Effects of stress on the body

Here are some effects of stress on the body. It's important to know this in order to understand exactly how stress impacts on your life.


The central nervous system:

Anxiety, worry, insomnia and a complete nervous breakdown are all possible when prolonged or undue stress causes a reaction that can be likened to a faulty electrical system.

The skin:

Hives and certain types of eczema can occur as the skin seeks to assist the vital organs and processes of the body with an outlet for acute and chronic stress.

The digestive system:

Indigestion, cramps, irritable bowel syndrome and constipation may all be linked to undue stress, although other lifestyle and health factors may be implicated.

The respiratory system:

Breathing tends to be more superficial when stressed, resulting in poor oxygenation and faster ageing. Constricted airways are associated with conditions like asthma and croup, which are both life-threatening.

The spinal column:

Muscle tension and spasms caused by stress lead to conditions like migraines

The effects are not always the same for everyone and stress will manifest differently for different people, the above is just some common effects.

It will be helpful to monitor the way your own body reacts when you are under stress. This should give a good indication of your stress levels and what you can do to reduce it.

Insha'Allah in the next post we'll begin with some stress management techniques. Until then, May Allah (SWT) shower His Peace and Blessings on you and give you ease!

Stress Management continued... Symptoms of Stress

I hope that the last post on stress was helpful in getting people to begin to understand their own levels of stress and their reasons for stress. Insha'Allah in this post we will focus on the Symptoms of Stress.

When a person experiences too much stress over a long period of time, it starts to affect the person’s mental and physical health. It is therefore important to learn how to deal with stress before it affects your health.

Symptoms of stress- are the outcome of a person’s failure to adapt either physically or mentally to a stressor that has become too big for the human coping mechanism.

The Symptoms of Stress can be divided into three stages, going from mild to more severe:

First stage symptoms
 Constant irritability with people
 Difficulty making decisions
 Loss of sense of humour
 Difficulty concentrating
 Lack of interest in pursuing previously pleasurable activities
 Feeling tired even after an early night and finding it increasingly difficult to get up in the morning


Second stage symptoms
 Lack of appetite
 Craving food when under pressure
 Chronic insomnia or waking very early in the morning (e.g. 1:00 am) and being unable to resume sleep for several hours
 Nervous twitches, nail-biting or other repetitive, unconscious actions
 Headaches and migraines
 Eczema and asthma
 Tendency to sweat for no apparent reason


Third stage symptoms
 Change in appetite and weight
 Change in sleep patterns
 Restlessness or inactivity
 Fatigue and loss of energy
 Ongoing feeling of guilt or worthlessness
 Depressed mood or feeling down



- Which of these symptoms have you experienced in your life?



- Think of a stressful situation when you showed some of the symptoms listed above.

If you manage stress effectively then you should not even develop symptoms in stage 2 and 3.

If your stress levels have reached stage 3 then it is becoming very dangerous and you will need some sort of intervention before it becomes extremely serious.

Insha'Allah in the next post we will look at effects of stress on the body and then we will move on to management of stress.

Please feel free to leave comments and questions.

Welcome to Stress Management

Okay, so I know that my last post on this blog was really a very long time ago,  since it takes me a while to research my topics, I don't always have the time to put up posts here, but insha'Allah I will be posting regularly on here again.

I've decided to begin a series of posts on stress management, it seems that some people have found the posts on anger management to be quite useful so I hope that people find this series useful as well.

This post will just begin to introduce the topic and we will look at it in more detail in the posts that follow. As always feedback is welcomed!

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What is stress?

 Everyone experiences stressful periods in their lives.

Stress:- Stress is continual worry about something. Stress prevents you from relaxing. Stress happens when you feel you cannot cope with the demands of a situation.


Positive stress:- Initially, mild stress can increase creativity and encourage productivity. Mild stress can be good for a person.


Negative stress:- Negative stress happens when someone feels powerless to cope with a problem. If a person experiences this kind of stress for a long time, it may lead to illness.

Why is it important to manage stress?

When you are stressed your body produces too much cortisol and adrenalin. These are the two major stress hormones. Cortisol is the worry hormone produced by fear and results and results in symptoms of anxiety. Adrenalin is the fight-or-flight hormone which prepares the body to react physically to a threat. If you fail to adapt to your stresses, your body can produce too much of these hormones for too long. This results in physical symptoms and even changes that lead to stress-related illnesses. Chronic stress, has been linked, for example, to high blood pressure and heart disease. High stress levels have also been found to trigger asthma attacks. Long periods of stress can also have a negative impact on your immune system, weakening your resistance to infection as well as your ability to recover. This is why it is important to learn how to manage your stress.

