The Nervous and the Hormonal Responses to Stressors - Essay Example

Stress xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Name xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Course xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Instructor xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date Stress is defined as the body’s response to a perceived threat. This therefore entails that, for there to be stress, and then there must be a perception of some extent level of threat or even danger. The perception is arrived at through evaluating the demands of the situation, identifying their resources and realizing that the resources at hand are not enough to meet the demands of the threat (Strahler et al 2010). Stress causes some changes in the body of a victim. These changes are psychological, behavioural and coping strategies. Psychological changes are the ones that the body makes in order to respond to the stress state. Behavioural changes on the other hand are changes in the behaviour so as to deal with the stress and finally coping strategies are those which not necessarily involve a change of overt behaviour (Nolen-Hoeksema 2000). Stress may result to anger and aggression to some people depression and apathy to others. Researches depict that; individuals of the same species may produce opposite responses to the same stimulus and this difference maybe as a result of personality and at time environmental variables (Wu et al 2010). There are diverse factors which are associated with causing stress in individuals. Some of them are people, situation and environmental events. When there are conflicts between parents, lovers, children and other people, then it is said that people caused the conflict. Situations like jobs, driving and other internal conflicts also cause stress. Finally, noise, high temperatures are also some of the environmental events which are cause stress on individuals. Some of these factors can be removed while others cannot be removed and therefore nothing else is left that tolerating them. Stress can be negative or positive. Positive stress is when it motivates individuals to get things done which are considered of great importance. Negative stress is the one when individuals feel pressurized or at times traumatized by too many demands (Strahler et al 2010). In life, an individual will always have demands, from family, relationships, workplaces, deadlines, financial problems, illnesses just to mention but a few. The way people cope with this demands depends on the way they think, personality and previous life experiences. Stress has diverse effects on people. At times it lives people confused, depressed, withdrawn and make them even more vulnerable to the next stressful situation that may arise in their life. Some clinical literature depict that, stress is a risk factor for the development of depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Updegraff & Taylor 2000). To some individuals, stress can serve as a driver for positive change where they re-evaluate life priorities or even develop strong relationships with friends and family. Stress leads to psychological problems. This being the case, the victims end up being pessimistic and only see the negative side of an issue (Wu et al 2010). This in the long run robs them joy and happiness, lonely and unfriendly. This can even result to thoughts of committing suicide as it is articulated by some scientific facts. Stressed individuals cannot make substantial decisions and therefore their work life is incapacitated. A stressed person feels tense and this might result to being offensive to colleagues and this means that they can hurt their feelings unintentionally (Strahler et al 2010). They can barely concentrate on anything and this therefore means that, they cannot be effective when it comes to their jobs and thus stress makes them ineffective in their workplaces. Stress causes illnesses. This therefore entails that, it affects the health of individuals. Heart attacks for instances are caused by stress; additionally, there may be some physical problems like hair loss, losing or gaining weight (Auerbach, Richardt, & Kertz 2012). In the same case, stress may result to brain damages for it is said to cause losing of cells in the human brain. Literature depicts that, the hippocampus part which collects individuals memory in the brain is the one the wares out as a result of stress. This in the end may cause Alzheimer disease (Riskind et al 2000). This therefore entails that, stress causes malfunctioning of people’s life and the illness which may result from stress affects the psychology, work life and health of individuals. Research depicts that, the nervous and the hormonal responses to stressors are the ones which bring about survival (Reme, Eriksen, Ursin 2008). The demand brought by the neuro-homonal changes are carefully balanced to enable an individual meet the challenges and thus are adaptive. However, if there is an excessive defence or submission to body reactions, then diseases of adaptation occur. This may include blood pressure, heart diseases and blood level, eclampsia, rheumatoid arthritis, digestive diseases, metabolic diseases, cancer and compromised immune system (Ingram, Scott & Siegle 1999). It has also been stated that, the physiological process of stress is a useful framework for nursing to understand the dynamics of chronic illness, how it evolves and projects. This is attributed to the fact that, some chronic illnesses like obstructive lung diseases are as a result of chronic stress that is as a result of environmental stressors such as cigarette smoking or even an extended exposure to air pollutants which risks the pulmonary systems. There is also a close relationship between stress and nutritional imbalances, obesity and diabetes mellitus. Literature depict that, there is an interchange between the adaptive system which in this case refers to an individual and the various stimuli from the environment and the adaptive system (Abela & D’Alessandro 2000). Responses from stimuli are processed through subsystems which include the control mechanisms as coping process and four adaptive modes. When an individual is stressed, the adrenal glands release corticoids which inhibit digestion, reproduction growth and tissue repair and any response to immune system. This means that, some very important functions in the body start not functioning (Riskind et al 2000). Without relaxation response, illnesses and symptoms are