Emotions and stress in psychology. How negative emotions and stress affect the body

The life of a modern person is impossible without stress. Social conditions, work, overwork – all this causes emotions. Sometimes a person undergoes a sharp exit from his comfort zone, which entails the need psychological adaptation. This is psycho-emotional stress.

Emotional stress

The danger of stress should not be underestimated, as it can cause many diseases. internal organs and systems. You should promptly identify stressors and eliminate their influence in order to protect your own health.

The concept of stress and stages of its development

Concept emotional stress was first identified by physiologist Hans Selye in 1936. This concept denoted reactions unusual for the body in response to any adverse effect. Due to the influence of stimuli (stressors), the body's adaptation mechanisms are in tension. The adaptation process itself has three main stages of development - anxiety, resistance and exhaustion.

In the first stage of the response phase (anxiety), the body's resources are mobilized. The second, resistance, manifests itself in the form of activation defense mechanisms. Exhaustion occurs when psycho-emotional resources are exhausted (the body gives up). It should be noted that emotions and emotional stress are interrelated concepts. But only negative emotions that cause negative stress. Selye called this state distress.

Causes of distress prompt the body to exhaust its energy. This can lead to serious illness.

The concept of stress can have a different character. Some scientists are confident that the manifestation of emotional stress is associated with a generalized distribution of sympathetic and parasympathetic arousals. And the diseases that appear as a result of this distribution are individual.

Distress - negative stress

Negative emotions and stress are unpredictable. The manifestation of the body’s protective functions against an emerging psychological threat can only overcome minor difficulties. And, with prolonged or periodic repetition of stressful situations, emotional arousal becomes chronic. A process such as exhaustion emotional burnout, manifests itself precisely when a person remains in a negative psycho-emotional background for a long time.

Main Causes of Emotional Stress

Positive emotional reactions rarely pose a threat to human health. And negative emotions, accumulating, lead to chronic stress and pathological disorders of organs and systems. Informational and emotional stress affects both the physiological state of the patient and his emotions and behavior. The most common causes of stress are:

• grievances, fears and negative emotional situations;
• sharp unfavorable life problems(death loved one, job loss, divorce, etc.);
• social conditions;
• potentially dangerous situations;
• excessive feeling of concern for yourself and loved ones.

Causes of stress

Moreover, even positive emotions can be harmful. Especially if fate brings surprises (the birth of a child, a promotion career ladder, dream come true, etc.). Physiological factors can also be causes of stress:

• sleep disturbance;
• overwork;
• pathologies of the central nervous system;
• poor nutrition;
• hormonal imbalances;
• post-traumatic disorders.

Stress, as a health risk factor, is unpredictable. A person can cope with its impact, but not always. In order to alleviate stress and diagnose it, experts tend to divide stressors into external and internal.

You should look for a way out of a dangerous psycho-emotional state by eliminating the influence of the disturbing factor on the body. There are no problems with external stressors. But with internal stressors it takes a long time painstaking work not only a psychologist, but also other specialists.

Signs of stress

Each person has an individual resource of strength to cope with stress. It is called stress resistance. Therefore, stress, as a risk factor for health, should be considered by its possible symptoms, which affect both emotional and mental condition body.

With the advent of distress, the causes of which are related to external or internal factors, adaptive functions fail. When a stressful situation develops, a person may feel fear and panic, act disorganized, experience difficulties with mental activity, etc.

Stress itself manifests itself depending on stress resistance (emotional stress can cause serious pathological changes in the body). It manifests itself in the form of emotional, physiological, behavioral and psychological changes.

Physiological signs

The most dangerous to health are physiological symptoms. They pose a threat to the normal functioning of the body. When under stress, the patient may refuse to eat and suffer from sleep problems. During physiological reactions, other symptoms are observed:

• pathological manifestations of an allergic nature (itching, skin rashes, etc.);
• indigestion;
• headache;
• increased sweating.

Physiological stress

Emotional Signs

Emotional signs of stress include: general change emotional background. It is easier to get rid of them than other symptoms, since they are regulated by the desire and will of the person himself. Influenced negative emotions, social or biological factors, a person may experience:

• Bad mood, melancholy, depression, anxiety and anxiety.
• Anger, aggression, loneliness, etc. These emotions arise sharply and are clearly expressed.
• Changes in character - increased introversion, decreased self-esteem, etc.
• Pathological conditions – neurosis.

