Summary: We are in the 21st century where technology is the driver of world economy, and the world is swiftly becoming a global village with divisions along ethnic and national lines blurring to better accommodate the changes in the way we conduct businesses, meet friends, pay our bills or even plan our holidays.
With this change in the dynamics of the world through trade, sales, exchange programs, some stable jobs of the 20th century have faded into oblivion and new jobs are springing up. For example, the typist has been replaced by the administrative assistant and Social content analyst, which didn’t exist 20 years ago, is pretty much a normalcy in this day and age.
With all these changes comes the drive to achieve more; earn more, make more friends, connect via social media, travel the world either physically or through the eyes of a writer on the internet. While there are undeniably a host of positive changes, the risks to our health have also dramatically increased. One major downside of the blurring of national lines is Stress
Stress is our brain’s response to changes; positive or negative. It is pertinent to note that not all stress is negative but we will be paying a little bit more attention to negative stress.
When we subject our bodies to undue pressure, the brain reacts by sending messages to our bodies on how best to handle them. Responses could include: digestive problems, colds and flu, headaches, depression, sleeplessness etc.
Stress can be broadly divided into 3 types:
Routine Stress: This type is the one we all most likely face. They are brought about by everyday pressures at work, family, situations and other daily responsibilities. Establishing a pattern would make this type of stress become almost “normal”.
Negative-Change Stress: This is brought about when a sudden, negative occurrence happens. Examples are; death of a loved one, loss of job, divorce, extremely unexpected poor grades at school etc
Traumatic Stress: This happens when an extreme event happens. These events include but are not limited to: accidents, violent attacks in robberies, assault, rapes etc., natural disasters which could result in serious injuries to the person or even death to the loved one.
It is pertinent to note that people under stress from any of the categories react in similar fashion.
Also, health-induced stress is the hardest to notice at the beginning since it is ongoing and it becomes a part of our day-to-day lives. If not properly checked, it could in the long run result to: hypertension, diabetes, depression etc.
In the next article, we will consider how to cope with and manage stress.