inevitable in an individual. This therefore means that, relaxation strategies are some of the ways used to manage stress. However, they are only used to manage the same in short term bases for they do not get to the root cause of the stress. Stress becomes dangerous when stressors accumulate resulting to anxiety and hopelessness. This therefore means that, at any one given time, there is a need to have stress management strategies so as not to get to detrimental stages of stress. One way that people manage stress is through managing the psychological and the physical well being by having some people they can turn to for emotional support (Bowlby 1977). This may be from the church, family, friends or people with experience in handling the stress at hand. Additionally, since there is a time when stress affects individuals, people follow some rules which are said to effective in handling stress. Some of these rules are, positive attitude which means that, they convince themselves that the sources of stress is necessary which results to controlled after effects. Some people have come to accept the factor that, their lifestyle produces stress and therefore they have learnt to control the unwanted side effects. They look for trouble spots and change them. Much stress is in the family. Clarifying responsibility has been one of the ways used to manage stress (Strahler et al 2010). When everyone understands what they are expected of them, then stress is amicably managed. Communication is crucial in this case. In the same case, time management has also been an effective way of time management. When there is too much to do in too little time, then stress is inevitable. Learning to relax is also one way which many people use so as to manage stress. Exercise is a key to managing the stress response. This is attributed to the notion that, it helps burn excess adrenaline and release endorphins which are referred to as the feel good hormones. Additionally, counselling is also helpful to some people in dealing with stress (Folkman 2008). This is due to the fact that, it gives a regular space to reflect on what is happening emotionally, mentally and physically. An experienced counsellor is helpful in helping an individual cope with the stress and how to move on positively (Strahler et al 2010). Increased self esteem is associated with accessibility to effective coping mechanisms. This therefore entails that, those with low self esteem are more likely to have effects of stress that those with high self esteem. Social support in this case is a crucial mechanism which is related to coping mechanism (Auerbach, Richardt, & Kertz 2012). It is depicted that, increased social support is said to reduce stress. This therefore entails that, those with less social support are more prone to stress and the others. When a person is therefore more integrated into the society is more likely going to get more support and thus be able to handle stress more effectively. Alcohol and drug abuse are also factors which make some people more prone to stress than others. Research shows that, alcohol and drugs are both a cause and a consequence of abuse (Wu et al 2010). This in other words means that, those people who are addicted to drugs tend to be isolated and depressed. Alcohol and drug use impacts on vulnerability to depression and studies have shown that, frequent use of alcohol or drug increase vulnerability to stress and depression. People with poor communication skills are also more prone to stress and react differently to stress as compared to those who communicate easily. This is due to the fact that, those with ease communication share their experiences easily with others while those who do not communicate just get consumed by stress alone. This therefore entails that those individuals who do not abuse drugs and alcohol are more likely to be resilience to the detrimental effects of stress that those who abuse them. People with good social support are also more likely going to stand any sort of stress or are likely to have different stress experience as compared to those who do not have strong social integration (Patterson 2002). Conclusively, it is a fact that individuals react differently to stress and this is correlated to the psychological factors such as the meaning they ascribe to the stressful event. Some factors like coping styles, self efficacy expectancies, psychological hardiness, optimism, ethnic identity are all said to buffer the effects of stress among individuals (Auerbach, Richardt, & Kertz 2012). This is the reason why stress effects are totally different among individuals. Some people do pretend that problems never existed and thus it is a form of denial. This is referred to as emotion focus coping. This is when some people take measures which curb the impact of stress immediately, by denying its existence or even withdrawing from the situation. This however, does not eliminate the stressor at all. Other people use problem focused coping whereby they face the stressor and change them or even change their reactions to make the stressor less harmful (Riskind et al 2000). This is the most effective for it deals with the stressor from the root. This is due to the fact that, some individuals develop strategies to understand the sources of stress and in so doing, get information which helps them to me more optimistic and create an expectancy that the strategy they have used will be of great help (Auerbach, Richardt, & Kertz 2012). Being handy is also another factor that determines the reception of stress among individuals. For some people, instead of feeling alienated from the risk and situation, they get involved fully and believe in what they are doing and this being the case, the reduce the effects of stress. In other words they have an internal locus of control. They act as though they are effectual rather than powerless and this helps them cope with stress more effectively and without any effect (Auerbach, Richardt, & Kertz 2012). Psychologically handy individuals use more active and problem solving approaches to solving handling their stress. This being the case, they are therefore less likely to have depression or face stress than non handy individuals. This therefore leads to a conclusion that, individuals experience stress in different ways depending on how they cope with the stressing situations. Bibliography Folkman, S. 2008. The case for positive emotions in the stress process. . 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