Stress can affect your life more than you could imagine. It can cause sleep loss and over sleeping and weight loss as well as overeating. But stress doesn’t have to get the best of you.

Stress management is about learning to identify your stressors and either eliminate them or figure out how to work around them.

How does stress work?

There are three phases of stress:

Phase I: A stressor triggers your body to respond to stress.

The stressor can be an event (such as a car accident or argument) or a memory and does not always have to be negative. Positive stressors, such as getting married or starting a new job, can also trigger a response.

Phase II: Your interpretation of the stressor. You may perceive something as a threat when it really isn’t. Your beliefs and attitude about a situation can contribute to stress. 

Phase III: In this final phase, your body reacts to the stressor(s). Examples are:

• Physical: increased blood pressure, ulcers, tension and migraine headaches
• Emotional: anger, depression, anxiety
• Behavioral: uncontrolled eating, loss of appetite, drug abuse, trouble sleeping, social isolation and withdrawal