In 1970 the American journalist and sociologist Alvin Toffler predicted that the rate of change in modern civilisation would accelerate to such a degree that enormous numbers of people would experience shattering stress and disorientation. Toffler described this condition as Future Shock.

Many civilisations are feeling the impact of global change. The effects of change reach into every crevice of life putting people more and more under pressure. Human biological evolution is lagging behind developments in technology and lifestyle. Physiological and psychological stress emerges as a result of a growing deficit between daily demands and coping resources.

Today it is virtually impossible to avoid stress. Many try but find that the avoidance strategies frequently generate more stress rather than reducing it.

To cope with the stress of "future shock" people need to get tough. A new word has been coined in the social sciences to describe stress-toughness ... the word is HARDINESS.

The Get Tough With Stress Book will show you how to use stress as a positive, stimulating life-force. It will provide you with knowledge and skills that will enable you to confidently cope with the stressors of life.

What Is Stress?

It is different things to different people. To a mountaineer it is the challenge of pushing physical resources to the limit by striving to achieve a demanding goal. To the homeward bound motorist it can be the hassles of heavy traffic and obnoxious exhaust fumes. To the student it can be exam pressure.

Take a piece of paper and write the word stress at the top. Now write down all the words and images that come to your mind as you think about this word.

Most people respond to the word stress in negative ways. They see it as a destructive, debilitating force.

However, not all stress is negative. The word eustress has been coined to describe positive stress. Eustress results from exhilarating experiences. It is the type of stress you are likely to experience when you inherit a large amount of money or receive an unexpected promotion or reward. Eustress is the stress of winning and achieving.

Negative stress is distress. It is the stress of losing, failing, overworking and not coping. Distress affects people in a negative often harmful manner. We all experience distress from time to time. It is a normal, unavoidable part of living.

Stressors Cause Stress

Stress results from failure to adequately cope with stressors. Stressors could be loud noise, uncomfortable air-conditioning, debts, ringing telephones, broken relationships, unrealistic deadlines, discouragement, fear, pain and thousands of other things that impact upon us in the normal course of life.

It is impossible to avoid stressors. The only totally stress-free state is death! Stressors will always be there because we live in an imperfect and unpredictable world.

We experience stress as the body adjusts to the external demands placed upon it. Our body constantly seeks to maintain stability and stress is usually sensed as the body readjusts to too much pressure.

Scientists use the term HOMEOSTASIS (homeo = the same; stasis = standing) to define the physiological limits in which the body functions efficiently and comfortably. Stress disturbs homeostasis by creating a state of imbalance. The source of stress may be outside the body or it may originate from within the body in the form of blood pressure, pain, tumours or disturbing thoughts.

Have you ever seen a plastic clown toy that automatically returns to an upright position if pushed over? The clown stays upright because of a heavy base that will always restore the toy to a vertical position. Stress is the tension that the body exerts as it seeks to return to a steady-state.

Our ability to cope with stressors often determines the amount of stress that we will experience. The graphs in Fig. 1 show two ways of coping with stress. One is called the Healthy Pattern, the other the Hazardous Pattern.

The vertical line on the left represents two extremes. The bottom of the line represents a state of relaxation called coma and the top of the line a state of hyperexcitation called hysteria. Most people prefer to live at a mid-point between these two extremes.

The Healthy Pattern recognises that we can assist the body to cope with the stress adjustment process by applying a positive coping strategy (e.g. leisure, relaxation, exercise etc.) after the stressful experience. This restores us to a steady-state.

The Hazardous Pattern develops when we fail to recognise the signals that the body sends seeking recovery actions. The continuing stress build up eventually leads to stress overload and physical or psychological breakdown results.

We need to assist our bodies to cope with stress because our natural biological stress-adjustors are not ideally suited to the demands of modern living. Our bodies are well suited to cope with the stressors faced by our primitive ancestors. The stressors faced by humans conditioned to a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle are obviously different to the high-tech lifestyle of today. Our distant ancestors needed chemical responses to stress to enable them to trigger physical flight or fight responses to the perils and pleasures of hunting. These types of responses are inappropriate today. If you physically ran away from your workplace whenever things got on top of you then this would not enhance your standing in the Organisation. Conversely if you punch the boss on the nose when he/she gives you a tough time then the resulting dismissal and assault charges will generate considerably greater levels of stress. Consequently we need to develop special skills to deal with special stressors.

We are all very aware of specific stressors that affect us. As already discussed these assume many shapes and forms. In addition to the specific stressors there are also back-ground stressors that can have a more subtle but equally damaging impact on us.