Emotional stress

It is impossible to experience severe stress without showing emotions. It is emotions that reflect a person’s state and are the main way to determine situations in psychology. And in order to prevent health hazards, it plays important role namely the manifestation of a particular emotion and its influence on human behavior.

Behavioral signs

Human behavior and the reactions that accompany it are signs of emotional stress. It's easy to identify them:

• decreased performance, complete loss of interest in work;
• changes in speech;
• difficulties communicating with others.

Emotional stress, which is expressed through behavior, is easy to identify when long-term follow-up behind a person and when communicating with him. The fact is that he behaves differently than usual (he is impulsive, speaks quickly and unintelligibly, commits rash actions, etc.).

Psychological signs

Psychological symptoms of emotional stress most often manifest themselves when a person spends a long time outside the zone of psycho-emotional comfort and his inability to adapt to new living conditions. As a result, biological and physical factors leave their mark on a person’s psychological state:

• memory problems;
• problems concentrating when doing work;
• sexual behavior disorder.

People feel helpless, withdraw from loved ones and plunge into deep depression.

Deep depression

WITH mental factors a person succumbs to acute or chronic mental trauma. A person may experience a personality disorder, depressive psychogenic reactions, reactive psychoses, etc. Each of the pathologies is a sign that is a consequence of the influence of trauma psychological nature. The causes of such conditions can be either unexpected news (death of a loved one, loss of housing, etc.), or lasting influence stressors on the body.

Why is stress dangerous?

Due to prolonged stress, there may be serious problems with health. The fact is that during stress, the adrenal glands secrete an increased amount of adrenaline and norepinephrine. These hormones cause internal organs to work more actively in order to protect the body from stressors. But accompanying phenomena, such as increased blood pressure, spasms of muscles and blood vessels, increased blood sugar, lead to disruption of the functioning of organs and systems. It is because of this that the risk of developing diseases increases:

• hypertension;
• stroke;
• ulcer;
• heart attack;
• angina pectoris;

With the effect of prolonged psycho-emotional stress, immunity decreases. The consequences can be different: from colds, viral and infectious diseases to the formation of oncology. The most common pathologies are related to the cardiovascular system. The second most common are gastrointestinal diseases.

Impact of stress on health

According to doctors, more than 60% of all diseases of modern man are caused by stressful situations.

Diagnosis of emotional stress

Diagnosis of the psycho-emotional state is carried out only in a psychologist’s office. The fact is that each case requires a detailed study using the methods and conditions set by a specialist for a specific purpose. This takes into account the direction of work, diagnostic goals, consideration of a specific situation in the patient’s life, etc.

Identifying root causes stress behavior happens by different methods psychodiagnostics. All of them can be divided into classes:

1. Current level of stress, severity of neuropsychic tension. The methods of express diagnostics and testing of T. Nemchin, S. Kouhen, I. Litvintsev and others are used.
2. Prediction of human behavior in stressful situations. Both the self-esteem scale and questionnaires by V. Baranov, A. Volkov and others are used.
3. Negative consequences of distress. Are used differential methods diagnostics and questionnaires.
4. Professional stress. They use surveys, tests, and “live” dialogue with a specialist.
5. Level of stress resistance. The most commonly used questionnaires are questionnaires.

The information obtained as a result of psychodiagnostics is the main basis for further combating stress. The specialist looks for a way out of a certain situation, helps the patient overcome difficulties (preventing stress) and deals with the strategy for further treatment.

Treatment of emotional stress

Treatment of psychoemotional stress is individual for each clinical case. For some patients, self-organization, finding new hobbies and daily analysis and control are enough own state, others require medications, sedatives and even tranquilizers. According to experts, the first thing to do is to identify the stressor and eliminate its influence on the emotional and mental state of a person. Further methods of control depend on the severity of the disease, its phase and consequences.

Most effective methods stress therapies are:

• Meditation. Allows you to relax, calm your nerves and analyze all life's difficulties and difficulties.
• Physical exercise. Physical activity allows you to take your mind off problems. In addition, during exercise, pleasure hormones are produced - endorphin and serotonin.
• Medicines. Calming and sedative drugs.

Psychological trainings. Walkthrough group classes with a specialist and home methods not only help eliminate signs of stress, but also improve the individual’s resistance to stress.

Psychological trainings

Therapy is most often based on complex methods. Psycho-emotional stress often requires a change of environment and outside support (both loved ones and a psychologist). If you have trouble sleeping, doctors may prescribe sedatives. For severe psychological disorders, tranquilizers may be required.

