Stress & Well-being

According to the dictionary, well-being is a good or satisfactory condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness, and prosperity; welfare: During the 1960s, Hans Selye developed a theory called the general adaptation syndrome (GAS), which states that all organisms have a similar response when confronted with a challenge to their well-being, regardless of whether they see the challenge as positive or negative. 

The GAS has three stages of response: alarm reaction, stage of resistance, and stage of exhaustion. In the first stage, an alarm reaction is also known as the fight or flight response. Physiologist Walter B. Cannon said that the fight or flight response is the body’s internal adaptive response to a threat. When the body perceives a threat or stressor, a sequence of chemical and physical responses occur. 

Once this happens, we gain control over our autonomic nervous system (ANS). The sympathetic branch of the ANS regulates the stress response, and the parasympathetic nervous system controls the relaxation response. After this initial response is where you have the control to either react or respond to the threat or stressor, it is why there are two types of stress distress and eustress. 

If you perceive distress and it is indeed a threat, you are ready to react with quick instincts and thinking. If you decide that the threat or stressors are positive and beneficial to your well-being, then it is considered eustress, and the physiological responses are short-term. 

During the first stage, your body is secreting hormones and chemicals. The anterior pituitary gland secretes adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol. Cortisol isn’t bad for your body in small doses because it has anti-inflammatory properties. High levels of cortisol inhibit the production of prostaglandins. Low levels of prostaglandin result in immune suppression and inflammation. 

When cortisol levels remain high for long periods from chronic stress, the immune system function decrease or shut down, experiencing chronic stress is dangerous because high levels of cortisol can result in mild to severe or even life-threatening conditions. You can only control 40% of the stress in your life. During this time, it is best to find, create, and implement stress release solutions that lower cortisol in your body. 

Realize that taking control over managing your daily stress is a way to turn distress into eustress. Make it a priority to continually work on positively shifting your perception of your daily stressors. If you change your definition of good or satisfactory and your expectations of a condition of existence, it won’t negatively affect your health, happiness, and welfare. Let’s be our advocates and make sure the only thing that we stress is our well-being.

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