Stress Management

The biggest mental problem of the human beings in the machine age is Stress. This problem is worldwide and it is not of any one individual but it is for all. Stress has not yet been universally defined but many practical definitions are in vogue. There are many expectations of a person from day to day life. He has several needs and he has to find out solutions to many problems daily. However, his total available resources are not enough to meet these needs and to solve these problems. The scarcity of resources and the excess of needs and problems results into creation of stress. Therefore, stress can be defined as under-
            ‘The expectations, needs and problems of daily life, when cannot be met with from the resources available with a person, then the pressure which comes on his/her mind is called as stress.’
            This definition does not explain many reasons of stress e.g. stresse generated by fear and illness. Therefore it is not a universal definition but is a very good definition and practically the best definition. Stress has also been defined medically and this definition is-
            ‘Stress is the specific reaction of the mind to all the non specific parts of the human body whether that part is of body, mind or real and unreal.’ 
            According to one more similar definition-
            ‘Stress in only an Energy, but its Energy in excess of the quantity which can be easily dissipated by a person.’
            These definitions are generally accepted and they explain all the somatic/mental and real/imaginary reasons causing stress. Scientifically stress is generated by the secretion of Adrenaline Hormones by the human brain. These hormones are of two types, Epinephrine and Nor-epinephrine. This scientific explanation is accepted universally everywhere. Whenever a person feels tense one hormone named Adrenaline Stimulating Hormone (ASH) is secreted in his mind which catalyses the Adrenaline glands to secret the Adrenaline Hormones and the excess of these hormones is the main reason of stress. The level of these Adrenaline hormones secreted is less in some persons and more in others. Because of hereditary and acquired reasons in those persons in whose body the secretion is excessive, the blood vessels get constricted and the amount of blood flowing to the hearts of these persons becomes less and this raises their pulse rate as well as blood pressure. Such persons are more prone to heart attack. Any kind of feeling or experience is generated by  organs named ‘Amygdale’ and the ‘Thallamus’ of the human brain. The nerve impulse generated in retina by seeing something first goes to thallamus where it is translated into a language in which mind can read or understands it. Then it goes to the ‘Visual Cortex’ of the brain where it is analyzed and is understood and the reaction to it is decided. If this reaction is emotional then one impulse is send to ‘Amygdale’ which controls the emotion centers of the brain.

In addition to the prejudged reaction, the thalamus transmits the nerve impulse also directly 
to Amygdale and it at once directs emotion centers to show immediate 
and un-judged reaction.




A visual signal first goes from the Retina to Thalamus, where it is translated into the  language of the Brain. Most of the message then goes to the Visual Cortex, where it is analyzed and assessed for meaning and appropriate response; if that response is emotional, a signal goes to the Amygdale to activate the Emotional Centers. Buy smaller portion of the original signal goes straight from the Thalamus to the Amygdale in quicker transmission, allowing a faster (though less precise) response. Thus the Amygdale can trigger an emotional response before the cortical centers have fully understood what is happening.
Therefore, to any nerve impulse two types of reactions are shown, one is sponantaneous and the other prejudged. The Adrenal gland is the nerve centre which secretes two hormones i.e. Epinephrine and Nor Epinephrine. These two hormones keep the human body ready to show reactions in emergency. These hormones excite the Vagus Nerve which takes the nerve impulse to the arteries and the heart. Is this Vagus Nerve which takes back the memory of the emotional reaction back to Amygdale which preserves it for future. Only these preserved responses are responsible for the instantly shown reaction to various impulses similar in nature by the body whenever required. For example whenever any stress is generated in future the thalamus directly sends the impulse to Amygdale and the gland induces the emotion centers to show instant reactions which are not prejudged. In the human body the hormone associated with stress is Cortisole. On increase of stress, the level of this hormone in our body increases and the excessive level of this hormone in our body is harmful. Cortisol is one type of an adrenaline hormone which is secreted by the Pitutory gland. Hatred, rejection can also create stress even though they are emotions of other persons expressed for you but they hurt our egoes and we become tense. Friendship and love reduces the stress. Helping somebody in a crisis and taking help from somebody reduces the stress. Stress is also reduced by remaining in company with friends and relatives as they support you in the crisis and help you to come-over it. If the level of adrenaline hormone can be reduced one can come over stress. There is one hormone named Endorphin the secretion of which reduces stress. Another hormone which reduces the stress is Oxytocin which causes pleasure and hence it also reduces stress. These hormones are secreted when a person has a mind set of pleasure. So one should always keep a positive frame of mind.


