Synthesis of salient contents of the article
The impact of stress could be experienced by people in different ways:
- The body experiences quick changes during occurrences of stress. Perhaps the entire body system perks up to confront the challenges caused by stress.
- Persistent and long-drawn stress could cause real health detriments and needs to be sorted out like any other bodily ailments.
- Both external and internal causes could give rise to factors. Outside stress builders could result due to unfavorable environmental conditions or tense emotional atmosphere, for example, low-grade work atmosphere or Discordia relationships).
- Inner tenseness could be seen as both relating to the mind as well as the body. Nonhumans do not experience inner stress
The effect of stress on the body is disturbing and could affect people in many ways. Pronounced stress initiates speedy changes throughout the body. Nearly a large part of the body systems, cardiac and circulatory blood vessels, immunity system, breathing organs, food assimilation systems, the senses and cerebral faculties, gear up to counter the challenges caused by stress.
There are two genres of tension: covert and overt, and short, or persistent varieties. Outside stress situations develop due to inclement physical environment. They include adverse bodily circumstances (discomfort, extreme temperatures, etc.) or traumatic mental states (low conditions of work, or Discordia environment).
Covert strain-producing factors could also be bodily like infections, diseases, and swellings, or even mental like trauma, worries, etc. Non-humans do not experience inner stress.
Intensive or time extensive stress is a reaction against an immediate threat. Furthermore, it is evidenced that in the case of acute or long-term stress, this is a reaction to an urgent threat, usually known as the fight or flight reply, while, in the case of chronic stress, repeatedly; modern life poses ongoing stressful situations that are long-drawn. Normally there are two reactions to stress. Either fight it, or avoid, or flee from it. Fighting or fleeing creates more stress and has to be controlled. Otherwise, short-term stress may become permanent and intractable.
Seeking permanent solutions for control and mitigation of stress is important since these could give rise to bodily and mental issues which could breed various kinds of diseases.
It is evident that many agencies within the current culture, while orally extolling the virtues of stress management, actually places major strain such that tension is increased. Nevertheless, stress could be reduced through a measure of tools and techniques. Besides, therapies for work-related stress have established advantages for both the employee and employer. During the deliberations of one research program, a company that instituted a stress management program managed to set aside virtually $150,000 in workers’ compensations expenses (program costs were only $6,000) at the end of 2 years. Yet other studies have reported individual advantages to health following on from employment
stress-management aids. In one such study, workers with high blood pressure had lower blood pressure even after a short (16-hour) agenda that helped them deal with strain in a conducted manner.
Stress control could form a significant part of medical treatment even though it may not be able to cure medical problems. Precise stress reduction approaches may help diverse remedial troubles. To take an illustration, in one study, acupuncture assisted in bringing down the detrimental effects of heart muscle actions in people with heart ailments but failed to check hypertension. People with such diseases could be benefited from the use of relaxation techniques. Lowering of stress may progress welfare and enhanced quality of life for many stress-stricken patients, who are undergoing such conditions due to chronic or persisting medical states.
Paraphrasing Paragraphs
Eating and Stress
Stress can have varying effects on eating problems and weight.
Weight Gain. Often stress is related to weight gain and obesity. Many people develop cravings for salt, fat, and sugar to counteract tension. As a result, they gain weight. Weight gain can occur even with a healthy diet, however, in some people exposed to stress. In addition, the weight gained is often abdominal fat, a predictor of diabetes and heart problems.
The release of cortisol, a major stress hormone, appears to encourage abdominal fat and maybe the primary connection between stress and weight gain. Cortisol is a glucocorticoid. These hormones, along with insulin, appear to be responsible for stress-related food cravings. Evidence suggests that hormonally induced cravings for “comfort foods” may have a biological benefit for managing stress. Eating comfort foods appears to reduce the negative hormonal and behavioral changes associated with stress, which might lessen the impact of stress on an individual. Carbohydrates in particular may increase levels of tryptophan and large neutral amino acids. This leads to more serotonin, which might improve mood and performance under stress.” (Simon, 2009).
Paraphrased version
Stressful situations could impact food habits and the bodyweight of people in a number of ways. It is believed that stress is one of the major contributors to obesity and abnormal weight enhancement among people. This is because it is believed that stressful conditions create stimulants in the mind of such stressed people to crave certain types of foods to offset their feeling of tension and mental strain. For highly stressed individuals, even having normal diets could cause untoward weight gain issues, and the main area that receives the excess fat in the lower part of the stomach, sites for sugar diseases and coronary problems in later life. The outflow of cortisol is believed to be the main culprit for the nexus between stress and weight increases. However, on the positive side, it is seen that certain chemicals that are triggered during stress could even alleviate the level of stress experienced by individuals and could even help them to have a pleasant frame of mind and work output during periods of stress. (Simon, 2009).
The main point of the article
The main point of the article is to create awareness about the negative aspects of stress on both the body and mind of such stressed persons. It would not be wrong to state that people who undergo large bouts of stress situations may be actually nursing diseases in their body and mind, about which they are not aware unless the real symptoms begin to manifest. This could give rise to a plethora of physical, mental, or psychological conditions that merit treatment, sometimes in hospital settings. Therefore, it is important that people understand the level of stress that they could possibly take, in order to avoid adverse effects on their health. They also need to avoid situations that are capable of causing a higher degree of stress levels to them.
The personal meaning that the candidate took is ways and means to identify, segregate, isolate and remedy the adverse effects of stress through pro-active and pre-emptive measures, including certain disciplines that could not only counter the evils of stress but also help to manage it to a controllable degree. Again, stress may mean different things to different people, and one person’s level of stress tolerance may be higher or lower than his counterpart’s levels. Thus, it is important for each of us to know how much our body and mind could bear, and this perhaps may not be gained from any health care professional – it has to be the individual who needs to know his limits and how to overcome and manage stressful situations in his official and personal life.
The take-away message is in terms of the fact that our health and well-being are in our own hands. There are many reasons for stress to be a health hazard, and in extreme cases, a killer disease that, if allowed to go unchecked and unmonitored, could cause a great deal of discomfort and hazards to one’s life and well being. It is, therefore, necessary to identify and recognize the type of stress that one is undergoing, or maybe going to undergo in the future. It is necessary to study and understand it completely, how it could impact us adversely, and more importantly, what remedial and corrective actions we could take to overcome and remedy such stressful situations. It should be a fight or flight method, in which a person would stand and fight the symptoms and try to overcome them; another option is to run away from the stress-causing symptoms and issues. It would depend upon circumstances and how the mind and body are conditioned to accept stress or reject it.
Finally, it needs to be said that although stress is a part and parcel of modern living, it need not control our lives. Rather, we should be in a better position to control and overcome stressful situations and live in peace with ourselves, our family, our community, and the world at large. If stress is given an upper hand in our lives, it would be able to command all our words and actions and reduce us to its slave, from which human beings would not be able to free themselves and have peaceful and happy lives in the community.
Reference List
Simon, H. (2009). Stress. About.com: Health Topics A-Z. Web.