Stress - A Constant Symptom of Modern Life

Imagine the following situation:
It’s 7:05 AM. You’re in the car on your way to work. No breakfast, because this morning you found the bread was moldy and had to throw it away. So, you only have a black coffee, no sugar, as there wasn’t time. You’re running late. At least 50 minutes of driving are ahead of you, and at 8:00 AM you have an important meeting at the office. You get on the highway and press down on the gas pedal. Every second counts. You take a sip of your coffee. Suddenly, the car in front of you brakes. You slam on your brakes, and the coffee spills onto your clothes. Just what you needed, coffee stains. Ahead of you, red brake lights flash across all three lanes. Traffic jam. Great, it’s 7:33 AM, and the day is already off to a bad start.
Does this situation sound familiar, or have you been in similar situations? Can you feel the tension and anxiety of the protagonist? This could be a sign that "stress" is not a new concept for you. Take five minutes and learn more about tension, imbalance, and stress management.

What is Stress?

Stress is a genetically ingrained program that served our ancestors as an important and natural coping mechanism in the face of danger. Essentially, a stress response follows a set pattern of four phases:

1. Orientation: The stimulus is relayed to our brain, processed, and evaluated. In the example above, the driver encounters a traffic jam and slowly realizes that they won't make it to their important appointment on time.
2. Activation: If the stimulus is deemed threatening, stress hormones like adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol are released almost instantly to mobilize all bodily reserves and prepare the body for action. Heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing increase, pupils dilate, and pain tolerance rises temporarily. In no time, the person is ready to fight or flee. The driver becomes nervous, blood rushes to their head, and their hands start sweating and shaking.
3. Adaptation: The brain activates the areas responsible for learning and memory, the immune system is suppressed, and the digestive activity of the gastrointestinal tract is reduced by the increase in cortisol. The driver feels heartburn – black coffee on an empty stomach wasn’t a great idea.
4. Recovery (= Eustress): These adjustments from phase three are maintained until the situation is successfully handled. Afterward, we can recover. The driver gets lucky; the traffic jam clears up quickly, and they make it to the office on time.

As long as we are in the adaptation phase, stress can even push us to peak performance, as every physical or mental effort requires some amount of additional stress energy. Only when our body is constantly challenged without sufficient recovery, and this state persists for too long, does our resilience suffer, and stress becomes a chronic burden (= Distress). Chronic stress weakens the immune system, makes the stomach and intestinal mucosa more susceptible to ulcers, and can eventually lead to exhaustion, irritability, and depression.

Signs You Should Watch Out For

Stress can manifest through both physical and psychological symptoms. Early signs include back pain, headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, high blood pressure, or restlessness. Sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and anxiety may also arise. The "Burnout Syndrome," a persistent and severe state of exhaustion, is now a widespread psychological consequence in the modern workplace. It can also manifest as reduced appetite and thirst, along with decreased urination. Stress is a complex phenomenon that affects the entire body, influencing the four dimensions of body, mind, behavior, and emotions.

Stress Starts in the Mind

According to a 2016 Forsa survey commissioned by Techniker Krankenkasse*, six out of ten respondents feel stressed. The biggest stress factors cited were "work" (46%), "high expectations of oneself" (43%), and "too many appointments and commitments in leisure time" (33%). Financial concerns burden 19% of Germans, and even the commute to work stresses 11%.

In principle, any situation can trigger stress. What matters is how we perceive the situation. Once we feel that we can no longer handle a situation, we become stressed. The situation itself is not responsible for the stress but rather how we assess our ability to manage and cope with it. You can observe this in yourself: If you feel helpless and at the mercy of the situation, your stress susceptibility will likely be high. But if you stay calm and believe you are capable of handling potential obstacles, your stress perception will remain within limits.

Constantly "being under stress" drains our energy and joy of life, leaving us feeling incapable of facing daily life. Physically noticeable symptoms, like muscle pain or exhaustion, are just the tip of the iceberg because stress begins in the mind before we even realize it.

How Can You Manage Stress?

There are several strategies to manage stress. Some of the most effective strategies include good time management, taking breaks, autogenic training, meditation exercises, and physical activity. Primarily, however, you should focus on your mindset. The following example approach can help you identify and gradually adjust your attitude.

1. Identifying the attitude that is causing you stress or not helping you manage it
   Try to describe the stress situation objectively. What happened? What concerns and expectations did you have? How did you feel? Think about how other people handle similar situations.
2. Assessing the content
   Critically evaluate how realistic your assessment of the situation is. Ask yourself, for example, whether you are only seeing the negative aspects or whether you have set expectations that are too high.
3. Changing your thinking and feeling
   Develop a neutral perspective. Turn extreme statements like "I must not make mistakes" into "Nobody is perfect. You learn from mistakes." Continuously encourage yourself and don’t be too hard on yourself if something doesn’t go as planned.
4. Changing your behavior
   Keep in mind that behavioral changes do not happen overnight. Reassessing the situation to reduce stress takes time. Always remind yourself of small progress.

Every stress situation is unique and requires a tailored method to manage it. Unfortunately, we do not have a universal recipe for stress management either. However, we have extensively studied the psyche and considered which nutrients are important for a strong psyche and how we can support our protective shield against stress. You can find details in our magazine article "Nutrition and Stress."