Stress & Well-being

“Our bodies are our gardens – our wills are our gardeners.”
– William Shakespeare
It’s a story about a lady who was married to her college junior, for last ten years, have a child
who is 8 years old. The lady named Rumi is actually a happy go lucky type bubbly house wife
who was over conscious with her body weight and her appearance in front of her husband’s
office colleague. Every time there is an invitation she is under stress with her appearance and
presentation. She use to worry alot, was experiencing exhaustion from long time which was not
helping for her entire well-being.
What is stress?
Many of you may be able to associate with this lady’s problem. She is stressed with body image
thus affecting on her entire well being. Stress is nothing but a change that is creating pressure
on us.
Stress is two types – distress and eustrss.
Eustress is what makes you going and distress is what stoping you from being happy.
Neurobiology of stress –
Stress is not always very simple. As it had deeper connection with our brain function. How does
it work? It has three stages as per the stress theory developed by Hans Selye.

1. Alarm Stage – when our brain gets the information from the environment and releases stress
   hormones thus individual experience palpitation, sweating, increased heartbeat etc.
2. The resistance stage – When body starts normalising but remains on high alert.
3. The exhaustion stage – when we started breaking down the inner balance. Thus, known as
   ‘Burnout’.
   This is how exhaustion can come and can lead towards many health issues like high blood
   pressure, diabetes, normal issues, vitamin deficiencies, along with chronic issues like heart
   disease by impacting our immune system as every time we are under stress our immune system
   became low. Additionally, stress can take a toll on mental health as it will lead to anxiety,
   depression and more.
   So, to maintain our well-being we need to develop effective coping mechanisms. Give yourself
   more time and indulge yourself into self care activities along with reading books, engage
   yourself into any type of exercising like brisk walking, yoga or zumba dance or any kind of
   dance activity as it helps our brain to activate more by pumping enough amount of oxygen into
   brain thus releases happy hormones like dopamine , serotonin. Along with this we can practice
   meditation, writing. Spend good time with friends and family will also help. Along with this talk
   to your nearby therapist who will help you to address your issues and will help you to learn new
   skills to overcome this to have better well being.
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   So at last it can be concluded that stress either it’s man or woman, child or adult or old effects
   each and everyone and creates a significant impact on well-being. But, by taking a step to to
   manage stress you can improve your quality to life and can enhance well being.