Accelerating Change

Perhaps the most significant background stressor is the ever increasing rate of change experienced in modern society.

The acceleration of change is graphically illustrated in the following historical time chart:

Rapid mass communication has changed the way we think about the world by shrinking distances and giving us a global village view of world events. We are continually witnessing technological change particularly in the fields of computer science and telecommunications. These changes affect our lifestyle in many ways. Think about the changes that have taken place in your neighbourhood over the past five years.

Change generates stress by forcing us to make adjustments in our lives, often in a climate of uncertainty and unpredictability. It is a background stress which is always present like static on a poor radio transmission.

The Consequences of Stress

One of the pioneers of stress research, Dr. Hans Selye wrote that " ... stress is essentially reflected by the rate of all the wear and tear caused by life."

His research convinced him that the body has only a finite reserve of adaptation energy to apply to the stressors of life. Selye likened this reserve to a bank account upon which we can make withdrawals from time to time but into which we cannot make deposits. It is a non-renewable reserve of energy which we draw on throughout life until eventually it is consumed and death results. Some people squander their reserves and experience premature ageing as a result; others exercise more discretion and so they maintain a supply over a longer period of time.

What happens within our bodies when we encounter a stressor? Quite a lot actually. The stressor initially excites the hypothalamus which is the part of the brain under the thalamus controlling body temperature, hunger, thirst and the pituitary gland. The hypothalamus stimulates the pituitary (a cherry-sized gland at the base of the brain) to release a hormone chemical ACTH (an abbreviation for adrenocorticotrophic hormone) into the bloodstream. Once released, ACTH stimulates the adrenal glands to secrete further chemicals that affect various parts of the body. The net effect of this process is that the body becomes charged up on full alert for a fight or flight response. This is why we often feel tense and highly strung when under a lot of stress. Although the body has a feedback system to settle us down again once the crisis passes we often stay alert because our thinking continues to trigger off the response. For example, if you have a deadline to meet with a particular project then the thought of the deadline and all the work you have to process to meet it may cause you to feel stressed.

Over a long period of time the stress response begins to take a toll on the body. One of the prime targets affected is the thymus gland (a mysterious pale grey gland that sits behind the breastbone, above the heart) which plays a key role in the body's immune system. The thymus gland pumps out millions of lymphocytes each day to patrol throughout the body and to kill off bacterial invaders. Killer cells called macrophages literally eat invading bacteria. They operate in all parts of the body and we depend on them for our survival. Macrophages are weakened by a steroid called cortisol which is released by the adrenal gland when we experience stress. A weakened immune system makes us vulnerable to infection and this is why people under stress often experience regular attacks of colds and flu.

Many types of diseases have been linked with stress including high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart disease, peptic ulcers, migraine headaches, pains in the neck, certain types of asthma, many forms of cancer, alcoholism, depression and toxicomanias (the overwhelming desire to consume poisons).

Psychological stress does have physical ramifications. We can do ourselves a great deal of harm by stressful thinking. We can flood our body with stress hormones and this can create a vicious cycle making us more and more stressful. (I explain 15 ways methods of dealing with stress in the Get Tough With Stress book.)

Brain scientists are gradually moving away from the view that the brain is an electrically driven organ. Extensive research over the past 25 years has produced convincing evidence that hormones and not electricity is the stuff of thought. Many neurosurgeons are now persuaded that thinking is hormonal and that it takes place all over the body. This could explain why scientists have never been able to find the anatomical site of memory.

Hormones affect behaviour and thinking. For example, tests have shown that the brain thinks differently if the gonads are removed. Chemical analysis of the brains of suicide victims have shown hormonal profiles different from those of normal people. Extreme rages floods the brain with hormones that significantly affect behaviour. Opiate-like hormones such as endorphin and encephalin are produced by the brain and are responsible for the intense pleasure associated with sexual orgasm.

Scientists have now identified 45 different hormones that are associated with behaviour such as sleep, sorrow, fear, peace, pain, obesity, arthritic stiffness, addiction, hunger, depression and stress.

Unequivocal evidence has been produced to show that the immune system, which defends the body against diseases, is influenced by mental events.

Burnout

Too much stress leads to burnout, a condition called BURNOUT characterised by emotional and physical exhaustion.

The main symptoms associated with burnout are:

1.    Chronic fatigue.
2.    Anger at those making demands on you.
3.    Self-criticism for putting up with the demands.
4.    Cynicism, negativism and irritability.
5.    A sense of being besieged.
6.    Hair-trigger display of emotions.

A combination of all of these symptoms indicates that stress is wearing you down and that a good holiday might be long overdue.

© 2001 John Townsend