Stress, Coping and Resiliency

 

Muscle tension, sleep disturbance, headaches, fatigue… sound familiar? These physiological sensations can indicate stress. We have all been there- everyone has dealt with stress. However, there are different types of stress, including differences in what is tolerable to each individual and variations in coping mechanisms. Let’s start by discussing different kinds of stress, and eventually get into benefits of smaller scale, more manageable stress, and building resilience, so we can cope to the best of our ability. Lastly, we will discuss what coping tools research tells us actually help!

Acute stress is brief but intense. Short-term stressors, such as being behind on a looming deadline, cause acute stress. Episodic acute stress can be experienced as regular mini-crises where we live in a state of tension (7). This would include taking on too much responsibility. Chronic stress is long-lasting and has significant effects on the body, including financial difficulties or health issues. According to the American Psychological Association, being chronically stressed may leave you feeling fatigued, sap your ability to concentrate, and cause headaches and digestive difficulties; the wear-and-tear of chronic stress is bad for the immune system and can also affect cardiac health, with multiple studies finding a link between chronic stress and the development of coronary artery disease.

However, what is fascinating is that not all stress is harmful. According to Firdaus Dhabhar, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, it appears that most reasonably healthy people can deal with repeated short-term stressors as long as there are sufficiently long periods when stress-related biological factors are at very low levels, such as when the person is at rest. He went on to explain that short-term stress, minutes to hours, can have protective and beneficial effects (6).

How can stress benefit us psychologically? I like the way it was said by Victor Carrion, “as long as we don’t have too much of it, stress makes us stronger, more competent and able to make better decisions (3). If there is a manageable amount of stress and we work through it, we will likely emerge feeling capable and ready to face the next thing. If we do not challenge ourselves, we will remain stagnant. While we certainly should not push through if it is too taxing and affecting our mental health, etc, there are times we may want to face stress head-on to grow! This is what resilience is all about. It is about having tools to work through it, adapt and maybe even grow.

Resilience refers to the ability to handle stress when it arises, and research has shown that several qualities contribute to resilience, including social support, optimism, sense of humor, spirituality, self-esteem, and adaptability (8). The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility” (1). Resilience is pushing back and not allowing stress to control us…being proactive. Some people are more resilient to stress than others. Many of these factors are innate in our temperament, or are wired in us genetically. But, there are ways we can develop our resilience.

I would argue that, first, we may need to change the way we look at stress. If we look at it from a perspective of “what can I learn from this”, we are more likely to be objective, and ideally this will help us better understand our own threshold. For example, if we know our triggers to feeling stressed out, including when our threshold is not yet met, it can assist us in doing something about stress to avoid becoming stressed out to a level that is not manageable. Personally, I want to develop habits, routines and coping, that help me bounce back from difficulties. I want to overcome challenges to the best of my ability. How should we try to alter our beliefs about stress? The three most protective beliefs about stress are: 1) to view your body’s stress response as helpful, not debilitating — for example, to view stress as energy you can use; 2) to view yourself as able to handle, and even learn and grow from, the stress in your life; and 3) to view stress as something that everyone deals with, and not something that proves how uniquely screwed up, you or your life, is. (9). Having and building resilience can do us a lot of good. According to Cornell Health, resilient people are more likely to …meet the demands of their academic/work and personal lives successfully, take action to deal with challenges, problems, and setbacks, seek support and assistance when they need it, know when to stop, rest, and replenish inner resources, etc (4).

Studies have shown that many of the things people do to reduce stress and build resilience are actually ineffective, or worse, counterproductive (11). What does research say is the most effective? It is recommended that we bring greater relaxation and ease into our body, because our mind will naturally be at its best and have the chance to restore from the stress. So much lives in the body. If we calm our system through whatever method is most effective for us, such as controlled breathing, we can work through it. Also, a daily practice of breathing, when we are feeling okay, can have a huge payoff for stress management. A daily practice can become a habit that we use when we truly need a tool to regulate our system. A simple 4–4–4 breathing technique can be easy to remember and effective. Simply, breathe in for a count of 4 seconds, hold for a count of 4 and exhale for a count of 4. Being in nature is also recommended. This can be grounding, especially if we engage our senses. We all know that getting enough sleep and daily exercise is good for us but I can’t emphasize it enough. Note that exercise also increases the demand for energy and cortisol, so if we desire to relieve stress, we may benefit more from lower-intensity exercises, like walking, swimming, or yoga (5). Other recommendations include creating a gratitude list which can help shift your mindset. By noting the things you’re grateful for, you can focus more on what is going well and what you are doing that you are feeling good about.

If you or someone you know is looking for support, feel free to reach out to Behavioral Health Clinic at 855.607.8242 or visit wibehavioralhealth.com).