Understanding Stress and 8 Ways to Ease It
By Linda Fehrs, LMT The Massage Source
Massage therapists and their clients are familiar with the word "stress" as it relates to the modern lifestyle. But did you know that as a mind-body term, it did not exist until the 1930s? Read about how stress and the use of massage therapy to relieve it have grown together for more than 75 years.
It seems hard to believe, but the word "stress" as it is used in today's world, only came into existence in the 1930s, and moved into popular culture in the late 1950s. Because it is a relatively modern word, it is used unchanged in many languages. In German it would be "der stress," in French, "il stress" and so on. In Chinese calligraphy there is no one character or word to signify stress, instead they use two - an upper character for danger and a lower one representing opportunity, which more accurately translates into "crisis."
The Father of Stress
Endocrinologist, Han Selye, MD, Ph.D, D.Sc. (1907-1982) is considered to be one of the early pioneers in stress research. It was Selye who coined the terms "stress" and "stressor," defining stress as "the nonspecific response of the body to any demand, whether it is caused by, or results in, pleasant to unpleasant conditions."
In 1936 he identified what is referred to as the "General Adaptation Syndrome" - the three stages of adaptation a person goes through as a reaction to a psychological or physical demand. They are:
1. Alarm- This is when the body recognizes a threat or some kind of challenge and the sympathetic nervous system kicks in, producing a "flight or fight" response. Adrenaline (epinephrine), noradrenaline (norepinephrine) and cortisol (hydrocortisone) are produced by the adrenal glands. The parasympathetic ("rest and digest") system is deactivated. (Note: Newer research also includes a "freeze" response, common in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.)
2. Resistance - The body attempts to adapt to, or cope with, a persistent challenging situation. Hopefully, during this stage the source of the stress will be resolved and the body begins to recover and restore balance. This stage requires physiological resources, which, if not quickly resolved, can eventually be depleted and lead to exhaustion.
3. Exhaustion - This stage does not always occur, but if it does then the stressor has lasted too long and will start to cause damage to the body, including a depressed immune system. There can be damage to nerve cells in both tissues and organs. Thought processes and memory may become impaired. The mind and body are unable to maintain normal function even after the stressor itself has subsided and symptoms may reappear (sweating, increased heart rate, dizziness, sleep dysfunction, etc.).
If the stages of resistance and exhaustion last for an extended period of time both psychological and physical illnesses can manifest, including but not limited to diabetes, ulcers, digestive problems, immune system diseases, cardiovascular disease, anxiety and depression.
Good Stress versus Bad Stress
In 1975 Selye made a distinction between good and bad stress. The challenges or changes a person feels good about, he called "eustress"; those a person feels bad about was referred to as "distress." Both of these, he observed, resulted in the activation of the General Adaptation Syndrome. The basic difference between the two is in how an individual reacts and accepts the stressor. The same stressor can be perceived differently by various individuals - for one person a trip to a new place can be seen as an exciting adventure, for another it can be a fear of the unknown. It depends on the person's expectations as well as his or her previous experiences. Both eustress and distress, claimed Selye, will affect the body's defense mechanisms.
Modern Research Into Stress
It wasn't until the 1960s that academic psychologists began to incorporate Selye's ideas into their practices - seeking to calculate and understand "life stress" by creating methods to score significant life events. At that time researchers began to study and 