Sometimes used traditional methods based on the preparation of decoctions and tinctures. The most common is herbal medicine. Plants such as valerian, oregano and lemon balm have a calming effect. The main thing is that the person himself wants changes in life and tries to correct his condition by returning to his natural existence.

Stress Prevention

Prevention of psycho-emotional stress comes down to management healthy image life, proper nutrition and doing what you love. You need to limit yourself as much as possible from stress, be able to predict and “get around” them. Psychologists are confident that the risk of stressful situations decreases if a person:

• exercise;
• set new goals for yourself;
• organize your work activities correctly;
• pay attention to your rest, especially sleep.

The main thing is to think positively and try to do everything for the benefit of your own health. If you were unable to protect yourself from stress, there is no need to give in to panic or fear. You should remain calm, try to think about everyone possible options developments and look for ways out of the current situation. Thus, the consequences of stress will be “milder”.

Conclusion

Every person is susceptible to emotional stress. Some people manage to quickly overcome feelings of anxiety, fear and subsequent behavioral signs (aggression, disorientation, etc.). But sometimes, prolonged or frequently repeated stress leads to exhaustion of the body, which is dangerous to health.

You need to be sensitive to your own psycho-emotional state, try to anticipate stress and find safe ways expressing your emotions through creativity or doing what you love. This is the only way to keep your body healthy and strong.

Every person faces stress. Emotions we experience in life: unpleasant surprises, mental and physical stress, quarrels with loved ones - all this affects psycho-emotional state of people. Emotional stress takes a person out of his comfort zone and requires physiological and psychological adaptation to new conditions.

Negative emotions are the main cause of myocardial infarction

The psychological state is directly related to human health: myocardial infarction in 70% of cases occurs precisely because of stress.

Stress factors

The concept of “emotions” is characterized in psychology as the experienced attitude of an individual to various external factors (facts, events, etc.). Such an experience manifests itself in various signs: fear, joy, horror, pleasure, etc. Emotions are closely related to the somatic and visceral spheres. Emerging facial expressions, gestures, a distinct increase in heart rate and breathing - all this is subject to the psycho-emotional state of a person.

Emotions are formed in the limbic system of the brain. Their influence on the body is comparable to a certain probability of satisfaction for the individual. Low probability characterizes negative emotions, and high probability characterizes positive emotions. All emotions are regulators of behavior and act as an “evaluation” of any psychological impacts per person.

Emotional stress is psycho-emotional stress, arising due to a negative assessment of external factors by the brain. They have their power if it is impossible to activate the body’s defensive reactions to threats, which depends on the person’s resistance to stress.

It is important to understand the difference between positive and negative stress. Strong feelings, caused by positive emotions, are called eustress. The state of the body under the harmful influence of negative emotions is distress. It is characterized by disorganization of human behavior and psyche.

Fear is a stressful emotion

Causes

Stressful conditions are natural phenomenon, characteristic not only of humans, but also of other animals. The frequency of cases depends on technological progress, pace of life, ecology, and urbanization. But the main factors influencing stress are social behavior and characteristics of individual events.

The main reasons for this emotional state:

• fears, resentments, quarrels;
• social and everyday factors;
• life problems related to work, death of a loved one, divorce, etc.;
• potentially dangerous situations;
• physiology.

Physiological factors have almost no connection with the external environment. They are a consequence mental activity a person, assessing his own condition, because in case of illness, you worry more about your own well-being.

Common physiological factors influencing the occurrence of emotional stress:

• mental and physical fatigue;
• sleep problems;
• pathological disorders of the nervous system;
• endocrine pathologies;
• hormonal imbalances;
• post-traumatic disorders.

One of the common types of emotional stress is “burnout” (overwork). The risk group includes representatives of the labor sector. The psychological stress that workers experience contributes to the loss of a large amount of physical and mental energy. Prolonged loss of energy leads to fatigue.

Do not confuse emotional and informational stress. The latter is characterized by the body's protective barrier as a reaction to a large flow of information received over a long period of time.

The most common professions susceptible to burnout are socially responsible positions (teachers, business managers, doctors, etc.). Reasons for burnout: responsibility, inconvenient work schedule, low wage and etc.

Symptoms

Psycho-emotional stress can be determined by physiological and psychological signs. The most common symptoms:

• psycho-emotional reactions (irritability, anxiety, fear, despair, etc.);
• increased heart rate and breathing;
• loss of concentration;
• muscle strain;
• fatigue;
• memory problems.

