Feeling like there are too many pressures and demand on you? Losing sleep distressing about tests and schoolwork? Eating on the run because your timetable is just too full of activity? You're not alone. Everyone experiences stress at times — adults, teens, and even kids. But there are ways to reduce stress and control the stress that's predictable. So, what is Stress??
Stress is only a fact of nature—forces from the outside world affecting the individual. The individual responds to stress in ways that affect the individual as well as their environment. Hence, all living creatures are in a constant interchange with their surroundings (the ecosystem), both physically and behaviorally. This interplay of forces, or energy, is of course present in the relationships between all matter in the universe, whether it is living (animate) or not living (inanimate). However, there are critical differences in how different living creatures relate to their environment. These differences have far-reaching consequences for survival. Because of the overabundance of stress in our modern lives, we usually think of stress as a negative experience, but from a biological point of view, stress can be a neutral, negative, or positive experience.
In general, stress is connected to both external and internal factors. External factors include the physical environment, as well as your job, your relationships with others, your home, and all the situations, challenges, difficulties, and expectations you're confronted with on a daily basis. Internal factors determine your body's aptitude to respond to, and deal with, the external stress-inducing factors. Internal factors which influence your ability to handle stress include your nutritional status, overall health and fitness levels, emotional well-being, and the amount of sleep and rest you get.
Stress has determined evolutionary change (the development and natural selection of species over time). Thus, the species that modified best to the causes of stress (stressors) have survived and evolved into the plant and animal kingdoms we now examine. Man is the most adaptive creature on the planet because of the evolution of the human brain, especially the part called the neo-cortex. This adaptability is largely due to the changes and stressors that we have faced and mastered. Therefore, we, unlike other animals, can live in any climate or ecosystem, at various altitudes, and avoid the danger of predators. Moreover, most a moment ago, we have learned to live in the air, under the sea, and even in space, where no living creatures that we know of have ever survived. So then, what is so awful about stress?
