Health Spotlight: Stress
Christina Cutler
Issue date: 3/1/10 Section: Opinion
It is 2:45 in the morning. You just finished your homework due for your 8 am class. You are excited! You just realized what this means - you get to have four and a half hours of sleep tonight! That's good, because you are coming down with that nasty head cold and need your rest. You go to bed, and sleep relatively fitfully through increased coughing and some sparse nightmares about being late to class. You wake up feeling like crap, but that's what caffeine is for, right? After chugging your Monster (breakfast of champions) you head off to class. Today is a nice, calm day for you. After that 8 am lecture, you have an hour break before your two-hour chemistry lecture. That meeting during lunch is even going to feed you. After that, you have no classes until your 2:20 math, then another long break before your 6-8 class. That club meeting starts at 8:30, so you will get to see your friends and relax.
Between classes, you plan to work on that homework, finish your budget for the term, and type up the minutes from last week's meeting. Naturally, your mom calls and wants to talk for an hour about your younger sibling being a pain in her butt, throwing off your perfectly planned schedule. You suddenly realize what all you have to do and start to panic. You tell your mother you have to go, then start working on those minutes. A friend comes in to wait for you to go to class together. He's sitting on your floor and just waiting and it's making you anxious and frustrated. Why is he in your space?
Are you noticing the signs of too much stress in this situation? Problems eating or sleeping, increased use of stimulants or other drugs and alcohol, being anxious about unimportant events, increased procrastination, frustration over minor annoyances, frequent illness, and digestive problems are just a few of the signs of negative stress.
Some stress is helpful in our lives. Stresses keep us motivated, help us meet challenges, and help us concentrate during tests. That basic effect of stressors is to trigger a small amount of epinephrine (adrenaline) to be released into the bloodstream. Adrenaline is commonly known for the "fight-or-flight" response, which is an evolutionary trait that really keeps us alert in exciting or high-risk situations. The chemical is released into the body to increase heart rate, increase oxygen supply to brain and muscles, and suppress non-emergency processes, especially digestion.
Between classes, you plan to work on that homework, finish your budget for the term, and type up the minutes from last week's meeting. Naturally, your mom calls and wants to talk for an hour about your younger sibling being a pain in her butt, throwing off your perfectly planned schedule. You suddenly realize what all you have to do and start to panic. You tell your mother you have to go, then start working on those minutes. A friend comes in to wait for you to go to class together. He's sitting on your floor and just waiting and it's making you anxious and frustrated. Why is he in your space?
Are you noticing the signs of too much stress in this situation? Problems eating or sleeping, increased use of stimulants or other drugs and alcohol, being anxious about unimportant events, increased procrastination, frustration over minor annoyances, frequent illness, and digestive problems are just a few of the signs of negative stress.
Some stress is helpful in our lives. Stresses keep us motivated, help us meet challenges, and help us concentrate during tests. That basic effect of stressors is to trigger a small amount of epinephrine (adrenaline) to be released into the bloodstream. Adrenaline is commonly known for the "fight-or-flight" response, which is an evolutionary trait that really keeps us alert in exciting or high-risk situations. The chemical is released into the body to increase heart rate, increase oxygen supply to brain and muscles, and suppress non-emergency processes, especially digestion.
Be the first to comment on this story