Before we can understand survival and learn how to survive, it is helpful to first learn a little about stress (pressure). Stress is not some kind of disease that can be permanently cured and eradicated. Stress is a condition we all experience a lot. Stress can also be described as our response to pressure. And pressure on us reveals exactly how we physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually respond to difficult life situations.

Why do we need stress

It should be noted that stress has many positive benefits. Stress gives us problems - and it allows us to learn about ourselves, about our values, and about ours. Stress shows us how we can handle pressure. It's kind of a test of our adaptability and flexibility. Stress stimulates us to do our best to solve the problem. Beyond that, stress can also be a great indicator of how much value we attach to an event - in other words, stress emphasizes what is important to us.

We must have some stress in our lives, but too much stress can be very bad for us. Stress is good, but not too much. Too much stress has a profound effect on both people and organizations. Too much stress leads to disaster, and adversity always gives us unpleasant tension from which we try to escape.

Even minor factors can lead to serious disorders if they all happen too close to each other. The body's resistance to stress decreases and, ultimately, a state of weakness comes.

Common Signs of Excessive Stress

You can find them in yourself and in your loved ones or friends when you are faced with too much stress:

• Difficulty making decisions
• Outbursts of anger
• Oblivion
• Low energy level
• Error prone
• Constant worry
• Isolation from friends or society
• Thoughts of death or suicide
• Avoiding responsibility
• Carelessness

As you have seen, stress can be not only constructive but also extremely destructive. It can help or hinder your progress, move you forward or stop you, make your life meaningful or meaningless. can inspire you to successfully complete tasks at the peak of your productivity, as well as survive in different conditions... On the other hand, pressure can lead to panic and to the fact that you forget everything that you have been taught.

Stress and Survival: Keys

Almost any event and situation can lead to stress and, like all trials, events do not always come one at a time. Often, they happen at the same time. By themselves, these events are not stressful, but they can cause it and are therefore called “irritants”. After our body recognizes the presence of a stressor, it takes action to protect itself.

In response to a stressor, the body prepares itself to “fight or flight”. Our brain sends an internal SOS signal throughout the body. The body begins to use up its "fuel" (fats and sugar) to quickly provide the body with energy; breathing quickens to bring more oxygen to the blood; muscle tension increases to prepare for action; blood clotting mechanisms are activated to reduce possible bleeding from wounds; the senses are sharpened - your hearing becomes more sensitive, the smell becomes sharper, etc., so that you are more aware of your surroundings; finally, the heart rate and blood pressure rise to ensure blood flow to the muscles. All of these defense mechanisms enable you to deal with potential hazards; however, one cannot maintain this level of vigilance indefinitely.

The main key to your survival is your ability to control what you have to face. Only you can control it. You have to work with stress, but not allow yourself to work for it.

By anticipating stress and unpleasant situations, and developing strategies to deal with them, you can effectively manage stress when it actually occurs.

How do you react to stress and do you manage to cope with it?

My favorite topic is sharp and exciting, exhausting, invigorating, slimming, flaring up like an epidemic, fashionable and explaining everything. Stress is the ubiquitous ghost of metropolitan areas and the gray cardinal of social gaming.

- Why do we need stress (after all, nothing happens in nature just like that)

- How is stress useful?

- How do students and mothers of young children survive without sleep and rest during the session?

- What is the "triad of Hans Selye"?

Let's first understand the multifaceted concept of "stress".

We often confuse stress with a stressor — an outcome with a causal factor. Another one modern trend focus more on a certain traumatic situation. But a stressor is ANY effect on the body, strength and intensity, which exceeds the usual one. And stress is what happens to the body as a result of the action of a stress factor or stressor.

I usually eat 1 croissant for breakfast, and I ate four yesterday. The stomach is swollen - stress for the body - how to digest?

I always drive a car and hardly walk with my feet, but yesterday I got up on skis and skied like crazy all day - today everything hurts - stress for the body: extreme physical exertion.

Any infection and injury.

I moved from Salekhard to Sochi - the body is in shock - the climate is different, it is necessary to rebuild.

Information stress - preparation for a performance, an exam. Pregnancy. Chronic stress - bad family relationships, unloved work. Acute stress is tragic news.

