Everybody gets stressed out. And yeah, it’s more than ok. Our body reacts to potential danger or risk. When we feel scared, it releases adrenaline and cortisol, also known as the “fight or flight” response. What do we usually feel in a stressful situation? Our heart is beating faster, right? You start breathing faster, and all your senses get sharper as well. And blood... your blood pressure also gets higher.
Hm? How often is it ok to feel stressed out? Not every day for sure, you know. Yet stressful situations have more than just a negative impact on you. They can be helpful — stress hormones ramp up your performance and make you feel more concentrated in some cases. In general, there are three kinds of stress: acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress.
Acute stress is the one that has both positive and negative impacts on your mental and physical health. It can appear when you overcome a challenge or face an unexpectedly complicated situation. It’s short. You may feel headaches, back pain, stomach pain, or muscle tension afterward. But it’s ok, no worries — everybody faces acute stress.
What is not ok it's when this acute stress starts appearing regularly. Then, it’s named episodic acute stress and has a harmful impact on your health. What does this stress mean? Well, it means that your body experiences this “fight or flight” response too often, which leads to unwanted unfriendliness, anger, relationship issues, irritability. If you have episodic acute stress, it may signal you have to change something in your lifestyle. What would be even more effective is to visit a doctor. Let’s not play jokes with such problems.
And the worst kind of stress is named chronic stress. I suppose you’ve already guessed what it means: it’s when you are experiencing a long-lasting emotional tension that does not allow you to breathe out. You are in a constant stressful state, which leads to various heart illnesses and overall health issues. In such cases, you HAVE to visit a doctor who can help you to handle this problem.
