Quiz- Are You Tense?
If you're feeling tense or stressed, it might be time to take a break! In this post, we'll explain what causes those feelings of tension, how to get rid of them, and what you can do to prevent them in the future.
If you're stressing about a test, getting ready for an important job interview, or dealing with an anxiety disorder such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), you might be suffering from low-grade or high levels of stress.
Stress can have its benefits – it can provide extra motivation and drive us to achieve our goals. But it also has a lot of side effects that are really irritating to deal with, like tense muscles and disrupted sleep patterns.
We'll explain what stress is, how it contributes to feeling tense, and how you can deal with it.
What Is Stress?
Stress is a factor that makes you feel tense, worried, or anxious. When the body feels stress, it produces the hormone cortisol, which helps regulate the body's reaction to stressful situations. But when we feel stress all the time, our bodies produce too much cortisol.
What Causes Stress?
There are lots of things that can cause us to be stressed out: major life transitions (like moving or getting married), difficult financial situations, and even traffic jams can trigger stress in our bodies and minds.
What Does Stress Do To Your Body?
Stress tells your brain to release cortisol into your bloodstream. Cortisol is a hormone that helps your body deal with life-threatening situations, but it's poisonous in large doses.
Cortisol tells your muscles to tighten up, slows down the action of your non-essential organs (like your bladder and heart), and makes you feel stressed.
Stress makes us more susceptible to illnesses, including anxiety disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder or panic attacks. Because stress disrupts our sleep patterns, we're more likely to catch colds or other infections while we're trying to sleep.
Being stressed while pregnant can also lead to heart attacks in your baby. The stress of being pregnant can cause hormonal changes that make a mother's blood more likely to clot.
What Can You Do To Reduce Stress?
In order to stop feeling tense, we need to reduce the amount of stress in our lives. Here are some things you can try:
Relax for 15-20 minutes each day. You can take a bath, sit outside in the sun, meditate, or do yoga. Going for a walk is also a great way to reduce stress.
Apply deep-tissue massage to your back and muscles at least once a week.
Make sure you get enough sleep. Being tired might cause stress – or make you feel stressed when you're tired! It's hard to deal with life's problems when we're exhausted.
Avoid people who make you feel tense or frustrated.
Try to be optimistic. Having a positive outlook can help you handle life's little problems without feeling overwhelmed.
Keep stress in check by writing down your feelings and thinking about them logically instead of jumping to a negative conclusion.
If stress seems to be getting out of control, it might be time to seek professional help from a psychologist or other mental health expert.
Are You Tense?
Take our 10-question quiz to find out where your stress levels are.
Let's let our friends at Mental Health America know how you feel by posting on the Mental Health America Facebook page.
If you're feeling tense or stressed, it might be time to take a break! In this post, we'll explain what causes those feelings of tension, how to get rid of them, and what you can do to prevent them in the future.
If you're stressing about a test, getting ready for an important job interview, or dealing with an anxiety disorder such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), you might be suffering from low-grade or high levels of stress.
Stress can have its benefits – it can provide extra motivation and drive us to achieve our goals. But it also has a lot of side effects that are really irritating to deal with, like tense muscles and disrupted sleep patterns.
We'll explain what stress is, how it contributes to feeling tense, and how you can deal with it.
What Is Stress?
Stress is a factor that makes you feel tense, worried, or anxious. When the body feels stress, it produces the hormone cortisol, which helps regulate the body's reaction to stressful situations. But when we feel stress all the time, our bodies produce too much cortisol.
Conclusion: Many people erroneously think that after long days of hard work and stress, all you need is a glass of wine or a beer in order to unwind. This is not necessarily true. While it may seem to help at first, alcohol actually makes your body produce more cortisol and less of the sleep hormone melatonin. Because of this, alcohol can actually contribute to insomnia or restless nights.
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Quiz- Are You Tense?