To understand why nature invented stress, it is necessary to consider its stages and mechanisms using a specific example.

Take, for example, a woman who has a child who is sick.

The first stage of stress is Mobilization or Anxiety.

In response to stress, an alarm sounds in the body. Caution - danger! - hears mom. Even if the child gets sick at night, she quickly wakes up, sleep in no eye, the general tone rises sharply, the pressure rises, the vessels narrow, and so on. The woman begins to worry and think very quickly: which pharmacy is open at three in the morning and who can you call to ask for advice.

Why is this so?

Stress is a universal defense mechanism aimed at only one thing - SURVIVAL. That is, when exposed to an extreme factor, certain reactions are triggered that help us adapt to new conditions and save our lives.

My head of the Department of Biochemistry liked to cite a man and a crocodile as an example: a crocodile rushed at you (stress? What kind of stress), that to survive, you need an action hormone - adrenaline, which activates the cardiovascular system and gives an impulse to action.

Or, for example, have you ever noticed that just before you get sick with acute respiratory infections, you feel great? In the evening you wash the floors, try on outfits, there are a lot of plans, the mood is on the rise, and in the morning you wake up all broken and with a runny nose. The virus got into the body the day before: the immune, endocrine and other systems were mobilized, tensed, accelerated, but the power was not enough, they could not cope - and here is a cold.

Sometimes they did it. Well, here we will not notice anything, the virus will die in the cradle, and the disease will pass away.

The second stage is Adaptation or Resistance.

It is here that the body works with tripled strength, reserves are turned on and reserves are wasted. Mom adapts to the new sleepless regimen, watches for the baby, her need for rest and food decreases. A sick baby (he also has stress) rises in body temperature. Leukocytes fight to the death. Metabolic processes are accelerated and toxins are neutralized.

The same thing happens to students during the session: they do not sleep, do not eat, a lot of coffee and cigarettes. At the same time, large amounts of information are memorized.

BUT: if the stressor is too strong (the harmful microorganism turned out to be stronger than the immunity) or its action is too long (one child recovered, but the second fell ill; the exams failed and must be retaken, the revision at work lasts already the second month), then the body's reserves are gradually depleted and begins:

Stage Three - Exhaustion

The body is exhausted. The student can no longer learn a single line and gives up.

Mom gets sick herself. Complications develop.

What's going on inside?

1. Increase in adrenal mass (the place where stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline are produced)
2. The organs of the immune defense decrease in size, incl. thymus.
3. On the mucosa gastrointestinal tract ulcers and erosion appear.

Deciphering Selye's message:

1. Strengthening the synthesis of the stress hormone - cortisol

The main effect of cortisol: - Increased glucose synthesis (a source of fast energy) from non-carbohydrate sources (amino acids). That is, where does the energy come from? It is taken from strategic reserves - from proteins (which are actually needed to build tissues and organs).

The synthesis of adrenaline increases, which enhances catabolism (tissue breakdown), increases blood pressure, promotes the breakdown of fats - all with the same purpose - to get energy. In addition, it constricts blood vessels, which leads to insufficient blood supply to the tissues.

1. Immunodeficiency

The body's resistance to infections drops sharply. Maybe you noticed that you often get sick just before important events (wedding, competition, performance at a matinee). The same stress.

1. Ulcers and gastritis.

As a result of deterioration of the blood supply to the mucous membranes. It is understood that in times of danger there is no time to burst and there is no need to waste energy there.

Why do we need stress? It's simple - as a result of the "shake-up" we adapt to new environmental conditions, and the body's resistance increases.

In addition, sleep has an anti-stress effect.

1. Provide yourself with good nutrition. Be sure to consume enough protein (milk, dairy products, meat, fish, legumes, cauliflower, green pea etc).
2. Avoid low-fat foods.
3. Take antioxidants (regular aevit 1 tabl x 3 times a day or fish oil)
4. To protect against infections and help the immune system: take vitamin C (rose hips, berries, needles, or ascorutin).
5. Use aromatic oils with antiseptic properties (such as tea tree oil or eucalyptus oil topically, or 2 drops on a slice of bread daily). Eucalyptus enhances the function of the ciliated epithelium of the airways, which clears the airways. Tea tree oil is considered one of the most effective natural antibiotics. Use relaxing essential oils like lavender - it is suitable for almost everyone, even small children.
6. To protect the stomach lining, eat mucous cereals, flax seeds. Chamomile tea. A decoction of the leaves of coltsfoot and yarrow.
7. To switch attention and energy, eliminate toxins, a daily 30-minute physical activity is required. The intensity should be such that you sweat.

