Your brain s response to acute stress

Stress is a feeling that's created when we react to particular events. It's the body's way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness.

The events that provoke stress are called stressors, and they cover a whole range of situations - everything from outright physical danger to making a class presentation or taking a semester's worth of your toughest subject.

Stress and the way we think

Particularly in normal working life, much of our stress is subtle and occurs without obvious threat to survival. Most comes from things like work overload, conflicting priorities, inconsistent values, over-challenging deadlines, conflict with co-workers, unpleasant environments and so on. Not only do these reduce our performance as we divert mental effort into handling them, they can also cause a great deal of unhappiness.

What is the effect of acute stress?

The best way to envision the effect of acute stress is to imagine oneself in a primitive situation, such as being chased by a bear.

The Brain's Response to Acute Stress

In response to seeing the bear, a part of the brain called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system is activated.

Release of Steroid Hormones. The HPA systems trigger the production and release of steroid hormones ( glucocorticoids), including the primary stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol is very important in marshaling systems throughout the body (including the heart, lungs, circulation, metabolism, immune systems, and skin) to deal quickly with the bear.

Release of Catecholamines. The HPA system also releases certain neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) called catecholamines, particularly those known as known as dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine (also called adrenaline).

What is a Stress Ball?

What if we told you that it’s possible to work out and relieve stress at the same time? And that it’s easy, requires little concentration and won’t cause you to break a sweat? Or that by consistently using this hand-held object, you will notice an increase in strength?

Well, it is a stress ball! So what are you waiting for? Get yourself a stress ball today!

Fear of success

It is well documented that many people fail to achieve their goals in life due to the phenomenon known as "fear of failure" but are you aware that a major factor that is often overlooked, is a state known as "fear of success"?

Fear of failure will lead many people into inertia - the inability to make decision or take action in case they receive rejection or negative outcomes. This mental state is fairky easy to identify and there are many tools in the personal development industry to help combat this plague and reprogram the mind for success. However, the fear of success is much more subtle, harder to spot and also harder to eradicate.

Perhaps you have this tendency in your life. Here are some indications of a fear of success mentality.

Studying and trying to implement self-improvement techniques and/or personal development tools but your life does not improve or may even get worse.

You settle for less than you feel you deserve or are capable of achieving.

You start new projects full of enthusiasm and optimism but wane in your efforts or stop short before you have completed them.

You expect things to go wrong no matter how well the situation appears to be at the moment.

Can you identify your own patterns in the any of the above statements?

The fear of success can also make you behave in ways that hold you back. Look at the list below. These are ethe symptoms of the fear of success.

Procrastination - putting off what needs to be done or not doing what you know will bring you closer to your desired result. Everyone suffers from this inner 'demon' at some point in their lives (although some of us suffer from it more than others!).

Procrastination is a 'success killer'! How can ou expect to reach your destinationm if you do not take steps towards it? Strive to do little things each day that will bring you small steps closer to your goal. This is why having a personal development plan is an essential ingredient in the fight against procrastination. Take action! Any action! Refine your steps as you go along but do not sit and do nothing. Taking action is one of the key aspects in personal development.

Can't see the forest for the trees! - this is almost the opposite of procrastination but has the same effect on your personal development. The aforementioned saying is well known but have you ever given it real consideration?

Don't get caught up in your plan believing that it is more important than the materialised goal! For many years I got caught in this trap. I started to think and act as though my plan was more important than my end result and thus missed many opportunities to alter my path and reach my goals more quickly! Let go of your ego and allow the Universe to show you a quicker route to your goal. Remain flexible.

Thinking that the time is not right - have you ever waited until the timing was perfect before starting a venture? Have you ever waited until you had more information on a better plan?

Again ACTION is the key to the door to success. Taking small steps forward are better than taking none or waiting to see if your foot is landing on the right spot! Even if your actions take you away from your goal you have at least gained insight and knowledge about what does not work!

Being a perfectionist - this is similar to the point above and has the same effect, namely, that you never really move forward. No matter how good a job is when its finished it can always be improved! I have heard many great musicians tell how they hate listening to their own songs because they can find a million things that need improved. Yet, we still enjoy them. I think a classic example of this is "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Paul Simon. This song is hauntingly beautiful yet Mr. Simon does not think its good enough!

Seeing only problems - how do you use your focus? Do you constantly see only and alll the problems involved? If you are this way inclined it is pointless trying to change overnight! However, you can use this mindset to your advantage while you strive in your personal development to acquire an opportunistic frame of mind instead.

"How can you use seeing only problems to my advantage?" you say. "Easily", is my reply! Look at the problems and prepare a plan to deal with them. Everytime you overcome one congratulate yourself. Use them as a gauge for your achievements. If you keep seeing more problems remind yourself of how well you dealt with the others. Look at how far you have come! If you see a problem ask yourself, "how best can I overcome this challenge?" or "how quickly can I rectify this situation?". The quality of your questions are important as I have outlined in a previous article. Use the problems as fact finders. Is there a real problem now? If so then deal with it. Is it a potential problem? If so then create a contingency plan in case it does occur but don't get caught up in it just be prepared.

Enjoy the journey, follow the above guidelines and you will achieve success. Eventually your fear of success will dissipate and you will have moved a long way forward in your personal development.

Advice to help people to reduce stress

If you are one of the many people who are suffering from stress, then this article may well be of interest and benefit to you. I believe that I am one of the biggest stress-heads in the country but have recently, with the help and advice of a friend, managed to lower and deal with most of my anxieties.

I feel that I am very fortunate as I have a very good friend who is called Ian. I have known Ian for most of my life and am able to talk to him about any problems that I have. He is a good listener and always seems to come up with some positive advice.

Ian is very much aware of the fact that I basically stress far too much and has tried to install a more care-free attitude into my personality. For whatever reason, I have been unable to implement this form of attitude and have continued to worry to the extent where I have even suffered from panic attacks.

During a recent evening out, I was as usual complaining about this or that in my normal negative way. Ian listened carefully as I explained my latest fears and worries and then came back with some considered advice. He suggested that there was possibly not enough fun in my life and that a weekend break could be exactly what I needed. A bit of sun and a few beers could do me a power of good he explained. It could be a way of taking my mind off all of the demons in my head and a chance to let my hair down etc.

Looking back, I have actually started to feel sorry for Ian and am surprised that he has not had enough of my moaning ways.

I thought about what Ian had said and believed that it was a good idea. It was certainly worth a go in any case. I asked Ian if he would like to join me on this break, to which he agreed. A sucker for punishment or what!

We decided to go to Devon which is situated on the South-West coast of England. This is an area that I love as it is such a relaxed place to be, especially compared to the busy city where I live.

It was a superb weekend and I made sure that I did not stress or even think about anything from back home. This was very hard to carry off but was essential, not only for me but also for Ian.

We had probably more alcohol than what many people would recommend and ate some great food. The weather was superb which helped in the recovery from the previous nights abuses. I even thought about possibly moving to Devon in the future as this could help me to become more relaxed. At the moment, for many different reasons, this is out of the question however.

If you are constantly under pressure or in a stressed out state, I would advice a similar course of action. Give yourself a break to have some fun and to give your body a chance to de-stress.