Introduction
Very few people in Al-Khobar have given the issue of Stress deliberate consideration. Many among us would easily dismiss talk on stress. We are socialized to believe that there is heroism in appearing unbreakable, untiring and resilient.
The mentioned are great values; however the difference between a fool and wise man is that the former is impulsive and reactive while the former is analytic and rational in his or her choices. Many of us would in a reactive way tend towards Macho tendencies at the expense of our health. Such a choice is foolhardy because it offers immediate gratification and long term detrimental effects.
In this report, I am going to explore the issue of stress in Al-Khobar city. What I will present are findings based on my research in books, electronically and through personal interviews with friends and relatives. I also relied on chats on face book to gauge people’s views on stress.
This report gives a general definition of stress, presents the general causes of stress, provides the effects of stress in individual’s lives and provides ways of handling or managing stress. Finally, this report provides recommendations i.e. what individuals and authority can do to facilitate towards better management of stress in Al-Khobar.
Definition of Stress
Stress is an important ingredient in life because it propels people to seek better standards of living. According to Woolston (1), people couldn’t be getting far in life without some level of stress. Stress helps keep people on toes or excited thus doing their best in life. Stress is the anxiety one feels before engaging in an exciting activity e.g. an interview. The stress or anxiety felt helps keep one focused on the task thus being able to deliver.
Stress is a warning feeling and should generally be a positive element in life. It is the way one’s body communicates the fact that all is not well. Extreme stress is called distress. According to Woolston (1), distress is the hall mark of modern society. Stress is unavoidable in daily living.
However, unless checked, stress causes a lot of harm. Stress is generally a sign by the body that some biological aspect of an individual is stretched or burdened thus not at homeostasis. Homeostasis is the normal state of body cells; it is a certain balance that is normal for the body. When some imbalance in the cells occurs, the brain is triggered to release neuro-chemicals or hormones that prompt us towards taking remedial action.
Signs and Symptoms of Stress
Stress often registers both as a feeling and a physical condition. Some people realize they are stressed when they start to behave in certain awkward ways e.g. making simple mistakes at work. From the people I interviewed I realize that stress induces sleeplessness, headaches, stomachaches, general tension in the body, general fatigue, bouts of anger, nervousness, lack of appetite, overeating, mood swings, loss of enthusiasm for life and unexplained anxiety.
The signs and symptoms vary from individual to individual. In extreme cases, individuals turn to drug abuse or alcoholic tendencies when stressed. Some other people loose sexual desire or become aggressive with their spouses.
Causes of Stress (Stressors)
Stress often results from thinking negatively about daily happenings. It is interesting to note that a given situation that is stressing to one individual can be life giving and exciting to another. The difference is caused by their outlook or interpretation of circumstances.
Stress is also caused by not being able to communicate ones needs properly. Many people in our culture are discouraged from speaking out openly. For example, women are not supposed to answer men back. Due to stifling communication, much is bottled up leading to stress.
Stress is also caused by prolonged sickness or disease. When one is sick for a long time, the physical effects of disease are stressful. However, more crucially, the psychological burden of being dependent and not being able to do something about the disease can be very stressful.
Lack of supportive social contacts can also be very stressful. Lack of social contact makes life boring and can easily lead to loneliness. Without people to interact and socialize with, people often unless they appreciate solitude succumb to stress due to loneliness.
Drug abuse also contributes significantly to stress. People who are depended on drugs and alcohol are more prone to stress than not. Cutting out on use of any drug or alcohol helps keep an individual healthy; there are many healthy complications associated with use of drugs, smoking and alcohol. Drug abuse and alcoholism is an escapist way of dealing with stress. Alcohol makes individual not to deal with problems but rather cover up temporarily from facing the issues at hand.
Effects of Stress
Prolonged stress can have very adverse effects on the performance and general well being of an individual. Stress has physical, mental and emotional or psychological effects. On some people, stress has adverse effects to the extent that it costs their life. Stress leads to depression and even suicide.
Unless checked, some people become totally helpless in the face of stressing circumstances. The helplessness leads to depression, which in turn may result in an individual committing suicide. If the individual does not commit suicide, he or she goes through life like a zombie; gloomy and very negative.
Harmful stress leads to anxiety disorders; due to people not dealing constructively with stress, they tend towards being anxious or worried all the time. They are not sure of themselves thus their self esteem is adversely affected. Self esteem is crucial to proper performance as an individual at work or even at home. When an individual’s self esteem is affected his or her productivity goes down. He or she will tend towards petty mistakes at the work place, feeling small and thus not dealing healthily with workmates and customers.
Some people suffer physical effects such as regular migraine headaches. As a matter of fact, there are people who dependent on pain relievers or sleeping pills due to the levels of stress in their lives. Migraine headaches and sleeplessness easily diminish as long as individuals learn to deal with stress and stressors in their lives.
Another effect of stress is high blood pressure and other heart related diseases. As discussed by Dr. Al-Shahri, the direct cost of hypertension care and treatment in Alkhobar has been on the rise and needs to be contained. He found out that hypertension cares costs were higher for patients who are not well educated (Dr. Al-Shahri, 301).
The fact that costs are higher for those with lower education could be attributed to lack of proper hypertension management techniques. Hypertension has a close link to stress, if people do not know how to handle it, it could also be argued that they do not know how to manage stress.