Let's summarize:

Stress is a complex of defensive reactions that occurs in response to any extreme stress.

Having safely survived stress, we become stronger and more resilient.

Knowing the mechanisms of stress and applying simple rules before and during important events, as well as in difficult periods, we are able to minimize Negative consequences and improve the quality of life.

Take care of yourself and do not be afraid of anything.

Stress is a set of protective physiological reactions that occur in the human body in response to the effects of various factors (stressors). Stressors, that is, factors that cause stress, can be a variety of life situations: speaking in front of an unfamiliar audience, visiting a dentist, participating in a competition, family quarrels, the situation in the country ...

Which ? And is it possible to live without stress?

Information about anxiety enters the brain through the senses. Then it is transmitted through the nerve endings to the thyroid gland. Having received an alarm, this organ is immediately released into the blood a large number of the hormone adrenaline, which is carried throughout the body. Signals come from the brain - mental stress increases, attention increases, preparation for action begins. All this happens at lightning speed - tension, and hence stress, builds up at an amazing speed. Adrenaline speeds up heart rate and breathing, and increases blood pressure.

Stress is essential. It helps to adapt to new conditions, affects performance, creativity, teaches us to overcome obstacles on the path of life, mobilize our strength and be confident. But at the same time, stress, if it lasts for a long time, can become destructive for a person, lead to the occurrence of psychosomatic diseases (bronchial asthma, ulcers, hypertension, heart disease, memory impairment, weakening of the immune system).

When is stress constructive and when destructive?

Depending on the stimulus that acts on a person, two types of stress are distinguished:

• Eustress - the action of positive emotions, inspiration, creative inspiration, love.
• Distress (from English - unhappiness, malaise) - action negative emotions in situations of grief, misfortune, illness, which reduces the body's resistance to unfavorable environmental factors, exhausts a person, prevents him from mobilizing.

Recurrent emotional stress is good for the body: it has a positive effect on appearance, mobilize forces and mental capacity... Eustress mobilizes, activates, improves tone. Distress, on the contrary, is considered one of the causes of diseases such as gastritis and stomach ulcers, bronchial asthma, diabetes mellitus, thyroid disease. You need to urgently save yourself from distress, before it has time to interfere in your life, health, career. If stress lasts for a long time, it depletes the body's defenses, wearing out its organs and systems - primarily the cardiovascular and nervous.

Oddly enough, but men are the worst to tolerate stress. It is believed that to overcome difficulties for representatives strong half humanity is hampered by numerous complexes associated with certain stereotypes. “A man is a breadwinner, a leader, a superman. He must live by reason, not emotions, "- they assert to him from childhood. Psychologists are sure: if you follow this stereotype, the psychological mechanism of normal emotional response to a situation breaks down. By driving emotions inside, such a person, sooner or later, will surely break down.

The risk group also includes people who suffer from chronic diseases, adolescents, the elderly, women of Balzac's age. Some - because of the weakened state of the body, others - because of the problems of the transition period and hormonal changes.

As you can see, stress has positive and negative sides. It is impossible and harmful to live and work or study without stress. Under the influence of negative factors, the body's defense mechanisms are activated, which we must learn to direct in the right direction.

First, distract yourself from problems: go in for sports, walk, visit exhibitions, go to the cinema, theater.

Take only natural sedatives. The medicinal extract will help to normalize sleep, reduce stress, calm the body, and lower blood pressure. The effective therapeutic dose is 300-600 mg per day. Considering that the usual yellow tablets contain from 20 to 60 mg of extract, and in water-alcohol settings there is more alcohol and water than itself, we recommend opting for modern means containing an effective dosage of valerian extract. One of them is a phytopreparation

How proficient have you been in the art of stress management? Can you increase it by 100%? Amid complete health, well-being and peace? Everything is in your hands, it is not as difficult as it seems. You can use the following tactics: "When he says," You look tired, "you say," I knew you didn't like me anymore. " And if he says: "It seems that the meat is not salted," this gives you the right to say: "You are always trying to humiliate me." "

Just tense your muscles. Frown your brows. Clench your teeth. Compress your chest to make breathing hard. In principle, this is enough. If desired, you can add the hands, thigh muscles, and so on.