Sometimes symptoms of stress can be confused with infectious or viral diseases. Internal factors depending on the assessment of a certain situation can cause:

• digestive disorders;
• muscle weakness;
• temperature rise;
• headaches and dizziness.

Often these symptoms appear due to anticipation important events in or during a person’s life: final exams, job interviews, creative performances, etc. Severe stress may cause serious harm to health.

Fatigue is one of the symptoms of the disorder

The danger of stress

The physiological nature of stress is fraught with danger to humans. Poor regulation of one's own state contributes to the release of adrenaline and norepinephrine into the blood. In a certain amount, these hormones negatively affect the functioning of internal organs and systems and contribute to the occurrence of chronic diseases. Like informational stress, emotional stress often leads to diseases such as:

• peptic ulcers;
• heart failure;
• ischemia;
• angina pectoris;
• asthma;
• oncological diseases.

Severe prolonged stress affects the functioning of organs and systems, leading to nervous breakdowns and mental disorders, contribute to a decrease in immunity. People who are most susceptible to psychological stress are more likely to suffer from viral and infectious diseases.

Long-term stress causes heart disease

Stages of emotional stress

It is human nature to experience and express our emotions. In a stressful situation, the moment of its peak is most often felt, characterized by increased heart rate and breathing. You may also feel gradual relief. Phases of emotional stress:

1. Perestroika. A physiological reaction characterized by the release of hormones into the blood. The person feels intense tension and emotional arousal.
2. Stabilization. The production of hormones is balanced, but the psycho-emotional state does not change.
3. Exhaustion. Occurs during severe or prolonged stress. There is a loss of control over the situation, which leads to a malfunction of internal organs and systems.

The stage of exhaustion occurs only if the psycho-emotional state of the individual is under prolonged stress or continues to succumb to additional stress.

There is an imbalance of glucocorticoid hormones and insulin. As a result, a person feels decreased performance, weakness and other signs of stress.

Features of prevention

Prevention of stressful situations involves preparing the body for upcoming changes in external conditions. You need to anticipate the inevitability of a stressful situation and try to maintain emotional balance as it approaches.

1. There are several preventative methods: Rationalization of the event. Modeling possible situation down to the smallest detail (clothing, dialogue, behavior, etc.). This helps reduce the level of uncertainty and will decrease increased level
2. emotions.
3. Selective positive retrospection. It is necessary to recall an example of a situation in which a person was able to find a way out on his own. This will add determination in the face of an upcoming stressful situation. Selective negative retrospection. Analysis of your own failures and substantiation of conclusions. If you identify own mistakes
4. , it will be easier to approach solving new problems.

Visualization of the end of the event. Presenting several options for an unfavorable outcome and planning a way out of it.

Fighting methods Psychoemotional disorders require careful diagnosis and treatment. Methods of dealing with them may be different. Most often, the normalization of the psychological state depends on the systematicity of the methods used and their complexity. No less important are

• individual characteristics
• – stress resistance of the body, severity of psychological disorder. The most effective methods are:
• autogenic trainings;
• physical exercise;
• meditation;

drug therapy; psychotherapy. Multisystem stress reactions should be reduced even before the manifestation of certain pathological conditions. Usage

medications

rarely produced. They are prescribed if other methods are not effective. Antidepressants and tranquilizers are most often used.

The patient is often prescribed antidepressants and tranquilizers Outburst of emotions American physiologist W. Frey put forward the theory that tears help the body better cope with stressful situations. As an experiment, he made a biochemical analysis of the tears of people in different emotional states. The result showed that the tears of those who were in

under stress , contain more protein. There are many supporters and opponents of Frey's theory, but everyone confirms one thing - crying gives free rein to emotions and allows you to restore

psychological condition protective function the body is underestimated modern society, so you don’t need to treat them as a weakness: this is just a way to quickly restore your psycho-emotional state.

Tears will help restore psychological balance

Conclusion

The main danger of emotional stress is that its occurrence and development can lead to health problems. Myocardial infarction, hypertensive crisis, circulatory disorders are only part of the possible threat. The risk of sudden cardiac arrest cannot be excluded.

All people are subject to stress. To preserve life and health, you should always be prepared for sudden stressful situations or avoid them. If stress is inevitable, it is important to be able to model it in your head possible ways

problem solving, which will mitigate the impact of sudden factors. You can always seek help from a psychologist. It will help restore the patient’s psycho-emotional state safely.

