Stress and Anxiety:
Causes and Effects of Stress and Anxiety

Stress and anxiety are the force from the bowling ball, and the bowling pins collapsing in a heap. Stress and anxiety are the shock wave from the oven door slamming; and the soufflé collapsing in a heap. You have the idea.

The words stress and anxiety are often confused, as in, “Anxiety is stressing me out.” Well, not exactly. The stress comes first, and the anxiety second.

Stress brought on by a threatening situation prepares the body to either flee, or fight. Stress will stimulate the brain’s amygdale to get the adrenal gland pumping out adrenaline so that the heart will start pumping frantically, the blood will start coursing, the muscles will become tense as they are flooded with glucose and oxygen from the rapidly expanding lungs, the digestive system will shut down, and the nerves responsible for signaling pain impulses may even take a rest.

All the responses you need to either confront or escape your foe. It’s a terrific way to survive life in the wild, and it’s kept the human race going for a hundred thousand years, give or take. But our days in the wild are, to a great extent, behind us. Yet our stress-related physiological responses remain the same.

And that’s not always a good thing in today’s world. We don’t often find ourselves in stressful situations where either running away from, or attacking, the thing threatening us, is appropriate. So our bodies end up having no release for all that adrenaline except through an anxiety attack.

Stress and anxiety will show up as--you guessed it--your heart pumping frantically, your blood coursing, your muscles becoming tense as they are flooded with glucose and oxygen from your rapidly expanding lungs, your digestive system shutting down, and a feeling of numbness or an altered state as your nerves responsible for signaling pain take a rest.

Stress and anxiety resulting from it, have become the 21st century’s version of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”. Wherever stress goes, anxiety is almost always sure to follow.

Stress and anxiety, however, do not have to be joined at the hip. Two people in identical situation--say five o’clock gridlock--may react to their frustration n entirely different ways. One may put decide to listen CD of chamber music and actually come out of the experience with lowered blood pressure; the other may explode into road rage, and stress and anxiety will have found another victim.

Stress and anxiety have one positive; remove stress and anxiety will take care of itself. Eliminate what you can of the stresses in your life, learn meditation or relaxation exercises, or think about seeking professional therapy to help you deal with the anxiety arising from the stress. Stress and anxiety left unacknowledged can develop into a full-blown anxiety disorder, and then you’ll REALLY have something to stress about!

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• Physical Symptoms of Anxiety and Stress