Effect: Your experiences, feelings and thoughts immediately become an order of magnitude more catastrophic.

2. Don't move

Do sedentary work all day and spend the rest of the time in front of the TV.

Why do we need stress?

Why do people artificially increase their stress when there is enough of it in life and without our efforts? Because the state of stress allows us to solve some problems or, as psychologists would say, delivers a "secondary benefit." In particular, stress:

Gives an adrenaline jolt and invigorates when there is not enough risk in life;

Makes you feel important significant person who is always busy and always does not have time;

Allows you to avoid intimacy and keep distance: when a person is afraid of relationships, he can go headlong into important work;

Allows you to avoid responsibility ("I have no time to solve this problem, I am very busy");

Allows you to demand obedience from others, as in a state under martial law.

Effect: Not even a few days of motionless life will pass, as the stress will greatly increase. You will begin to think about troubles, from which you used to be distracted by movement.

3. Natural pharmacology

Nicotine, caffeine, sugar - constantly and in increasing quantities. You can also alternate coffee with alcohol.

Effect: You will soon find out how much health depends on biochemistry. Even the most legal and common "psychotropic drugs" in large quantities disrupt the natural mechanisms of wakefulness and relaxation.

4. Listen to the body

Pay close attention to your body. Don't you have any strange sensations in your left hand? And in the stomach - are there some almost imperceptible vibrations and tingling sensations? Isn't that suspicious?

Effect: You will definitely find incomprehensible sensations and can fantasize about your unknown illnesses. This technique is especially effective when combined with a study of the medical literature.

Regularly worry about things that you cannot control. Think for half an hour a day about epidemics, hurricanes, cooling of the planet and similar global matters.

Effect: Feelings of helplessness, anxiety, tension.

6. What do I lack for happiness?

Look at your life from the point of view: what I am missing. You can go over in your mind successful acquaintances or biographies of celebrities. It is also useful to flip through the catalogs and find there items that you are not able to buy because of their high price.

Effect: If you look at life this way, you will always have a reason to feel unhappy.

7. Haste

Try to be in a hurry all the time. Even on vacation or playing with your child.

Effect: All things in your life will be done superficially and will completely cease to bring satisfaction.
8. Let's do it after

Systematically postpone all cases and decisions for later.

Effect: This maintains a constant feeling of guilt, and after a while helplessness will appear in front of an enormous mountain of accumulated problems.

9. Strive for complete perfection

Focus on the highest standards and curse yourself for the slightest shadow of failure or imperfection.

Effect: Since perfection is virtually unattainable, you are guaranteed a permanent sense of chronic failure.

10. Nothing funny

Eliminate humor and laughter from life.

Effect: Stress will rise as it does not mix well with humor. After all, stress is a serious matter.

These, of course, are not all tactics for increasing your stress out of the blue. There are thousands of them. Maybe you have already successfully applied some of them? Or do you have other favorite and original techniques? It's important to see them. When you understand how you are increasing your stress, it becomes easier for you to control it. Because you are free to use them or refuse them.

Stress for two

Increasing stress can also be successfully paired with a loved one. For example, a few simple recipes:

- Let it change

Make it your mission to change the other person.

Effect: The task is insoluble, and your loved one, when they want to change him, begins to resist. Then any joint activity - sex, dinner or a walk to the supermarket - becomes a merciless and fruitless battle.

- Stress in bed.

Never tell your loved one what you like about sex and what you don't.

Effect: This provides constant dissatisfaction with sex, plus gives the right to chronically offended by misunderstanding and insensitivity from the beloved.

- Mind reading

When he says, "You look tired," you say, "I knew you didn't like me anymore." And if he says: "It seems that the meat is not salted," this gives you the right to say: "You are always trying to humiliate me."

