What Causes Stress?

Whenever, you feel stressed—anxious, jittery, afraid, confused, depressed, or exhausted—it’s good to think through the following:

1. Ask yourself what may be causing this stress.
2. Remove the stressor or remove yourself from the sources of distress, if possible.
3. If Step #2 is not possible, reduce your vulnerability to the stressors.

Let’s look at each of these a bit closer.

1. It may be obvious to you what is causing your stress or distress. If not, you may want to take a few minutes to ask yourself the following questions: 

• When do I feel this way? What precedes this feeling?
• Is there something going on in my life that’s bothering me?
• When I feel stressed—anxious or nervous—what am I thinking about?
• Is there something going on inside my body that I need to attend to?
  
  

Whenever we are feeling stressed, most of us have a tendency to blame our circumstances, or others in our lives, or ourselves, when the underlying issue that makes us vulnerable may be biological in nature.

Taking time out to just ask these questions—and ponder possibilities—may lead to an “aha” insight.  If you believe in God or a higher power, you may also want to pray about or meditate on these questions, asking them to reveal to you the source of your distress, and what you can do to control it.  Lots of anecdotal evidence suggests God does hear and answer such prayers from those in distress. The very successful Alcoholics Anonymous support system was developed from just such a spiritual quest.

If you cannot identify anything unusual going on in your life or environment that may be causing your stress, then you may want to set an appointment with your doctor to get a thorough physical examination.  You could have some physical ailment that might be easily treated, like an infection, low blood sugar, hormonal imbalance, a thyroid problem, or nutritional deficiency.

2. If you can identify the source of your stress—a person or other physical irritant—then avoiding exposure to that stressor may be the easiest thing to do. If you feel stressed being at home alone, you can avoid much of that by getting out of the house, visiting a friend or senior center, or getting involved in community or church activities. Or you could invite a friend to move in and share the rent with you. That could also help with another stressor – insufficient finances.  If it’s bills that bother you, perhaps you can have someone else open the mail and help manage these. 

But what if it’s something you can’t avoid or get away from?  What if it’s your spouse who appears to be causing you stress, or your children, the loss of a loved one, or chronic pain from an old injury?  Then it is time for Step #3.

3. When we cannot avoid the stressor, we need to focus on learning how to deal with it or reduce our vulnerability, so that the stressor—person, condition, etc.—does not bother us as much. That is obviously easier said than done, but below are some specific steps to take in that regard that can be very helpful.