Stress Causes – Understanding For Better Relief

Is it important to know something about stress causes? It may surprise you to know that at least ninety percent of illnesses can be related back to stress.

Stress, particularly long term and chronic stress, has a depleting effect on our health and in fact, our whole lives. Chronic stress is a major cause of depression. This is why we need to work at reducing stress in our lives.

Stress is very personal and how stressed we feel in a given situation also has a lot to do with how we view it. Therefore an important part of stress relief should involve learning about the true stress causes and about reprogramming negative beliefs and thoughts.

Different Kinds Of Stress

Despite the individual nature of stress, there are stress causes (stressors) that are common to broad groups of people in modern Western societies. These are:

• Financial stress. Money problems can place a lot of pressure on individuals and families. Financial worries are often tied to consumer debt. As debt increases so too does the cost of servicing it. What was difficult becomes overwhelming. Debt consolidation can be one way to obtain quick stress relief and begin to turn your financial situation around.


• Job or workplace stress. The modern workplace has become far more stressful than ever before. Workplace cultures can be so performance based that employees feel under constant pressure to perform to often ridiculous expectations. Furthermore, jobs are no longer secure and many people find themselves cast off in their forties and fifties, unable to find new work. When it comes to job stress, we should also consider the stress caused by working in a job we dislike. Many people are stuck in jobs they hate because they can’t afford to miss a pay check as they look for a new job.


• Relationship difficulties. Misunderstandings, poor communication or outright conflict can create serious stress in our lives. If these relationship problems are ongoing, the stress grows. If you are experiencing difficulties in a number of relationships at the same time, the stress can be quite significant, even causing depression. Verbal, emotional or physical abuse catapult relationship stress to a whole new level and if people are trapped in appalling situations and feel they cannot leave, their stress levels can seriously affect their health.


• Family stress. Our children can place all sorts of stress on us for all sorts of reasons. A crying baby can send a mother’s stress levels soaring, particularly if she is not getting enough sleep. A toddler’s temper tantrums can set our nerves on the edge and cause us to avoid the judgmental stares of strangers. Children have to learn how to deal with conflicts and the daily challenges of life. So sometimes, active anger management in children can help a lot in lowering your own stress levels.


• Holiday stress. Yes it seems a contradiction but we do get a lot of stress during those times we want to "get away from it all". Especially Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays seem to call for serious holiday stress management well beforehand.


• Lack of time or being overwhelmed with commitments. Most of us are too busy, these days. Parents can feel like they are taxi drivers, running the kids here and there. Trying to fit forty hours worth of activities into a twenty four hour day (and of course, trying to get some sleep) can lead to a lot of frustration and stress. If you work, look after children, and maintain your family, it is easy to become overstretched. This lifestyle can cause ill health. More about how does stress affect health.

Look At The Big Picture

Stress causes can be generated by making choices that have negative consequences on our life.

For instance: When we don’t deal with behavioral problems in our children when they are very young, we usually don’t consider the short term and long term stress causes that we are creating ourselves (and them).

When we pay our bills with credit cards because we don’t have enough money we can make our financial situation worse.

We sometimes do this because at the time we feel we have no other option. Yet we exponentially increase our stress levels further on in time.

Fix It, Face It, or Forget About It

The habit of procrastination, another of the main stress causes, often makes our situation worse.

For instance, without further ado, going to the root cause of tension headaches can relief that problem in a durable way.

The key to overcoming the stress of any given situation is to “fix it, face it, or forget about it.”

In Addition

It can be helpful to know more on how stress affect your overall health.

And you can add some additional stress relief activities to your lifestyle such as yoga, tai chi, or dancing.

Make sure you eat healthily, do things every day that you love to do and incorporate joy and humor into your life.

These marvelous stress relievers can keep depression at bay and give you the ability to get over heavy ground as lightly as possible.

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