Effect: With the help of a skilful interpretation of the secret thoughts of a loved one, you will find a reason for resentment in every his most innocent remark. If you also include amateur psychology here ("This is in you unconscious aggression and the unresolved Oedipus complex speaks"), any word and action of a partner will increase stress, and he will never be able to justify himself.

- Without closing your mouth

Try to talk non-stop all the time you are with your loved one, filling in any pause with words.

Effect: A typical man will quickly feel overwhelmed - he is generally able to listen carefully for only 10-15 seconds. Therefore, he, most likely, will withdraw into himself, and you have the right to complain that they do not listen to you and do not understand.

- Shut up, hide and thai ...

Do not talk with your loved one about the unpleasant: what you do not like in life together, or what you would like, but you do not get from him.

Effect: This technique does not give an instant effect, but it leaves behind a very persistent stress, and for many years. If you do not tell your loved one about your disappointments, dissatisfaction and problems, stress constantly and invisibly builds up its tension. That can end in an explosion - or complete cooling and disappointment.

Mikhail Zavalov

Let's go back to the processes taking place in the human body in order to understand the psychology of stress and find out why a person needs stress.

The main human instinct, embedded in the hypothalamus, is responsible for survival. That is, if a person finds himself in a situation similar to the one that ended badly for him, or in a new, completely unfamiliar environment, the brain immediately builds up a defense. During the onset of a traumatic situation, as a result of a person's reaction to the situation, the body produces substances that help to overcome it.

We have previously reviewed physical aspect a person's reactions to stressful circumstances. Why is stress necessary from a physiological point of view? For physical development... I ran from a wild animal - I pumped up my leg muscles, I twisted the tiger's neck - like I trained in the gym. But in the conditions of modern society, a purely physical reaction will not always be adequate. Stress relief by purely physiological methods, such as running, jumping, etc., will not always be effective.

What Other Benefits Of Stress?

It turns out that stress is even more important for mental development than for physical development. It is not in vain that our brain consumes 20% of the total energy of the body, despite the fact that it takes up only about 3 percent of the total mass by weight. Most often, when some unpleasant or unusual story happens to a person, he is required not to be blunt "to run away or win", but to have a sound assessment and adequate behavior.

The substances necessary for the brain to solve the problem are always produced in excess, so it is quite reasonable to dump these excess physical activity.But you should not stop there, when emotions calm down a little, you need to think about what can be done so that such situations do not repeat again and again and stress did not interfere with life.

Ask yourself questions: “Why did this situation happen to me? What thoughts or actions could I have provoked her? How can I solve this problem? What can I do to prevent this from happening again? " Even if you don't find all the answers at once, this kind of gymnastics is very beneficial for the brain. Solving tasks to overcome various traumatic situations, a person develops mentally and intellectually.

For some people, the reaction to stress is so different from the usual that they simply fall into a stupor, to the point of being unable to control not only their thoughts, but also their body. What can such a reaction indicate? That very strong fears live in the human subconscious. They then block the possibility of assessing the situation. The human brain is so afraid of something that it forbids itself to even think about it. Here, overcoming stress must begin by working on your fears.

When you hurt your finger, it hurts. What for? Then, so that you pay attention to it and begin to heal. If something happened to you, from which your soul begins to ache, this is a sign that not everything is safe in this area of ​​your psyche. For example, stress after a quarrel with your boss may indicate that you do not know how to properly build relationships in society, or do not treat your employer correctly, or you have excessive demands on people, or ... the reasons may be different (you can bruise a finger, pinch it, burn, cut, freeze, pierce, and so on). You just need to find this reason and fix it.

Why does a person need stress?

Unfortunately, most people view stress not as a guide to development, but as a nuisance that must be eliminated as soon as possible. It is advisable to just “remove” it from your life, click on the “Delete” button. Is it possible? With sufficient training, this is quite possible, but the trouble is that if a person is given the opportunity to change, and he refuses to use this opportunity, stressful situations begin to repeat. Until he begins to think and act.

After all, science has proven that if any living creature is placed in ideal conditions, it begins to enjoy life to the fullest and stops developing, gradually begins to degrade, and, in the end, dies. Not himself, but his descendants. So it makes sense to leave empty dreams of a stress-free life, and learn to turn on the brain in stressful situations. He is perfectly adapted for this.