#Post Title #Separator #Site Title

Our reactions to stress are normal and very useful. Good stress, for example, helps to improve performance, results, motivation, and competition. When stress takes a long-term hold—including in everyday life—it can become destructive and harm personal or professional well-being.

The more chronic stress becomes, the longer it takes for the nervous system to trigger a state of relaxation, even if the cause of the stress is no longer present.

So identifying good stress and bad stress allows us to take a step back and find solutions to adapt and avoid plunging into chronic anxiety.‍ Besides, you can use CBD products, such as CBD oil, for instance, on justbob.shop, to help you feel more relaxed and fight stress naturally.

What is stress?

Stress is a normal biological reaction that allows us to mobilise all available energy to flee or fight. Inherited from our prehistoric ancestors, it will enable us to find the strength to face what we consider a threat. There are two stress hormones. The adrenal gland secretes both, but each has a different role:

Adrenaline releases large amounts of energy quickly during acute, short-term stress.

Cortisol is secreted during chronic, prolonged stress. It helps the body cope with this situation by mobilising the necessary (and additional) energy to power the muscles, the brain, and the heart.

Chronic stress can occur when adrenaline and cortisol levels are too high too frequently, with negative consequences.

Chronic stress

It is a permanent condition that affects well-being in all areas of life. There are several causes of chronic stress:

A problematic situation that persists, whether at work, in the family or financially
A succession of stressful situations such as bereavement, divorce or separation
An anxious personality that is highly sensitive to stress…

In some cases, chronic stress becomes so severe that it triggers acute stress attacks known as panic attacks or anxiety attacks. The person suffering such an attack experiences specific and very intense physical and psychological symptoms for several minutes:

A feeling of imminent death
tightness in the chest
an accelerated heart rate
profuse sweating
A feeling of dizziness
Trembling
Difficulty breathing
A desire to flee…

When stress becomes chronic and panic attacks set in, psychological support from a doctor or psychologist becomes necessary.

What are the consequences of chronic stress?

Allowing stress to build up over the long term can lead to sometimes unexpected health problems:

Stomach pains caused by ulcers or gastritis
Accelerated ageing
Reduced immune defences due to cortisol
Increased risk of cancer
Increased risk of autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and fibromyalgia
Mental health problems such as burn-out, depression, addictions, eating disorders, etc.

Focus on burn-out at work

According to the WHO, burn-out is defined as “ICD-11” and as “a syndrome (…) resulting from chronic stress at work that has not been properly managed”.

The symptoms are highly individual, with the common thread generally being a feeling of lack of energy, withdrawal from work, feelings of negativism and a loss of professional effectiveness.

At the first signs (however faint), it is essential to take steps such as talking to your occupational physician, talking to your family and friends, or taking a break from work. In this article, we tell you more about the different occupational illnesses (burn-out) and give you the keys to taking action!

Tips for managing stress on a daily basis

There are a few things you can do to learn how to manage stress better or even get rid of it altogether:

Make sure you get enough sleep
Exercise every day
Avoid ingesting substances that over-stimulate your body
Practise different methods
Concentrate on your thoughts and feelings
Don’t feel vulnerable
Exercise your power to act
Develop your free will
Take time to smile and laugh
Write in a diary
Meet new people

Look after the quality of your sleep

Sleep should be preserved as much as possible despite the disruption to sleep patterns caused by pre-existing stress. Here’s a tip to help you avoid insomnia at bedtime: try to get to bed not necessarily at a reasonable, predefined time when you’ll be waiting for sleep indefinitely but when you feel the first signs of tiredness and falling asleep.

Read also: Stress at work: 4 signs that your brain is at risk.

Do some physical activity every day

Incorporating regular exercise into your routine will also allow you to regulate your internal tensions naturally and be less overwhelmed by the manifestations of stress: the impulsive energy set in motion by the occurrence of stressful events will circulate freely throughout the body and be mediated or even directly processed by the body, thus minimising the risk of developing invasive psychological tensions.

Avoid ingesting substances that over-stimulate your body

Managing stress also means avoiding or reducing, as far as possible, stimulants such as coffee and alcohol, which, if consumed regularly, can have harmful effects on your general state of mind, leading to feverishness and tiredness and making you more vulnerable to potential stressors.

In short, it’s up to you to take simple steps to give yourself the best chance of learning how to manage stress and considerably reduce its effects on a day-to-day basis.