What causes stress? What are sources of stress?
Find out where stress is entering in your life
Stress affects us all; it’s a modern word which definition can be applied even to a little child.
So what is stress? It’s a physical or mental pressure, tension, or strain, and there are thousands of articles written on this subject. It’s a popular subject on the internet because people lately are facing difficult to overcome problems. Some of us can easily say which are the factors and sources of stress in our lives and can relatively easy manage with stress; on the other hand there are people who can’t even define their stress sources. In order to eliminate or at least control stress it’s important to understand its causes and define its sources. There are many causes of stress but there are general causes common for all sufferers.
Among general causes can be named: threat, uncertainty, fear, cognitive dissonance, life causes and stress at work.
Stress at work is one of the main causes of stress and if it’s impossible to avoid stressful situations it is at least possible to be ready and calmly face any kind of problem.
Between the most stressful situations at work there are few that are the main stressors: the relationships with colleagues, a very demanding job, a poor understanding of role and responsibility, a poor support from team and superiors.
Other stress indicators at work: working over-time, uncomfortable/dangerous workplace, a boring job, lack of clarity of roles and responsibilities, low monetary benefits, different incidents, lack of training, lack of feedback on performance, high staff changing, sickness absence and poor communication between colleagues.
Between life causes of stress the main are: death of a spouse, a family member or a friend; drug abuse, alcoholism; family changes: divorce, a new baby, marriage; sexual problems; quarrel/arguing with family members, spouse, friends, colleagues or superiors; health problems (illness, injury) or pregnancy; inner problems; physical changes (lack of sleep, body changes); crimes: sexual molestation, burglary; changing the location: moving and even a vacation; increasing responsibilities; lack of money, investing money; changing the environment.
Threat and fear are big stress causing factors. It includes physical, social, financial threat and it is worse when the threatened person feels he don’t have a chance to solve the problem.
Fear which is a result of threat leads to imagined results sometimes very exaggerated.
Uncertainty comes when we feel we can’t control the situation, we are unable to predict our future even the tomorrow day. When the financial situation and other life problems are overcoming, uncertainty comes and takes firm position that directly leads to stress.
Between other factors of stress there is cognitive dissonance that can be defined as a gap between what we think and what we do. So, if you think you’re a good person and you do something that hurts somebody you’ll experience a dissonance that is one of the main sources of stress.
Be aware of the things that you know are stressing you; try to avoid them and not to create by yourself stressful situations for other people. You should also know and remember that generally speaking stress is what you perceive and do not exactly reflect the reality.
