92 May 2015 www.womanthismonth.com LIFESTYLE | wellbeing From Distress to De-Stress As Wonder Women of the 21st century, we want to achieve, ace and acquire everything we set our minds to. But when life feels like a never ending stress test, it’s prudent to lower the pace, writes Behnaz Sanjana. Are you overwhelmed by the number of tasks on your to-do list? Do you constantly feel unable to stay ‘on top of things’? Well then, you are ambling about in the black hole called stress, just like most people around you! The USA documents that work stress causes 10 per cent of strokes. Three out of four doctor’s visits are stress-related and stress is the basic cause of 60 per cent of all human illnesses. That seems like reason enough to pack your bags for a relaxing get-away more often. Read on to know more. RECOGNISING STRESS Stress is a state of mental or emotional tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. When in stress, the body reacts with a stress response – fight or flight. The stress response is the body’s way of protecting you. It helps you stay focused, energetic, and alert. In emergency situations, stress can save your life – giving you extra strength to safeguard yourself. “Stress can be beneficial if it drives one to perform better. It pushes people to be more productive at work or in their personal life,” says Dr Puja Malhotra, a practicing health psychologist in Bahrain. If you need to ace that exam or nail that presentation, stress is what will push you to do your best. But if the levels of stress shoot up beyond one’s threshold, it can negatively affect one’s health, mind-set, work and relationships. The most common cause of stress these days is trying to maintain a work-life balance. Change; such as a new job, marriage, divorce or a serious illness can also be stressful. “Parenting issues, the onset of puberty in teenagers and even happy events like the birth of a newborn can bring about stress in people and their relationships,” says Dr Puja. Stress can manifest as increased anger and hostility, disturbed sleep, pessimism, lethargy and binge eating. “If not addressed in time, this can lead to anxiety and depression as well as serious maladies like cancer, high
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