Stress is an integral part of the life of every modern person, because it is simply impossible to completely protect yourself from problems. The only thing we can do is learn to live with them. Negative emotions lead to the emergence of negative programs, which, in turn, reduce general level energy and weaken the human biofield. This is what it is main reason

problems with mood and health in our world.

The link between energy and health

A weak biofield and energy allow negative emotions to penetrate deep into our consciousness. This is a reverse process, because stressful situations and negativity weaken our energy. That is why you must always monitor what and who surrounds you, what you do, how you do it and, most importantly, why. Due to the fact that our body is divided into certain energy zones

, problems in some area of ​​life are reflected in certain parts of the body. This is where the laws of the chakras come into force. Human chakras are special energy centers of our body. They are responsible for mood and health.

The effects of stress on different parts of the body Headache.

My head hurts from overload, but not only physical, but also emotional. When you don't sleep enough, think too much, or strain your body, your head starts to hurt. The solution is simple - reduce the load and change the regime. Shoulders.

Shoulders hurt when you take on too many responsibilities. Don't forget that responsibilities and worries can always be shared with those you love. This place hurts mainly for those who are under stress due to the fact that some kind of remorse is gnawing at them. If you did something not very good, then accept it or tell the truth, share your burden.

Hands. Hands hurt when stress is born out of anger. Be kinder, more diplomatic and try to learn to see the world in different colors. The hands also hurt those who seek revenge, people full of anger.

Back. Back pain appears in cases where you do something well, but do not receive any pleasant feedback or gratitude for it. Back pain is the lot of altruists who are disappointed in people.

Legs. Legs bother people who are full of resentment, disappointment, and negativity. These emotions are usually directed towards the Universe. The legs most often hurt those who complain about life and injustice.

Be confident that your views on the world can shape not only the reality around you, but also give peace within. Negative programs are born under stress, so learn to relax and manage time so that you can always find at least a couple of minutes to rest. Good luck to you, and don't forget to press the buttons and

21.05.2017 04:25

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The ability to cope with negative experiences depends not only on state of mind a person, but also his success, motivation and aspirations.

To learn to interact with yourself, it is important to be able to recognize and deal with negative emotions.

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The essence of the negative reaction

The word "emotion" contains the Latin root "moveo".

Literally it means "to move, to move".

- an instant action program embedded in a person’s subconscious.

Thus, a negative emotion is a person’s reaction to a situation that does not fit into his understanding of what is happening. A kind of trigger that forces enable defensive behavior.

In essence, a reasonable person - Homo sapiens- is driven by two powerful forces. This is the mind and emotions. At first glance, analytical skills seem much more useful emotional reactions. However, evolution decreed otherwise.

For thousands of years, humans have faced situations where emotions were decisive. In the face of danger, our ancestors did not try to analyze what was happening. Long thoughts about how best to deal with the attacking predator could cost them their lives.

Instant emotions came onto the stage, followed by lightning fast solutions- defend, run away, attack, hide, etc. Feelings, danger and anger saved a person, gradually turning into an automatic reaction to danger.

Negative, or negative, emotion occurs instantly and almost automatically. It is unconscious, but contains colossal power. An individual, driven by such emotions, mobilizes all his forces - his speech arsenal, physical abilities, speed of reaction.

Modern man rarely faces a direct threat to his life.

Most negative experiences today "grow" from other sources.

The ancient “This snake will bite me” has transformed into “This boss is oppressing me.”

Emotions have evolved along with man, so today negative experiences are still caused by the same lack of money or an intrusive signal from a neighboring car at the traffic light.

A seemingly trivial situation provokes the same reaction that was once caused by an attacking predator. A person instantly responds with rudeness to an irritant and “rushes” at the offender.

Groups of feelings

Human consciousness multifaceted. To understand whether an experienced feeling is harmful, it is important to be able to recognize negative experiences.

Any emotional state of a person is regulated hormonal levels. In response to external stimuli The endocrine system produces certain substances.

Simply put, in times of danger, adrenaline is released, and in moments of pleasure, dopamine is released.

But the range of feelings rarely provokes clear release of one hormone. Any emotion consists of many facets, just like the hormonal surge that caused it.

Recognizing a negative emotion is easy:

1. Most often it causes excitement. Even a seemingly passive one produces an active flow of thoughts and depressing images. Nervous system excited.
2. Impatience. Often there is a desire to act immediately. The inability to respond leads to tension. A subordinate who disagrees with the manager shakes his leg under the table or clicks his pen.
3. Inability to concentrate. Emotions overwhelm the mind, so logic is relegated to the background. There is no time to analyze, we need to act.