There are two classes of reasons for generation of stress:-
(1) External Stressors: - They are present all around us.
(2) Internal Stressors: - They are present within ourselves.

The life of a human being is divided into many sectors some of which are within him such as Ego Sector, Health Sector and Spiritual Sector and are also out side him in his surroundings such as Family Sector, Social Sector,  Love and Support Sector, Work Sector and the Finance Sector. The human beings have to not only understand the importance of these sectors in their life but they will have to find out the ways to tackle with then so that no stress is caused from them. Those people who are not able to understand the perfect balance between all these sectors are stressesd because which ever sector is ignored will become a cause for stress for that person.
Stress is a psychological illness and its directly connected to the mind set and the personality of the individuals. On this basis the specialists have divided human beings into two classes. The first type of individuals are very fast in execution and they are always short of time and do not have patience. They are also self centered and they can not tolerate any conduct which is against their thoughts. They have many prejudices and they have a mind set to rule. They are always ready for contest and are always restless. They are ready to be angry on every situation and are very sensitive and touchy people. They take every thing very seriously and are quick to start a chain of negative thoughts. Their ego sector is highly negative and they can do anything just to satiate their ego. They can cause any injustice.

The second type of individuals are quite patient and are not stressed easily. They work with a reasonable pace and they have time to think. They are not self centered and they respect thoughts of others and even accept them. They take any conduct opposite to their thought as positively and try to convince the others about impropriety of their conduct. They talk of their achievements very rarely and not just to dominate. They have a very flexible approach and give the benefits of doubt to defaulters and they encourage team spirit. They do not harm any body just to satiate their ego. They do not suffer with inferiority complex.
The first class or type of persons generally remains stressed but the second class/type of persons do not remain stressed.  It doesn’t mean that a person will of either class strictly as both types of personalities could be shown by one person.  It will depend on as to how much qualities of one type of the mind set are there in one person to decide the type or class of his personality.  To be not a stress oriented personality one should acquire and have as many qualities of stress free mindset as possible. Your personality will become more positive with that.  The person who has more qualities of the first type of mindset will become a negative personality and will harm himself/herself. 
  Let us see how many classes of stress level can be identified.  If any person says that he or she has zero stress then it is only an exaggeration. It is nearly impossible to reach to this stage and it also not essential/required.  The person with zero stress level cannot live in the society successfully.  One who is not at all taking any responsibility will not be fit either in the family or even in the society.  Therefore zero level of stress is not feasible.  Stress doesn’t have a universal way to gauge it.  Therefore stress levels can not exactly be quantified.  But there can easily be identified two levels of stress i.e. Minimal and Maximal and in between them we can have two more classes of Optimal and Sub Maximal.  Hence four level of stress can easily be identified.  So the individuals can be classified into four categories on the basis of their stress level:-
1)  Minimal Stressed Persons:-    The persons belonging to this class are those who have become philosophical and whose worldly responsibilities are practically nil.  It is difficult to attain this level of stress while living socially.  Even the so called saints of today are not living at this level.  Actually a person with this level of stress is of no use to the society as his contribution to the society will be zero.  He lives only for self attainment and satisfaction and doesn’t want to shoulder any other responsibility.  He doesn’t want any thing and his needs are minimal.  He wants absolute devotion on his spiritual elevation.  Such persons are not available, in the society now. 


2)  Optimal Stressed Persons:-     This is the level of stress which is ideal to live in the society and is sought for.  Such a person is happy in whatever he has got, fulfils his all social responsibilities.  He lives in perfect co-ordination with other and is able to adjust himself according to the circumstances.  His contribution to the family and society are appreciable and his relatives, friends, acquaintances and even neighbors are happy with him.  They are exemplary in the management of stress and are ideals for others.  There are very few persons who know to live at this ideal level of stress.
3)  High or Sub Maximal Stressed Persons:-     Today nearly every body has set his targets beyond his capabilities and is un organized.  They have to continuously strive for attaining their targets.  But at some point or the other they are not able to have achieved them all.  They are already exhausted in their struggle to achieve these targets and then they are sad also for not reaching to them or not achieving them.  This is fatal.  They feel as if they are horses in a race who are not able to cope with others.  Such persons always live under stress and are never satisfied.  Nearly 60 to 70 percent persons in our society live at this level of stress.  They are the persons who need management of stress as otherwise they will be psychologically ill.  But this is the class of persons who by organized efforts can reduce their stress level to Optimal.  There is one more level of stress above them. 
4)  Very Highly Stressed Persons:-     The persons of this stress level are really unfortunate.  They are stressed in every field.  They get peace of mind form nowhere.  Their love and support sector is also empty.  They do not enter into the philosophy sector.  They cannot handle anything and their contribution is also minimal.  They suffer from heart diseases and depression.  They unintentionally commit behavioral mistakes and their mind-set becomes highly negative.  They harm themselves by their own deeds.   Is there any utility of any level of stress? Let us see how the performance of an individual is related to his stress level.  Stress level and the performance are directly related to each other till the optimal level of stress.  But if the stress increases form the optimal level then the performance becomes inversely proportional and it decreases as the stress increase.  At maximal level of stress the performance becomes minimal.
 
