Dr. Gabor Mate defines stress as, "a complicated cascade of physical and biochemical responses to powerful emotional stimuli". Even though it sounds very scientific, his definition does make sense. I strongly agree that stress is very complicated, as most people have no idea where it comes from. One thing I would like to learn more about stress is: what part of our bodies determines how we deal with stress and why certain people never deal with it at all?
This site helped me understand both questions: http://helpguide.org/mental/stress_signs.htm. It specifically talks about two hormones cortisol and adrenaline which we learned about during the endocrine system! These hormones cause our blood to pump faster, our muscles to tighten, and our breathing to quicken. All of these factors help us react to an emergency situation. I like how this site talks about two different views on stress. There is the beneficial stress that can save your life in an emergency or get you through an intimidating interview. And then beyond a point, there is the dangerous stress that can seriously damage your health. One way dangerous stress is caused is by not saying no.
Dr. Mate talks about how most of his patients never learned to say no. "Saying no" means not saying no to the things that make your life miserable. For example, Dr. Mate gives an example of a patient who insisted of eating disgusting shark cartilage so that he would not disappoint his business partner. I am amazed at how the man didn't say no, even when he knew he only had a few more days to live.
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