What is stress?

Stress is a physiopsychological reaction that occurs when the physical and mental health of the person is threatened and these limits are pushed. In the face of threats and compulsions, the body initiates a chain of reactions in order to protect itself, and the response, also called "fight or flight" in psychology, is revealed. If a person thinks that he can cope with a danger when he is faced with it, he stays there and fights this danger; In situations of danger that he thinks he cannot cope with, he tends to move away and gives an escape reaction. In this way, in both cases, adaptation to the new conditions is achieved.

Stress is an unavoidable phenomenon that every person frequently experiences in daily life. In the beginning, psychological problems such as anxiety, tension and unhappiness occur in the person, but in case of long-term excessive stress, physical problems can also be seen. While these make it difficult for the person to adapt to daily living conditions, they weaken the immune system and make the person vulnerable to many diseases.

As soon as the person feels under stress, the factors that cause stress are perceived as a danger by the body and stress hormones are secreted from the brain. As a result, the body initiates a chain of reactions consisting of 3 different stages. In the first stage, the body activates the alarm mechanism and develops various physiological reactions such as the secretion of stress hormones, increased blood pressure and sweating. The second stage is the resistance stage. When the problem perceived as a source of stress is solved effectively, the body removes the damage that occurs during the alarm phase and the level of stress hormones decreases. As a result, physiological responses such as high blood pressure and sweating disappear. In the third stage of the stress reaction, the body may experience a state of exhaustion. When the stress sources that cannot be dealt with and overcome effectively increase, the adaptive capacity of the body decreases and the reactions in the alarm phase become continuous, causing a chronic stress picture.