Let me explain by the help of an example. When there is excessive traffic on the streets due to morning peak hour and you are getting late for the office, you will start getting tensed and worried and may be you will feel stressed. But your office colleague in the meanwhile will listen to music, enjoy the sight outside and feel relieved that he will be reaching the office a little late that day. Thus the two approaches/responses to the same stimulus are varying.

Factors which induce stress are called stressors. Often a rocky or bumpy relationship or an exhausting work schedule can turn out to be a common stressor. Stressors are usually thought of as negative.

However there can be positive stressors as well which put pressure on you or are demanding situations or which demand compromise. Some such examples of stressors are receiving a promotion, taking admission in college, purchasing a house or car or getting married.

The top ten stressors of modern times are retirement, marriage reconciliation, pink slips, layoffs, marriage, illness or injury, death of a close relative, jail term, marriage separation, divorce and spouse’s death.

Stress can be self generated. Again stress can also be caused by external factors such as family and children, being excessively busy, financial problems, relationship difficulties, excessive work pressure and major changes in life.

A few of the internal causes of stress that are commonly seen are perfectionism, unrealistic expectations, negative self talk, pessimism and inability in accepting uncertainty.

Sometimes a stressful condition is triggered by real situations and sometimes it is due to imaginary or perceived situations. Often your attitude towards life, especially a negative attitude can bring about stress. Present day lifestyle that is fast paced, ruthless and insensitive and thoroughly competitive is also a main cause behind stress.

So take charge and be in control of yourself – this is the basic mantra of stress management. You have to take control or charge of your problems, how you deal with them, you have to take charge of your environment, your work schedule, emotions, thoughts and every aspect of your life.

You may ask why? This is because stress management can only be possible when you lead a balanced life – where you have time for fun, relaxation, relationships, work and resilience to withstand the pressures of life and take up challenges.

But first of all you have to identify the causes or sources of your stress – the true sources as well as the imaginary or self created ones. Doing it isn’t very easy. This will require guts to face a few hard truths about yourself which might be unsavory and you have to introspect deep into your life and yourself to identify these roots of your stress and then you will have to work towards uprooting them.

See, whether your stress is temporary or not, please don’t pass on the buck/blame on someone else’s back. You have to learn how to accept responsibility for whatever role you are playing in life and take up responsibility only up to the level with which you can cope. You can create a stress journal and write down the causes of your stress, your feelings, both emotional and physical, your response, how you made yourself comparatively happy.

Instead of smoking, drinking, taking to substance abuse, binging or undereating or sleeping too much or isolating yourself from the world or procrastinating, face your stress and act out in healthy ways. Go out. Meet people. Share your sorrows or stories and listen to other people’s experiences.

Watch movies. Take occasional breaks from work. Go for massages and facials or music therapy or color therapy or acupuncture. Avoid your stressors like hell.

Try to gain nutrition not from multi vitamin tablets but from fruits and vegetables and lean protein and other such healthy food. Multi vitamin and mineral capsules and tablets may be taken only as supplements for your diet.

Please stay away from caffeine, cola, excessive amounts of chocolate, tea and processed food items. Instead sip on herbal tea and green tea. Try to avoid sugar because it gives you an immediate sense of a high to be countered a little later by a prolonged low so stress nutrition is very important.

Nutritional needs during stressful periods
Stress causes a lot of damage to the body, to say nothing of the mind. When you undergo stress you have to take the following daily supplements of vitamin C – 500 to 3000 mg, vitamins B complex – 10 to 100 mg, magnesium – 200 to 400 mg to replenish lost nutrients. In fact vitamin B complex and magnesium are supposed to be very effective in fighting stress.

To up your feel good factor and feel less stress, you can munch on a delicious chocolate that can stimulate the secretion of serotonin – the feel good hormone in the brain.

You should also take mineral and multi vitamin supplements that contain 125 mcg of vitamin K, 15 mg of zinc, 25 mcg of selenium, 25 mcg of molybdenum, 25 mcg of chromium, 27.2 mg of chloride, 30 mg of potassium, 5 mg of manganese, 2 mg of copper, 100 mg of magnesium, 27 mg of iron, 150 mcg of iodine, 125 mg of phosphorus, 162 mg of calcium, 10 mg of pantothenic acid, 45 mcg of biotin, vitamin D 400 I.U., 9 mcg of vitamin B12, 3 mg of vitamin B6, 20 mg of niacinamide, 2.6 mg of vitamin B2, 2.25 mg of vitamin B1, 400 mcg of folic acid, 250 mg of vitamin C, 30 I.U. of vitamin E and 5000 I.U. of vitamin A.

