Hans Selye one of the fathers of stress research teached us that stress is not necessarily something bad, that it's part of the natural experience of living and that even the animals have stress. And Selye stated that the biochemical effects of stress would be experienced whether the situation that originated was a positive or a negative one.

But although all of us suffer stress, there's not an unique response to stressful events, because stress is greatly influenced by what we think about the stressing situation.

The first thing that we need to learn about stress is that's a natural response of our body and that stress does not need to be all bad. Sometimes we need a bit of stress in our daily lives as a challenge that can help us reach higher heights.

So the big secret is that we do not need to lean how not to have stress, but we need to learn how to channel that energy into something beneficial and positive.

IDENTIFYING THE CAUSES OF STRESS

Walter Cannon studies in 1932 is the father of the "fight or flight" response that says that when an living being perceives something as as threat, it reacts instantly by releasing hormones that help him survive either fighting either running away from the threat.

What do that hormones do in our bodies?

They increase the heart rate and blood pressure, delivering more oxygen and blood sugar to major muscles, which allow us for greater speed and strength. We can also trigger the same response when we face something unexpected or frustrating, although we might not notice the changes in our bodies.

But all these changes in our bodies that spring into survival mode have also a negative consequence, because we become excitable, anxious, jumpy and irritable, and this may difficult us to carry out controlled skills, and turn us more accident-prone and less able to make good decisions. And on the long term it can also affect our health.

So we need to be able to control our fight or flight response, and for that we need to identify stress in our life.

Many people think that because they are not aware of how much stress they are carrying it can't be so serious to have it. But regardless of how much harm can do you, if you learn to identify it, you can learn how to deal more effectively with stress.