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Types of Negative Emotions

The range of human emotions - huge world feelings and experiences. It contains both positive and negative emotions.

What is negative? emotional states? List of basic negative feelings:

The list of negative emotions can be continued for a long time.

It is unlikely that soul scientists will ever be able to compile a complete list of negative feelings.

After all, emotions often intertwined creating new shades of experiences.

How to overcome worries?

If in the primitive world negative emotions saved a person’s life, then in modern realities outbursts of feelings can harm not only their source, but also those around them.

Allows you to fully activate logical thinking.

However Don't push your feelings into the background. It is important to recognize them and be able to cope with the most destructive ones.

Understanding the Source

To cope with negative experiences, it is important to understand the source that provokes them. More precisely, the source of experiences is the human consciousness itself, but the stimulus is most often the environment.

How to deal with negativity:

The proposed chain can be used not only in the described example. Distance yourself and evaluate your emotions as if from the outside. Consider negative feelings separately from yourself.

You are not what you think. Once you learn to think not “What a scoundrel!” but “I’m furious,” you will learn to control your emotions.

Stopping the Rage

Sudden rage becomes a real hurricane, destroying relationships and worsening well-being.

Imagine a situation where you are walking along the sidewalk and a passing car splashes you with water from a puddle.

You surely you will fly into a rage, because “we could have driven more carefully.”

The driver has already forgotten about you, but you carry your emotions home and will probably throw them out on the first person you come across.

If you feel like you're going wild, stop stream of angry thoughts and look at the situation from a different angle. Break away from the belief that your opinion is the only correct one.

Perhaps the driver is rushing to the airport or has just had a baby. Mix your anger with understanding or appropriate neutral emotion. She will help extinguish the flames of rage.

Suppression of anxiety

Anxiety often comes out of nowhere. Excitement snowballs, and its owner is plunged into anxious thoughts. Often anxiety, fed regularly, becomes a habit.

As soon as excitement begins to draw images of disasters in our thoughts, we stop this flow. Mentally rewind time and analyze the moment when the first exciting emotion of the chain arose.

Important get to the very beginning of the process. Did you see the article in the newspaper? Did you hear a dog barking loudly around the corner?

As soon as the starting point is found, we begin to devalue the risk of an incident.

What is the probability what event from the newspaper will happen to you?

Are there other options for the development of events? Can I prevent this disaster?

A cold assessment of the situation and logical thinking will help in the fight against anxiety. Healthy skepticism will gradually teach you to analyze possible incidents from a position of logic, and not outbursts of emotions.

Ways to release energy

No matter how effectively a person copes with negative emotions, when they arise, they cause damage to their moral and physical state. Experienced often settles in the mind like a heavy burden. The offender was dealt with, the situation was resolved, and nervous tension still here.

How to get rid of it? The condition of the stretched string will be eliminated simple ways:

Negative emotions - natural reaction person in unpleasant situations. To prevent negative experiences from causing harm, it is important to be able to cope with them. The fight against negativity begins with awareness own feelings. Simple ways to relieve nervous tension will also come in handy.

Negative emotions - how to deal with them? 2 simple methods:

PostScience debunks scientific myths and explains common misconceptions. We asked our experts to comment on popular myths about the factors causing stress and counteracting it.

A person's response to stress is determined by their genes.

This is partly true.

Genetics contribute to how a person responds to stress, but they do not completely determine that response. The reaction to stress also depends on what exactly caused this stress (the reaction to terrorist attacks is stronger than to disasters of comparable scale that occurred without malicious intent), on the duration of exposure (acute or chronic stress), and on the acquired ability to cope with stress. The genetic component can be divided into two parts. One, the actual genetic one, is determined by the characteristics of the genes received from the parents that control the functioning of the nervous, endocrine and immune systems. Carriers of certain gene variants react more strongly to stress or are slower to return to normal after a reaction and, as a result, are more likely to develop stress-related disorders. For some of these genes, the influence of upbringing conditions was shown. People who had a happy childhood and those who grew up in unfavorable conditions, the same gene variants can manifest themselves differently.

