We can offer an even more expansive framework regarding stress. While stress is often referred to as a negative factor, it is an essential part of our life. Without any stress, our lives would be boring and would probably feel pointless. We would be living at one end of Csikszentmihalyi’s spectrum: boredom (and stagnation). However, stress that undermines both our mental and physical health resides at the other end of Csikszentmihalyi’s spectrum: anxiety (and overwhelm). Anxiety-filled stress is considered negative, while flow-filled stress is considered positive – an important discrimination to be made by a health-care coach when helping their client “manage his ‘stress’.”.
What about negative stress—the kind that leads to disrupted sleep. Negative stress results from any challenge or threat to our homeostasis or sense of normal functioning—regardless of whether it is real or perceived. The response to this threat remains the same physiologically—whether or not the threat actually happens. Just the anticipated fear that the threat will happen is stressful.
A stress response is the body’s activation of physiological systems to provide a sense of safety and protection. Interestingly, this activation of protection can inadvertently cause the reverse effect and challenge our physiology—if it is regularly activated with intrusive threats. This activation is based in the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) and is directed toward restoration of normal functioning and eventual reduction in bodily alarm from the threat.
Chronic activation of the stress response can lead to wear and tear that eventually predisposes an individual to disease. When exposed to intense and unwelcomed stress we begin to feel powerless and inevitably vulnerable to a stress-inducing environment. We become not just stressed IN our personal life and work environment; we also become stressed ABOUT living this life and working in this environment. We believe (and feel) that we have no control over our life and our exposure to stress. In other words, we become stressed about being stressed. It is a vicious circle – a “double whammy.”
In seeking to get a good night of sleep, we should address two fundamental questions about stress: (1) Is stress always bad—when is stress a good thing in your life? And (2) when stress is harming you, what do you do about it? Following are some more specific questions that you might ask yourself:
• What physical indicators tell you that you’re stressed?
• What are the primarily sources of your stress: internal (inside your head and heart) or external (family, work environment, physical environment, finances, life habits and demands, etc.)?
• What are your primary internal sources of stress: fear of failure, performance anxiety, generalized worry/fear of unknown?
• What are your primary external sources of stress: financial, relationship, family, death, moving, occupation change?
• How do you currently manage your stress?