Identify your stressors

The factors in your life that cause stress are called stressors.


Begin by first identifying all the sources of stress in your daily life. Look back at the questionnaire How Stressed are you? This might help you to identify your main stressors. Keep a diary or make a note of it every time an event makes you feel stressed. Once you know the things that make you feel stressed, you can start to deal with them.


- Think about your life for a couple of minutes and identify your stressors:

 - At home
- At work /School
- Elsewhere

Make a list of your stressors in the different environments, it also helps to state how these stressors make you feel and what your reaction to them are. You can draw up a table with STRESSORS, FEELINGS and REACTIONS. This might make it easier for you to begin to understand your reasons for becoming stressed out.


- Identify people who are responsible for causing the stress. What is their relationship to you?

- Are you happy with the way you react to these people?
- For each example, suggest ways in which you can avoid or reduce the frequency of such stressful situations. 

Different Types of Stressors

People experience a variety of different stressors in their lives. Examples of stressors include physical, emotional, social, environmental, personality and vocational stressors. People often also experience a crisis that causes stress. No one is ever completely free of stress, regardless of their age, occupation, status or wealth.

The table below provides an example of these different stressors.

This may help you when you are identifying your own stressors.


When stressors are caused by circumstances beyond your control, they are called external stressors. Examples of external stressors include weather that is too hot or too cold, too much responsibility, long working hours, living in difficult circumstances or being physically or mentally abused.

Internal stressors are mental and physical factors that cause stress. Mental factors include personality traits, such as when a person is over-sensitive or a perfectionist. Physical factors include having a physical disability or chronic illness, or even not feeling good about yourself on a physical level.

 Activity:
Make a list of your personality traits that make you vulnerable to stress. You can start thinking about changes you can make in yourself that will help you to deal with stress more positively.


In order to deal with stress, the root causes of the stress need to be identified and understood, once you have done this, you can move on to finding positive and constructive ways of dealing with stress. Insha'Allah in the next post we will look at symptoms of stress and then move on to the effects of stress.


For additional information on stress and To take a short quiz to help determine if you are stressed or not you can follow the links below:


http://www.lessons4living.com/stress_test.htm


http://www.stress-management-for-health.com/stress-quiz.html


Until next time, May Allah (SWT) shower His Peace and Blessings on us all, and may He help us to remain positive and content, Insha'Allah Ameen!

Further Suggestions for dealing with anger and conflict

Finally we have come to the end of anger and conflict management. I do hope that someone has found it useful. To end of here are some final tips and suggestions:
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The way you typically express anger may take some time to modify. Some extra suggestions include:



 Keep a diary of your anger outbursts, to try and understand how and why you get mad.
 Take regular exercise, go for a run or play a sport. People who are stressed are more likely to experience anger. Numerous worldwide studies have documented that regular exercise can improve mood and reduce stress levels.
 Use the "empty chair" exercise. Pretend you're sitting across from the person you are angry with and say what's on your mind. Who is this person?
 Write a letter to the person you are angry with. You could describe your anger right now, at the time of the anger event. You can destroy it/you can save it/you can mail it at a later date.
 Use positive self-talk, e.g. "I am able to choose my anger style." and "I am angry but I'm not going to let it take over me”.
 Involve an objective third party. Ask someone you trust to be a sounding board. Who might this be?
 Stop thinking about your anger and focus on something positive. The aim is to convert the anger into something more constructive. Different people have different interests or hobbies. Perhaps your feelings can be redirected into one of your hobbies - something creative such as art, music or drumming, dancing, sports, writing, etc.
 If all else fails - thump a cushion, kick a bean bag (DON'T do anything that will hurt yourself or someone else)
 Forgiveness is very important for you to deal with your own anger. Once you have forgiven, you will be free to move forward and deal with your feelings. Do not underestimate the importance of forgiveness.


(Information taken from BUPA’s Health Information Team, 2004)
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Remember the following advices:
"Indeed, anger is from the evil and, without doubt, the evil is created from the Fire. Only water can extinguish fire. Therefore, if anyone of you feels the rush of anger. Let him perform ablution”, and “When you feel angry, keep silent.” {Hadeeth of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW)}

The Prophet Muhammad (SAW) has been reported to have said:
“For the person who restrains his anger, Allah will restrain punishment over him on the day of Resurrection”.

