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Stress is “a normal human response to anything physical or emotional that puts pressure on the person,” said Dr. Gail Saltz, clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York.
Acute stress, that is, stress that occurs at a specific time for a short period of time, can be helpful in navigating this specific situation, said Dr Cynthia Ackrill, Certified Stress Management Educator.
At the moment, your heart rate and breathing quicken, she said. Chronic stress occurs after the body’s system is repeatedly triggered, she added.
Stress itself isn’t bad, but it becomes toxic when it doesn’t go away after the stressful situation is over, Ackrill said.
When stress could be something more
It can be difficult to determine when stress turns into something more serious like anxiety and depression, she noted.
“If the worry is intrusive beyond the stressor, it’s anxiety,” Ackrill said. “If sadness is a mood that you cannot change beyond the situation, it is depression.”
Stress in itself is not a psychiatric disorder, Saltz said, but it can exacerbate other mental disorders like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
It could also be a sign of general anxiety disorder, characterized by at least six months of excessive worrying among other symptoms, according to Dr Alfiee Breland-Noble, psychologist and founder of Project AAKOMA, a nonprofit organization for youth mental health.
Some common symptoms include trouble sleeping, restlessness and difficulty concentrating, she added.
On the other hand, if your stress subsides once the situation is over and you are able to function at your peak at work and school, it might be just that – stress, said. Saltz.
How to ask for help
If you think you have chronic stress or some other mental disorder, Breland-Noble said you should seek help from a mental health professional.
Before seeing a mental health professional, she recommended talking to a trusted friend or family member to see if they noticed anything different about you as well.
Quick Stress Relief Techniques
People under stress might also benefit from mindfulness meditation, Breland-Noble said. One exercise she recommended is using your five senses to identify things you can see, hear, taste, smell, touch, and then something you are grateful for.
“The concentration it takes to list each of these things is often just enough to focus on what is stressing us out and focus on the moment,” she said.
Some people can find stress relief through aerobic exercise, Saltz said, such as thirty minutes of activity to increase your heart rate.
One of the oldest and simplest techniques is practiced breathing, Ackrill said. “Put a hand on your stomach and see if you can breathe in so your diaphragm goes down and that hand on your stomach goes up,” she explained.
When you slow down your breathing and focus inward, it sends signals to your brain that you’re okay, Ackrill said.
There are hundreds of other stress relief techniques online, she said, but what most of them have in common is that they prevent your brain from thinking about the past or the past. future and instead help him focus on the present.
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