leading to death. And in some cases, stress can manifest itself so clearly that its effects can be seen on the skin in the form of rashes, acne, pimples, boils, scabies, etc.
#7 Stress affects sleep
Stress is always an over-excitation of the body, a psychological shake-up. There are two consequences of this. First: it is very difficult to fall asleep in an overexcited state, but if it is a one-time event, it can still be survived normally without much damage to health. The second is more dangerous: systematic stress can lead to chronic insomnia, and then the loop of the opposite action starts. Stress creates insomnia, and insomnia creates stress. It is not easy to get out of such a situation, especially if it has worsened, and serious professional help may be required.
#8 Stress takes courage away
In many cases, stress is accompanied by headaches, resulting from the fact that the body is experiencing intense emotional disorder redirects blood flow to other parts of the body, such as the heart or extremities. As a result, thinking becomes harder, consciousness becomes clouded, and brain function decreases. This is more obvious in situations where determination and courage are required. In a state of danger, many people begin to hesitate, doubt, and feel afraid.
#9 Stress triggers suicidal thoughts
Stress can sometimes be accompanied by strong negative emotional reactions that affect a person's consciousness. Their effect is as follows: the tone of life is lost, the will to overcome obstacles weakens, motivation to study, work, and new achievements disappears. As a result, this plunges the person into a depressive state, which makes him think of suicide. A person who is constantly depressed loses all sense to live further and looks for the only way to end his torment as soon as possible.
#10 Stress shortens life
And another fact, which is not in favor of stress, is that stress is considered one of the main causes of shorter life expectancy. People who live long lives have a high-stress tolerance. This allows them to minimize the damage caused by stressful experiences, and even to turn stress into a stimulus for personal growth and development. Everyone who wants to live as long as possible should learn how to develop stress resistance, and you can learn about some methods of its development from the article "Top Recommended Ways To Relieve Stress That Actually Work".
#11 Stress can be triggered by imaginary stimuli
As strange as it may seem, Stress can be caused not only by real factors but also by imaginary ones — stimuli that exist only in the human mind in the form of images, thoughts of dangers, troubles, difficulties, etc. Another interesting fact is that "imaginary" stress can affect a person both in the short and in the long term, and even such stress can develop into chronic stress. To prevent stress caused by imagination, experts recommend resorting to autogenic training, imagination training, and work with images.
#12 Stress is contagious
Scientists have found that stress can be transmitted from person to person. Humans are social beings, and they are influenced by their environment and other people. This is especially evident in the case of easily swayed and emotional people, as they are more susceptible to outside influences.
Specialists from the Max Plan Institute in Germany were able to find out that people who have been observing the stressful activities of others for a long time soon begin to feel anxiety and worry themselves.
The results of the experiments allowed the researchers to formulate an empathic theory of stress, which takes the empathy and compassion of strangers for each other as its basis. This theory is confirmed by the practice of art when the effect of empathy is achieved without any familiarity between the observer and the author of any work of art.
#13 Stress is caused by money
Stress is directly related to finance. In not too distant 2009, the American television channel CNN conducted a survey on the main stress factor for US residents. He showed that for Western people who share Western values, money is the main cause of stress. Moreover, we are not talking about a lack of funds or their shortage, but about financial instability, the risk of losing a source of stable income, and the usual level of comfort. And besides the United States, the list of countries whose residents are exposed to "monetary" stress includes Singapore, China, and Malaysia.
#14 Stress is pumped up by the media
One of the most serious causes of stress is the media. Often on television, the Internet, and advertisements people are shown as stressed-out characters while negative stories, thereby imposing a stressful lifestyle. Here the factor of stress being contagious comes into the picture, and sometimes just watching the news or a couple of videos on the web is enough to not only ruin your mood for the whole day but also to create a stressful state. That's why informed people so often say that you should not constantly watch the same TV — the same media content negatively affects the psycho-emotional state.
#15 Stress is closely related to psychological traits
Stress experts argue that the causes of stress often need to be sought in the psychological traits of a person. For example, the Georgian academician Tsotne Evgenievich Mirtskhulava established a whole list of qualities that increase stress. Among them:
- A high degree of pretensions (overestimation relative to the capabilities of the person, loads that do not match the capabilities).
- Suspicion.
- Pessimism.
- Envy.
- Secrecy
- Gloominess.
- Fussiness.
- Vanity.
- Greed.
- Anxiety.
- Conflicts.
- Anger.
- Low will.
- Vindictiveness.
Also Ts. E. Mirtskhulava identified several factors that aggravate stress:
- The fast pace of life.
- Drastic life changes.
- Serious shocks and setbacks.
- Loss of loved ones.
- Loss of values in life.
- Frequent stay in risk situations.
- Treason.
- Illness.
- Insomnia.
In addition to this, the scientist named qualities that increase a person's resistance to stress, as well as transform stress in a developmental situation. These qualities and factors include:
- The ability to meet your claims.
- Optimism.
- Passion for the activity.
- Mental self-regulation.
- Calmness.
- Modesty.
- Benevolence.
- Composure.
- Tolerance.
- Sociability.
- High intelligence.
The most powerful stress factors are the level of your claims, greed, irritability, and envy because someone who constantly demands something and who always doesn't like something will always feel worse.
On the other hand, the person will feel better if he can get carried away with something and limit himself and his desires, be able to manage his emotions, and most importantly perceive reality with optimism.
Conclusion
Of course, we have listed only a small number of facts about stress, and the truth is, there is much more information worthy of attention. However, certain conclusions can still be drawn.
Stress is common and it shouldn't come as a surprise that we have to deal with it daily. It will always follow us on our heels. Our main objective is to learn not to surrender to it. To do this, you need to realize that not taking everything that is associated with stress seriously can lead to the saddest consequences.
The facts about the effect of stress on people, which we talked about, clearly show that if you allow it to get worse, life can turn into a living hell. However, learning to cope with stress and steadfastly go through life is not as difficult as it might seem.
The first step should be the acceptance that nothing is given to us just like that, but if happy moments are a reward and an opportunity to relax, then unpleasant events are by no means a heavenly punishment, but a chance to gain experience, gain wisdom, understand something that we didn't understand before.
Thanks to stress, we grow, develop, become stronger and smarter, gain new knowledge and master new skills, get out of the comfort zone. It is this philosophical attitude to the ups and downs of fate that will allow you to always remember the main thing, not give up, and find new ways to solve your problems.
Some people may have a stress-resistant attitude by nature, or simply more adapted to change due to their life experiences, but there will always be those who will need additional efforts to make their inner core solid.
To achieve this, you need to start practicing the techniques of developing and increasing stress resistance, which will help make you a strong and self-confident person. In this article we didn't talk much about such techniques, so we recommend reading our other articles on this topic of stress "Top Recommended Ways To Relieve Stress That Actually Work".
In this article, you will not only get acquainted with the most interesting information related to stress, but also find a lot of useful tips, methods, and techniques for developing and increasing stress resistance. After mastering them (you will need relatively little time), you will learn how to successfully overcome a variety of difficulties, experience setbacks, and solve problems.
Don't waste your time - start working on yourself right now. And if you really need it, if it's really important to you, you will definitely get it!
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