Managing Stress - Chitra Jha

'Are you under stress?' is an oft-repeated question to MBA aspirants. In fact, the very question creates stress in our lives! Now that we are through with most of the SimCATs and the trauma of a not-so-very-good performance is staring at us in our faces, stress levels are steadily rising.

What is this stress and why are we under its ubiquitous thumb most of the times?
Stress is a physiological phenomenon. It is the non-specific response of our body to any demand made on it. All the demands that we make on our brain, our liver, our muscles and our bones or whichever part of our body - contribute to stress in our lives. It is the state of reaction of our body to an external agent called a stressor. Common physical elements like cold and heat are also stressors.

So what happens when we are under this state of stress? Our endocrine glands respond to the stressors and produce a hormone that in turn stimulates the adrenal glands. We experience an increase in pulse rate and tend to sweat. We also become more irritable and are unable to sleep. We become less capable of concentrating on any task and have an increased desire to physically move about.

People have this misconception that stress is a modern phenomenon. They forget that the caveman had his own stressors, like being eaten by a tiger, or dying of hunger. It's not that people suffer more stress today - it's just that they think they do.

Whenever we experience something unpleasant, we say we are under stress, but stress is not always bad for us. There is something called 'good stress' as well. An Olympic winner in his moment of glory secretes all the stress hormones and feels ecstatic under their influence. This type of stress is known as 'eu-stress' or ‘pleasant stress’. The kind of stress that we are more familiar with is actually 'distress' or ‘unpleasant stress’.

However, even this so called 'unpleasant stress' is not all that bad. It has its own merits. Most people, who are ambitious and want to accomplish something, live on stress. They need it. But the amount of stress a person needs to be effective varies from individual to individual. 'Hyper-stress' or too much stress for one person may be 'hypo-stress' or too little stress for another. Every one has a different level of stress tolerance but it is inconceivable that anyone should have no stress at all.

Stress is the spice of life. It is associated with all types of activities and we can avoid it only by doing nothing at all. However when stress becomes prolonged and chronic, we need to sit up and take notice.

Let me administer a quick stress test to you.
Do you:
1. Neglect your diet?
2. Try to do every thing yourself?
3. Blow up easily?
4. Seek unrealistic goals?
5. Fail to laugh at what others find funny?
6. Make a big deal of every thing?
7. Act rude?
8. Look to others to make things happen?
9. Complain that you are disorganized?
10. Avoid people whose ideas differ from yours?
11. Think that there's only one right way of doing things?
12. Neglect exercise?
13. Get too little rest?
14. Find yourself with insufficient time to do things you really enjoy?
15. Have few supportive relationships?
16. Get angry when kept waiting?
17. Ignore stress symptoms?
18. Put things off until later?
19. Fail to build relaxation time into your day?
20. Feel people expect too much from you?
21. Race through your day?
22. Keep emotions bottled inside?
23. Spend a lot of time complaining about the past?
24. Fail to get a break from noise and crowds?
25. Feel exhausted at the end of the day?

If your answer is 'yes' to fourteen or more of these questions, you probably need to reduce stress in your life. A score above twenty is the 'danger zone' and requires a change of life-style.

So, how can we go about reducing stress in our lives? The good news is that we do not need to work at reducing the stressors (which are beyond our control anyway); we only need to work at our response to these.

There are various coping resources available to us. Some of these are-

1) Health and energy - Healthy people are better able to manage external and internal demands than are frail, sick, tired people.
2) Positive Beliefs - the ability to cope with stress is enhanced when people believe that they can successfully bring in desired response.
3) Problem-solving skills - Knowledge of adequate problem solving skills always helps.
4) Social skills - Confidence in one's ability to get other people to co-operate can be an important tool for stress management.
5) Social support - Feeling of being loved, accepted and valued helps people cope better.
6) Material sources - Availability of material resources generally allays anxiety and resulting stress.

These coping resources are valuable, but the most valuable resource is our attitude. We need to cultivate the right attitude towards our stressors.

How can we improve our attitude? Go back to the parameters of the quick stress test. The questions you answered 'yes' to are conveying something to you about your attitude. Give these a thought and try to bring in the necessary changes.

External stressors are basically triggers. If you don't feel triggered, there is no stress. The most frequent causes of 'distress' in the modern world are psychological. The most prominent among these are lack of adaptability and lack of motivation.

When we are rigid in our approach and do not accept change readily, we are in trouble. Anxiety is a great enemy of our ability to improvise and be creative. We need to remain calm and develop a capacity to integrate new experiences into our existence. We need to become like the reeds that bend in the storm, not the oaks that stand stiff and break. Adaptability can be most simply defined as freedom from conditioned response. To remain open to change, to accept the new and welcome the unknown is a choice we need to exercise. When we realize that the only thing that is certain in this world is uncertainty and the only constant is change, we are a happy lot.

Motivation needs to be intrinsic and not extrinsic. Self-motivated people handle stress far better than drifters.

The biggest malady of the modern times is the disease of 'Being in a hurry'. We require immediate gratification of all our desires at all times. And when this impossible demand is not met, we experience stress. We need to slow down and smell the roses (so to say) sometimes.

Yoga, Pranayam, Progressive muscular relaxation techniques, Tai Chi, Guided images or Visualisation and Meditation are time-tested tools for busting stress. Regular practice of any of these disciplines helps in achieving equitable response to any stressors.

I depend upon science to handle my daily dose of stress. Everyone knows that water is a universal solvent, but few realize its role in dissolving stress. When you feel exhausted, grief stricken, angry, fearful or worried, take a shower/bath. You will find it impossible to feel those negative emotions to any substantial degree after that. You will be calmer, more peaceful and better able to deal with problems that create stress.

Eating right helps as well. Foods that contain complex carbohydrates get metabolised slowly and thus keep supplying a regular dose of energy throughout the day, keeping stress at bay.

Finally, the master strategy to handle all kinds of stress is acceptance. If we learn to accept life with all its vagaries on its own terms, we will be successful at being stress free.

Remember this mantra, 'When a situation around you is bad, think that it could always be worse. And if the situation is really bad, think that since it's already so bad, it can only get better now.'