The second component is determined by life history, especially stress experienced in childhood. Mammals have special systems that adjust the intensity of gene activity to specific environmental conditions. As a result of the operation of these systems, special chemical marks (methyl groups) appear in the DNA sections that regulate the switching on and off of genes, which affect how active the gene will be. Experiments on mice and rats have shown that stress experienced in childhood changes the functioning of stress response genes throughout life. Similar data were obtained for humans, but not as a result of experiments, but by studying the DNA of children who grew up in favorable and unfavorable conditions. What’s interesting is that if the mother rat took good care of the stressed pups (carefully combed and licked them), then the number of methyl marks on their DNA returned to normal, and when they grew up, their reaction to stress did not differ from the reaction of the pups that grew up in “ prosperous families.

Changes in gene function as a result of lifetime chemical modification of individual sections of DNA or other influences are studied by a branch of science called epigenetics. Epigenetic processes are what connect the response of the genetic apparatus to environmental influences, including the response of genes to mother's love, neglect and other conditions of upbringing. And these conditions, in turn, although not completely determining, make a significant contribution to how a person will react to stress. Therefore, even when we talk about culture and upbringing, phenomena that are far from genetics, we cannot completely discount genes. It is the work of genes that allows us to record in the form of neural connections what life and parents teach children.

Svetlana Borinskaya, doctor biological sciences, Chief Researcher, Laboratory of Genome Analysis, Institute of General Genetics. N. I. Vavilova RAS

Stress is caused only by negative emotions

It is not true.

Stress is a reaction of the body, which indicates that the body is leaving a state of homeostasis, that is, equilibrium.

But getting out of the state of balance is necessary for life, for a person to develop. Therefore, being in love or performing in front of a large audience can be stressful, that is, things that are quite comparable to a good life. Thus, stress is necessary for life, and it is, in principle, associated with any situations in which we worry.

As for negative emotions, for this case there is the concept of “distress”, the so-called bad stress, when the experienced negative emotional states are either very intense or chronic. It differs from ordinary stress in that a person finds himself in an external situation that constantly throws him off balance, and experiences negative emotions constantly, and not from time to time. For example, he is bullied at work, or he has constant conflicts in the family with his wife, or he does not like his job and every day he has to force himself to leave the house for a long time in the morning. Distress can also occur due to high-intensity stress, that is, when negative emotions are too strong. For example, when you lose a loved one, or when something very frightening happens, or when a person faces a serious threat. Distress can have a really bad effect on mental and physical health, and such stress necessarily requires some kind of intervention, a request for help, and so on.

Maria Padun, candidate psychological sciences, senior researcher at the laboratory of psychology of post-traumatic stress at the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, practicing psychologist, psychotherapist

Food helps relieve stress

This is true.

We need to start with the fact that stress is not always negative emotions, but it can also be caused by positive emotions. From the point of view of the body and the functioning of internal organs, euphoria is also stress. Therefore, you can, unfortunately, die of joy. This myth concerns the stress that appears against the background of negative emotions. If a person has such stress, anything that evokes positive emotions can help him. And food is the most reliable source of positivity. A piece of meat or chocolate will never fool you. You may not like the concert, you may quarrel with best friend, but a piece of good food at the right moment guarantees positive emotions.

At the level nerve cells food promotes the release of neurotransmitters positive emotions. As soon as pleasant sensations appear in the oral area taste sensations, and something begins to fall into the stomach, endorphins and dopamine begin to be secreted in the brain. As a result, a positive emotional state arises that blocks negative experiences. This mechanism works according to innately given principles, since food is a source of energy and building materials, without which we cannot exist. Therefore, evolutionary processes have formed a brain configuration that ensures the process of nutrition, forcing us to eat every day through hunger. Moreover, the newborn eats at the expense of innate reflexes, but later very quickly learns to find food, and learning occurs against the background of positive emotions caused by the absorption of food.

There are people who actually overeat due to stress. But, as a rule, if a person controls his behavior, he looks for other sources of positive emotions in order to relieve the stress that negative experiences caused. He can go to an exhibition, play sports or even play a computer game. Eating relieves stress, but you shouldn’t use this route often, otherwise consuming extra calories will put you at risk of stress due to excess weight.

Vyacheslav Dubynin

Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor of the Department of Human and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology, Moscow State University, specialist in the field of brain physiology

For metropolitan residents, daily stress is inevitable

This is partly true.

This statement is only partly true. Stress is a condition that occurs when the human body is exposed to stimuli to which it is difficult for it to adapt. These stimuli can be very different - from loud sounds to conflicts with others. In a big city we encounter such incentives quite often. This environmental conditions environment in which we live (for example, polluted air and loud traffic noise), the large number of people we meet (for example, on crowded public transport or in traffic jam), time limits and heavy physical activity, problems arising in the family and at work. All of this can cause stress.

