Stress is the natural response of our need to adapt to the environment in which we find ourselves immersed and which is constantly changing. Increasingly, the society in which we live is becoming more demanding, and we are subjected to certain pressures that we are not able to bear.
This tension causes both the body and the mind to experience a sensation of fatigue, punctual or continuous, which creates a physical and psychological disorder in us. In turn, if we are unable to adapt to the demands of our environment, this generates an emotional disorder that is known as stress.
Types of stress
According to its duration we can classify stress into three types:
Acute stress
Acute stress is the response to a specific traumatic event that can appear at any time in our lives. A deadline to meet or an important meeting can make us feel this type of stress. It usually does not cause significant associated damage as it is short-term, exhilarating and exciting, but exhausting at the same time.
Among its most frequent symptoms are:
Muscular discomfort such as back pain, headache, muscle or jaw tension; or stomach such as heartburn, constipation, diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome. Emotional agony, which is made up of a combination of emotions characteristic of stress: irritability, depression, and anxiety.
Transient over excitation of blood pressure, which can lead to arrhythmia, excessive sweating, breathing difficulties, dizziness, or migraines. This is the mildest and most common form of stress that we all experience at certain times and is easy to treat.
Episodic acute stress
It occurs when episodes of acute stress are experienced very frequently. It usually occurs in people with a large number of responsibilities or loads who cannot cope with such a number of demands and generally respond with irritability, anxiety or in a very emotional and uncontrolled way, an attitude that gradually takes its toll.
They are usually very nervous people who are always in a hurry and tense, who experience severe headaches, migraines, chest pains, hypertension or even heart disease as symptoms. Its treatment requires the intervention of professionals and can last several months.
Chronic stress
It is the most destructive form of stress for our body and mind and usually occurs in people who are immersed in situations for which they see no way out. Their lives are conditioned and tied in the long term to something that makes them unhappy, thus losing the ability to find solutions. Some types derived from this stress come from past traumatic experiences that were internalized and constantly persist in our personality.
It can have critical consequences such as suicide, violence or serious health problems, among others, which is why it is especially important that it be treated in depth by specialized professionals and even medication.