              


            The optimal level of stress is therefore the need of an individual as well as the society as it is the very basis for his success.  All the three other levels of stress i.e. maximal, sub maximal and maximal level are not of any use to the individual, family or society.

             Understanding of stress and analysis of the reasons for genesis of stress is important for managing it. Any comprehensive way to control stress can be as outlined below.

 


As a first step to freedom from stress one has to recognize the symptoms of stress and identity as well as analyze the reasons for generation of it.
A long list of external stressor can be prepared. They are all those factors and incidences which are present all around us and in the environment. If we know better ways to tackle with them then we can save us from the stress generated by them. One cannot completely isolate himself from them as many of them are not in his span of control. These stressor are from family, society, profession, financial status, environment, government, polity, body, mind, derogation of moral values and any other factors around us. On this topic we have already seen the various external sectors of stress. External sectors are to be first identified and then they are to be mentally accepted. Then one has to correct and improve upon the circumstances which are causing stress. But there are some external factors which are not correctible, one has to save himself or isolate himself from them. By improving upon/correction and avoiding these factors the stress from external stressors can be minimized. There are some external stressors which can simply be avoided. But there are some stressor which can not be avoided, accepted or improved upon. They have to be fought with as there is no other alternative to deal with them. By taking all these steps one can successfully deal with the external stressors. Some more details of these steps to de-stress are given below.

(Recognition)- The identification of the external stressors is the first step to deal with them. If one fully understands that in the Indian society every work is not easily done and it takes time then he will not at least be stressed by the delays in execution of works. If one understands the nature’s cycle of seasons and the ageing phenomenon then he will be saved from tensions of seasonal changes and symptoms of decay with ageing.  If someone understands behavioral short coming of the people surrounding him then he will not be stressed by their erratic behavior.  Therefore even understanding, recognition of the external stresses will be immensely helpful in fighting with stress.  Still some details of the method of saving stress to arise are described blow:-


Avoidance:
               Many external stressors are not related to basic and essential needs of life hence they are not very important for life.  For example victory or defeat of local or national teams.  Corruption in the entire system in general.  They should be avoided.  One should not be unnecessarily aware or interfering in them, so as to save himself from stress.
Prevention:-
               One should save himself from many external stressors by conscious efforts.  Like an arrogant neighbor or a colleague.  They can not be remedied hence it’s better to save yourself form them by keeping minimum touch.  If some bank is not providing proper services then its better to change the bankers.
Acceptance:-
               Your personal efforts may not get rid from some of the external stressors like corruption in the system, the social opinion about any act of yours, selfish interests etc.  They also cannot be changed.  You have to accept them to save yourself form stress.  By accepting them you can save yourself from stress.
Remedy:-
               There are many external stressors which can be remedied easily.  For example stress generated from reaching late.  If the real reason of getting late is your daily routine then it can be changed.  If some bad habit of your child is making him ill and you tense then that habit can be changed.
Resistance:-
               There are some stressors which cannot be ignored or avoided and they can also not be corrected or remedied.  They can also not be accepted.  Example somebody takes loan from you and then does not repay.  Then to get the money back you have to fight a case against him.  This is called as resisting with the stressors.  But this measure should be used only as the last resort and only when other above stated measures do not work.
               There are many external stressors which are unexpected and can not be anticipated.  They can not be imagined.  One is not experienced in dealing with them.  Any sudden change of circumstances which is unexpected and unanticipated can create a lot of stress.  These circumstances should be assessed with patience and analyzed and then one should try to overcome them or adjust to them.  All the above means should be tried to solve them.

               But stress doesn’t always arise due to external reasons.  Richard E.Collins says that the real reason for generation of stress is your internal mind set or internal conditioning.  Jennifer Abbel is a psychologist who has classified individuals into three categories form the point of view of reactions shown by them to the external stressors.  Some face them with an indifferent attitude and their reaction to them is very controlled.         


                                                                   Pavan Kumar Sharma
                                                          Chief Commissioner of Income-tax,
                                                                          Hubli (Karnataka)