Peter Jo

Stress is part of our lives. We live with it, deal with it, and above all worry about it. Our way of life, the area in which we live, the economy, and our jobs can cause a great deal of stress. Not everyone deals with the same level of stress and there are several factors that can impact our lives and cause us to have higher or lower stress levels. We can have stress caused by cataclysmic events which are events that can affect many people at the same time and are disasters such as tornado and plane crashes. Other factors are personal stressors and can be caused by events such as a divorce, death or a loved one or the loss of a job. Stress is the body's way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness. Stress can be beneficial to our lives because it can help motivate us to do daily tasks more efficiently. For example, if a student has an overwhelming amount of homework to do then the stress that develops from this can motivate that student to complete his/her homework more productively. In fact, it can also help boost our memory and can fortify our immune system. Stress is also a vital warning system, producing the flight or fight response. A small amount of stress can increase our concentration levels, so this allows us to be more productive. When we compare ourselves with people living in smaller cities, villages, other areas of the country or even other countries, or those whose socio economic status allows them to maintain their life style during difficult economic times we could probably see a difference in the stress level. Who has not stressed over the evening news or the possibility of not having a job in very difficult economic times? Who does not stress over a situation at work over which we have no control? These are stressors we live with and deal with on a daily basis. Work stress and mental health also play a key role. Some people have higher levels of stress because they might have a very stressful job. Police officers, fire fighters, soldiers in a war zone, health care providers, long distance truck drivers, and yes, even educators have very stressful jobs. Also workplace related stress in a major problem in the U.S. and it creates a major expense for corporations. Some studies indicate that all jobs have some level of stress but jobs that are in the human services have additional stressors because they derive from intense involvement in the lives of others. They also refer to the type of stress experienced by individuals working in human services as burnout. Another factor that can influence our stress level is how we handle life’s demands. There are different ways of reacting to the situations we face every day of our lives. We have all heard of expressions such as ‘road rage’ and ‘going postal’. These are terms that we have come to identified with violent reactions to stressors caused by situations all of us face every day. How many of us have experiences in the road that would cause us to display behavior that is outside of what we consider to be within a normal range? We all have had these experiences and how we handle them depends on different factors such as our own characteristics, or external factors that could be impacting us at any particular moment. Overall, most people handle different types of stress differently and the way in which people handle stress can either be beneficial or detrimental to their lifestyles.