However, in in this case There are three restrictions. Firstly, people living not only in large but also in small ones face many stressors. populated areas. These include, for example, working conditions that cause a person to experience severe physical fatigue or a feeling of injustice of what is happening. Secondly, even in big cities different people are in different conditions: someone gets on an old, crowded train in the morning, and someone on a comfortable express; someone is stuck in traffic jams, and someone is driving on an open road; someone comes to work as if it were a holiday, while others dream of leaving it forever, and so on. This means that by choosing our mode of transportation, our life partner, or our job, we can influence our stress levels.

And finally, thirdly, the influence of many stressors depends on our interpretation of what is happening, our attitude towards it. Imagine that two people have to decide difficult task. One person thinks: “Here we go again! I do not know what to do. I won’t be able to solve this problem, and I’ll be fired from my job.” In other words, he perceives it as a heavy burden that can cause serious trouble. Another person thinks differently: “How interesting! I don’t know what to do with it, but I’ll definitely figure it out and achieve success.” He perceives this task as a challenge that he can answer. As a result, the first participant will experience stress more quickly than the second. A simple conclusion follows from this: yes, Big city constantly presents us with stimuli that can cause stress, but we are able to increase or decrease their impact.

Olga Gulevich, Doctor of Psychology, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology, Higher School of Economics

Stress can't cause real harm to your health

This is not entirely true.

Stress can really mobilize the body's strength and help increase human activity. However certain types stress, especially those caused by intense stressors, can negatively affect human health. For example, there is traumatic stress, which has various harmful psychological consequences. It is believed that traumatic stress is caused by the influence of high-intensity stressors, which are associated with a threat to both the life of the person himself and his loved ones. Traumatic stress disrupts a person's normal functioning. Such stress is dangerous not only with its immediate manifestations, but also with its delayed manifestations. For example, with post-traumatic stress, a certain part of people who are more vulnerable to stress may experience consequences in the form of constant experience of this situation, both six months after the traumatic event and several years and even decades later.

If we are talking about the impact of such stress on a person’s physical health, then the consequences of stress can be expressed in different ways: the normal level of wakefulness is disrupted, problems with sleep arise, somatic reactions appear, such as rapid heartbeat, breathing, etc. With such stress, symptoms may also occur. problems with the gastrointestinal tract, various skin diseases and other consequences.

Of course, it is incorrect to separate the psychological consequences of stress from the consequences associated with a person’s physical health. The fact of a person’s systemic response to a situation has long been established. Thus, difficulties with regulating emotions can lead to increased time spent awake, difficulty falling asleep, interrupted sleep, and chronic early awakening. If a person does not get enough sleep, if he is constantly in a state of hypervigilance, that is, constantly expecting some kind of trouble, then he cannot recover or rest. And from here various diseases arise, primarily those to which a person is most sensitive.

But it is wrong to think that there is only harmful stress and distress. There is also another level of stress - eustress. Hans Selye wrote about such manifestations of stress. This is a beneficial stress, during which the body’s forces are mobilized and a person becomes toned. And this tone also performs a protective function. Let's say, when a person needs to avoid undesirable factors in some circumstances or when he really needs a certain state of tone in order to solve a real problem.

That is, stress can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on a person’s condition. It is important to note that this is also related to the human condition. The fact is that usually a person experiences various stresses and does not always recover quickly from them. Accumulated, cumulative stress is the result of experiencing many negative events, and therefore for one person a specific stressful event will not have obvious negative consequences, but for another it will be the last straw.

In general, the myth that stress does not harm human health has a right to exist, because by creating such a myth, people thereby try to convince themselves that there are no problems, to protect themselves from the anxiety that arises when thinking about stress. negative consequences stressful situation: a person is inclined to deny the problem and, as it were, escape from his fears. In fact, this is an illusory salvation. The lack of knowledge that the consequences of stress can be negative does not protect a person from these consequences, but, on the contrary, disarms him in coping with them. After all, as you know, denying a problem does not eliminate it at all, but, paradoxically, makes it even more difficult to solve. The courage to admit to oneself that after one or another difficult event a person’s life and health has changed for the worse opens the way for him to turn to his own resources or to social support, to the help of other people.

Natalya Kharlamenkova, Doctor of Psychology, Head of the Laboratory of Psychology of Post-Traumatic Stress at the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Personality Psychology of the State Agrarian University of Humanities