Al-Sowielem and Elzubier (1) conducted a research on patient’s knowledge and the misconceptions they have about hypertension in Al-Khobar. The research also investigated the compliance of hypertensive patients (Al-Sowielem and Elzubier, 3). The research established that 66.3% of the patients associated hypertension with emotional stress (Al-Sowielem and Elzubier, 4). Although there are other factors such as genetic make up or hereditary factors, emotional stress contributes substantially to hypertension cases around the world.
Apart from high blood pressure and heart diseases, Ulcers are also highly associated with stress levels. Stress affects an individual’s physical development. People who are overly stressed often age earlier. It is stress levels that make some young people to look older than their age.
There is also a high connection between stress and asthma. Stressed people are likely to develop breathing problems because of the tension that pervades their body. When the body is tensed, breathing is affected. Stress induces the release of the flight or fight hormones, which when released in excess increase blood pressure but also affect breathing.
Handling Stress
To l live free of distress, one has to learn to deal positively with life conditions or circumstances. The path to becoming positive consists in being able to eliminate the negative thinking patterns and embracing positive thinking patterns. This requires that people are educated in self evaluation and awareness exercises (Ratcliffe, 71).
Often due to a culture that stresses hierarchy, people live in fear and do not communicate their needs properly. The result is that instead of communicating their desires and wants, they repress or suppress or bottle up their emotions. The bottling up of emotions leads to distress and passive aggressive behavior or anger blow ups.
There is need for individuals to learn assertive communication skills. There is what Charlesworth and Nathan (54) call non violent communication. Non violent communication requires that one assertively makes clear his or her feelings while at the same time expressing respect for the recipient of the message (Charlesworth and Nathan, 59). In such like a mode of communication one is able to communicate anything respectively.
Many people I interviewed expressed that they have strenuous work. Women, especially those in employment, often have to put up with many different roles; combining both job requirements and housework. To reduce work overload related stress, people have to learn to unclutter their lives. To unclutter life consists in identifying what has to be done by necessity as opposed to what can be delegated (Gibson, 89). People need get a perspective on whatsoever matters in whatever context and forget about the rest that only adds pressure.
To effectively handle stress, individuals have to develop flexible routines and plans that allow for enjoyment and relaxation (Ratcliffe, 27). Time has to be set aside for constructive leisure. Idleness can be very stressing thus need to be creative and constructive about daily engagements.
Regular exercises help individuals because they help in burning down some of the neuro-chemicals released by the body in response to stress. Exercise also helps as a response to flight or fight hormones produced by the body in reaction to stressor related stimuli. People who exercise burn fat thus reducing risk of weight related stress. Overweight people suffer stress due to social stigma and other health complications.
A World Health Organization sanctioned cross sectional study, done by the Taha (1), established that most students in Al-Khobar city understand the importance of regular physical exercise in reducing stress and preventing diseases. Majority of the students made a connection between physical exercise and prevention of obesity. However, they did not acknowledge the connection between physical exercise and prevention of diabetes and hypertension (Taha, 3).
Another way of dealing with stress is meditation exercises. Meditation exercises help one to calm down and control own body processes such as breathing. Other exercises such as Yoga and meditation also come in handy in reducing stress. The spiritual exercise of praying and contemplation is also a great way of handling stress. Through prayer, people are able to bring out their frustrations.
Finally, to deal with stress, individuals need to creatively come up with ways of breaking monotone or changing routine. It is conventional wisdom that change is as good as a rest. Taking a break to do something different or changing the environment somehow goes a long way in reducing stress levels.
Recommendations and Conclusion
Following from my research, I realized many people take stress for granted. to live long and happily I would recommend to all individuals that they be more conscious of the amount of stress in their life. Some somatic or physical problems people suffer are mere manifestations of stress. It is thus important that people learn how to recognize stress and deal with it.
The government can help by creating stress sensitization programs. The government can also help by promoting such activities like Yoga, meditation and physical exercise that help to reduce stress levels in individuals. Effort is needed to help students and the general public appreciate the relation between physical exercise and diseases like hypertension. The need for more sensitization not withstanding, the importance of physical exercise is appreciated world over; including the general Al-Khobar populace.
Works Cited
Al-Sowielem, L. S. and Elzubier, A. G. Compliance and Knowledge of Hypertensive Patients Attending PHC Centers in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal. Vol 4, Issue 2, 1998, page 301-307. Web.
Charlesworth A. Edward and Nathan G. Ronald. Stress management: a comprehensive guide to wellness. New York: Ballantine Books, 2004.
Dr. AI-Shahri, Mohammed, Abdullah, Hypertension: Direct Cost of Care and Primary Health Care Physicians’ Awareness in AI-Khobar City, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Society of Family and Community Medicine. Web.
Gibson, Katherine. Unclutter Your Life: Transforming Your Physical, Mental, And Emotional Space. London: Beyond Words Publications, 2004.
Ratcliffe, Gail. Take control of your life: the five step stress management plan. London: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Taha, A.Z.A. Self-Reported Knowledge And Pattern Of Physical Activity Among School Students In Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. World Health Organization. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal. Vol 14, Issue. 2. 2008. Web.
Woolston, Chris. Stress and Its Repercussions. Consumer Health Interactive. 2009. Web.