“Do not remember past disputes” [Luqmaan (A.S)]

“As long as possible try not to start fights and arguments.”
[Luqmaan (A.S)]

“When you feel angry, keep silent.” {Hadeeth of the Prophet (SAW)}

According to Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (RA) the messenger of Allah (SAW) said, “To restrain anger in order to please Allah is more excellent in the sight of Allah than to swallow back anything”.

“If anyone of you gets angry and he is standing then, let him sit down. If it subsides, well and good, otherwise he must lie down.” {Hadeeth of the Prophet (SAW)}

“Don’t get angry with anyone in the presence of your guests.” [Luqmaan (A.S.)]

“Speaking without thinking is like shooting without aiming.” (William Gurney Benham)

“Conflict is like fire, it can keep you warm, and can cook your food, but if it gets out of control, it can burn down your house.” (Free to Grow Lifeskills)

“Self-control is the ability to keep it cool when someone is making it hot for you.”



May Allah help us all to deal with anger and conflict in a constructive manner.

Dealing with Conflict-Step 4- Work on Negotiating

Once you have successfully gotten through the first 3 steps, you can begin to focus on step 4 which is “working on negotiating”. It is important that you have first mastered the first 3 steps because negotiation will not be able to take place if for instance, one person has not been listened to and understood or the other person has not assertively expressed their needs. Furthermore, if you have not managed to achieve step 1 which is “staying calm” then all the efforts to resolve conflict will be useless. Negotiation therefore comes at the end, when the people involved in the conflict have managed to calm themselves, when they have listened to and understood each other and when both parties have communicated their needs and wants in an assertive manner.

Negotiation has been defined as follows:

“Negotiation is a form of decision making in which two or more parties talk with one another in an effort to resolve their opposing interests…a process by which a joint decision is made by two or more parties.”(Pruitt 1981, pp xi-xii in Anstey, 1998, p. 91)

“Negotiation is a process for resolving conflict between two or more parties whereby both or all modify their demands to achieve a mutually acceptable compromise…a process of adjusting both parties’ views of their ideal outcome to an attainable outcome.” (Kennedy et al 1987, p.14 in Anstey, 1998, p.92).

The Process of Negotiation

Three things have been identified as helpful in the negotiation process. (Gift of the Givers: Self Discovery and Growth Course Manual, 1999).

1. Compromise
The parties negotiate with each other until they arrive at a solution that is acceptable to both. In the process both give up something of their original position and meet each other half-way in an attempt to be tolerant towards each other.

In the negotiation process you can make a list, (mentally or you can write it down) of all the things that you are willing to compromise on.

You should not put things on the list unless you are absolutely sure that you will be able to give it up.

2. Accommodation

Both are willing to give, and to accommodate the other’s point of view, and yet to be honest about stating any specific uncertainties they may have.

You have to be able to accommodate the other person by understanding their wants and needs and meeting these needs and wants to a reasonable extent.

It is essential in the conflict resolution process for both parties to compromise something in order to accommodate each other. If this is not done then there will not be successful conflict resolution.

After having listened to and understood the other person’s requests, make a list of the things you think you can give to them. Once again you should only put things on the list that you are absolutely sure you will be able to give to the other person. It is very important that you keep up to the things you promise to do.

3. Seeking alternatives
Parties look for a solution that will have the greatest significance for them. They are concerned about the issue, the problem that needs to be solved and about what will be best under the circumstances.

 When seeking alternatives it is crucial that both parties are equally involved.
 You can sit together and brainstorm about possible solutions.
 The atmosphere should be a pleasant, happy one and both parties should feel comfortable to share their thoughts.
 After brainstorming, all the suggestions can be evaluated. The advantages and disadvantages of all the suggestions can be looked at.
 Thereafter the solution that seems most acceptable to both parties should be chosen.
 The Plan has to be carried out and each person should accept responsibility and try equally hard to keep to the plan.
 There should be no blaming each other.
 Remember all this is being done in order to achieve peace.
(Gift of the Givers: Self Discovery and Growth Course Manual, 1999).

References for this post:
-Anstey, M. (1998). Negotiating Conflict. Cape Town: Juta & Co,Ltd.
-Gift of the Givers Careline. (1999). “Self- Discovery and Growth Course”.

  Unpublished Course Manual.