Perception – how you think about stress matters

We all have stress in our lives, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Stress is a signal designed to enable us to deal with an immediate problem. It enhances our focus, attention, energy, and drive. We rise to the challenge of the situation, succeed, and then feel good about what we have achieved.

The stress (fight-or-flight) response starts in the brain with the perception of danger. This can be due to finding ourselves in a real situation of danger. However, we can also create this same fight-or-flight response simply by using our imagination - the ‘primitive’ part of our brain cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. So, when we worry about past or future circumstances, the effects of stress on the body are the same.

In the short term, when we suffer with acute stress, it affects our blood pressure, heart rate, breathing rate, digestion, and muscular tension. In a healthy person, the body should quickly return to normal once the danger has passed. However, our body is not designed to handle long-term stress, and then has to work harder when it is at ‘rest’ to keep things functioning normally.  This can lead to a weakening of our immune system and a host of health problems (both physical and mental), including high blood pressure, insomnia, anxiety, depression, weight gain, IBS and headaches. It can also worsen conditions such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Stress is related to whether we perceive a situation as manageable or unmanageable. So, it is not the actual events in our lives that dictate our levels of stress – it is whether we view those events as a challenge or a threat that makes the difference. This explains why people react in different ways to the same situation, e.g. not everyone attending the same work meeting will be feeling a sense of panic about it, but some might.

When we see a situation as a challenge and feel we have enough resources to cope, we assume that we will be able to tackle and overcome it. A challenge response creates a positive motivational state: our brain starts working on solutions, resulting in better decision-making and performance, and we feel optimistic about the outcome. This short-term response to stress even enhances the body’s immune system.

However, if we feel the situation is too demanding, exceeding our resources, we experience the feeling of a threat. A threat response results in rumination, and we focus on what could go wrong. We become over-cautious, avoid engaging in the task, and performance suffers. This response can weaken our immune system and then, of course, impact our mental and physical health.

There are many factors that can help to change our mindset, but it is important to focus on those things that we can control and what we want to achieve, rather than what could go wrong.

How different would you feel if you could shift your perception?

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is a powerful tool that can help you transform your life. You might have aims and goals that you just can’t seem to stay on track of because worrying and negative thinking get in the way. Solution Focused Hypnotherapy will help you to change the way you use your mind so that your aims and goals become your subconscious programs, not just the wishes of your conscious mind.