One of the biggest enemies of robust good health is chronic stress. I say chronic stress because there is another kind of stress besides chronic stress, called acute stress. Both kinds of stress are a state of mental or emotional strain, resulting from adverse circumstances. A stressful situation causes the release of cortisol and adrenaline into your bloodstream, putting you into fight or flight mode.

This is an appropriate response to an acute stressful situation, which comes on suddenly, and then is over just as suddenly. Chronic stress, on the other hand, is an ongoing or repetitive drain on a person’s well-being. The two kinds of stress have two different effects on the stressed person.

Let me give you an example of acute stress. One time I was snorkeling by myself off the coast of Southern California, which is something you should NEVER do. Not that there’s anything wrong with Southern California.

ALWAYS DIVE WITH A BUDDY!!!

Anyway, I foolishly dove without a buddy. I was swimming along, enjoying the underwater scenery, when I noticed, not very far away, a large hammerhead shark. The shark was looking at me. Hammerheads are one of several species of sharks known to attack humans.

I was acutely stressed.

There was absolutely no way that I was going to outswim a shark in its natural habitat, if it wanted to come after me. It was fight or flight time. I figured that trying to fight would be suicidal, so I didn’t even pause to unsheathe my dive knife. I backed away slowly, and then headed for shore as fast as my U.S. Divers brand swim fins would propel me. I swam right up onto the beach, pulled myself all the way out of the surf, and then started breathing again. I sat there on the sand for quite a while, contemplating my mortality.

I did not re-enter the water that day, even though the sun was still high in the sky.

I recovered from that episode of acute stress, and I was fine again almost immediately. I went diving again many times without problems, but you can bet I always went with a buddy after that.

Chronic stress is different. Unlike the situation with acute stress, chronic stress does not come and go quickly. It may not put life and death in the balance in the same way that an acutely stressful situation can, but its low-grade continuous assault on people, can wear them down. Initiating the fight or flight reflex when you are stressed by stop-and-go traffic on the freeway can be counterproductive, leading to road rage and violence. Being subjected to a chronic stress at work, either due to an overbearing boss, a conniving coworker, or just the boring nature of the job, can inappropriately trigger the fight or flight reflex. In these kinds of situations, either of those responses will not be helpful. In addition, being constantly flooded with cortisol and adrenaline can make you ill. Headaches, muscle pain, chest pain, and fatigue are all affects that chronic stress can cause.

Happily, if you are suffering from chronic stress, there are several things that you can do to reduce or even eliminate that stress, making life a lot more enjoyable. I’ll go into some of those in my next article.

Bio:

Allen G. Taylor is a 30-year veteran of the computer industry and the author of over 30 books, including Develop Microsoft HoloLens Apps Now, Get Fit with Apple Watch, Cruise for Free, SQL For Dummies, 8th Edition, Crystal Reports 2008 For Dummies, Database Development For Dummies, Access Power Programming with VBA, and SQL All-In-One For Dummies, Second Edition. He lectures internationally on astronomy, databases, innovation, and entrepreneurship. He also teaches database development and Crystal Reports through a leading online education provider. For the latest news on Allen’s activities, check out his blog at www.allengtaylor.com or contact him at allen.taylor@ieee.org.