When excess adrenaline is secreted during stress, consumption of magnesium can retard the negative effects of it.

If you want to remain sane you have to know how to manage stress and cut out stress from your life. It is easier said than done though. The greatest stress relief is to avoid your stressors religiously. Stay away from all those things or people who cause stress. But always it is not possible to avoid your stressors like that. So you have to learn how to handle stress.

Practicing yoga and martial arts can help give stress relief. They can instill peace and inner tranquility, mental calm and spiritual bliss in you, they can help you focus your mind and bring it under control and keep it in discipline. Meditation also helps a lot in disciplining the mind, but learning meditation is a pretty difficult task.

The other way is to relax your body and refresh your mind. You should book your self for a mini spa holiday in a spa holiday destination and let the healing effects of Ayurvedic or other ancient herbal therapies soak up your stress, worry, anxiety and tension.

Why don’t you book yourself for a relaxing massage? There are various kinds of body massages and body wraps available which have been exclusively prepared and revived from ancient practices to help deliver stress relief and rejuvenate your senses. You can take your pick from Balinese borreh, Keralian shirodhara, abhyangam, Swedish massage, chocolate body wrap; sea weed and algae body wrap, aromatherapy body massage, Ayurvedic body massage etc.

If you are running so short of time that you can’t even find out time for a massage, then you should get a facial massage or at least a manicure or pedicure done. They can also help stress relief and there is nothing wrong in splurging on yourself.

Music can heal the soul and work wonders for stressed out individuals. Always listen to soft soothing music or your favorite tracks to keep stress at bay. Color therapy is also helpful in driving stress away. Wear bright happy cheerful colors like red, yellow, orange, bright blue etc and feel light within.

Take breaks on weekends and visit a discotheque or go out for dinner with people whose company you enjoy, call up old dear friends and chat with them or meet up with them, go out for holidays if you can afford to do so and if your busy lifestyle permits etc.

The main reason for stress is the pressure we put on ourselves to succeed in this mad world.
However, when a person undergoes stress, their whole life turns topsy turvy and a normal life and normal functions and lifestyle and everything else is impaired or takes a beating.

There are many people, who are incapable of handling stress smoothly and take to killing themselves with suicide to escape from stress. That is why the moment you realize that you are undergoing stress, you need to become cautious and careful and if things seem to be moving out of hands, you need to consult a psychotherapist or a counselor who will put you through a series of stress tests to determine your level of stress.

There are countless stress tests available in the cyber world and most of these consist of a set of questionnaire which you have to answer honestly. Often they are in MCQ format. Depending on the kind of options or answers you choose, you will get points. Then these points will be added up. The total score will then be classified under different categories.

For e.g., if your score is 47, you will read the inference for those scoring between 30 and 60. If your score is 25, you will fall under the 30 bracket and so on.

Each category or classification is an indicator of a different level of stress. Type A personalities, who are thoroughly competitive and workaholics are the most susceptible to stress and there are separate stress tests to determine whether an individual is an A type personality.

On the basis of the results of the stress test, your counselor will advise the necessary and appropriate course of action which you have to take to counter your stress levels. There is also something called cardiac stress test done for heart patients.

However, a distinction between psychological threats and physical threats isn’t made by the body. If you are caught in a really stressful situation, your body will simply start reacting.

People, who are constantly worrying over something or the other and are burdened by worries and responsibilities, usually have their emergency stress response on at most times of the day. And people during this time usually suffer from hypertension and often panic attacks.

Symptoms of stress
If an individual is exposed to stress for too long a period, they can develop serious health problems. Almost each and every system in the body will get disrupted by chronic stress. Some of the symptoms of chronic stress will be acceleration of the ageing process, infertility, increased risks of cardiac arrests and strokes, suppression of the immune system, hypertension.

Those who are suffering from stress on a long term basis often find that their brains have become screwed up, which is why they become more susceptible to depression and anxiety.

Because of stress a few health problems may get aggravated or exacerbated such as dermatological problems like eczema, pimples, acne, redheads and whiteheads, autoimmune diseases, obesity, depression, sleep problems, digestive problems, heart diseases and pain.

People who are stressed out will find difficulty in controlling their anger, they will feel agitated and wont know how to soothe and calm themselves, they wont or usually don’t have a support network or emotional support system at home or at work which can help them calm down, they wont feel like returning home at night after a busy day because they expect nothing from family life anymore, they are often moody and distracted, often these people become so self centered or self absorbed out of constant stress and worrying that they are no longer able to experience or recognize conditions which are thoroughly upsetting for others, they can no longer boost their energy levels if it is in ebb, they don’t find comfort from family members or friends anymore.

A good symptom of stress is that highly stressed individuals often binge or under eat.