HEALTH + WELLNESS
EFFECTIVE WAYS TO LIGHTEN THE MENTAL LOAD AND BEAT BURNOUT .
2024 ’ s most recent mental health statistics have revealed that more than one in seven UK adults say their mental health is currently either bad , or the worst it ’ s ever been . Just as shocking , the term ‘ how to reduce stress ’ is searched on Google once every 10 minutes , on average , and last year alone , NHS England spent £ 217.5 million on medication to treat depression and anxiety .
Uncomfortable statistics - no one wants to think of the majority of people they know fighting their way through a daily battle of mental uncertainty – but are you really surprised ? Today ’ s ‘ normal ’ is a heady mix of information overload ( much of it mindlessly absorbed via the misinformation highway ), mobile phones , heightened interpersonal interactions ( take a bow , social media ) and physical overcrowding , all teamed with constant parenting , work and financial pressure , which has become progressively more intense thanks to an increasingly unmanageable cost-of-living crisis .
Even in best-case scenarios where it ’ s ‘ bearable ’ ( which is still less than ideal ), it ’ s evident that stress had become the norm and burnout a baseline condition for many of us in recent years – no doubt amplified by The Year That Shall Not Be Named ( that ’ s you , 2020 ) and the subsequent societal and economic fallout we ’ re all still shouldering .
So , what is stress ? Can we define it ? And , most importantly , what effective measures can we put in place relatively easily to avoid becoming part of a pretty gloomy statistic .
Picture yourself facing something scary , overwhelming , exhausting , or even really exciting . Each of those , and absolutely a combination of two or more , have the capacity to make us feel ‘ stressed out ’ – a term that ’ s become normalised . Scientifically speaking , stress is a more complicated notion , however , and generally , scientists consider it our body ’ s response to feeling out of whack . What causes an individual to become stressed , how they respond to it and the long-term impacts of stress on a particular person are linked to many factors – namely , physiological , behavioural , emotional and cognitive – but overall , the human stress response dates back millennia .
Imagine being one of our prehistoric ancestors , casually searching around for a few tubers to eat alongside the bird you ’ ve just snatched from a tree , then boom – a massive saber-toothed Smilodon sneaks up intent on adding you to the menu . Although today ’ s stresses may be a far cry from those of our ancient ancestors , we still dip into the same primitive toolbox to respond . Once danger is perceived , our brains send signals to our bodies , activating various glands and producing a surge of hormones that make our heartbeat race , our breathing speed up , our muscles tense and our energy upsurge while we ’ re on guard , prepared to attack or run : the good old ‘ fight or flight ’ response .
Often , thankfully , the stress response relaxes once the perceived threat ( work or study deadline , financial trouble , significant life event , feeling unsafe ) passes , and our body recovers its balance . When a ‘ threat ’ continues over time , though , the stress response stays in a heightened state of alert and it ’ s this chronic stress that takes a longterm toll , not only psychologically , but also physically , compromising our immune system , affecting heart health and increasing the risk of addiction or anxiety disorders – hence the current huge and unsustainable burden on the NHS and the unnecessary popping of pills by many to plaster over the problem .
Let ’ s look at the positives . Now that stress is finally being recognised as a condition that ’ s subjective to the person who ’ s feeling it , medical professionals are suggesting we learn how to deal with stress by understanding the situations that act as emotional triggers for us . Emotional triggers affect us all but vary wildly - yours could be a simple comment directed at you , or a situation you find yourself in that might not bother another person , but that has the potential to upset you for the rest of the day . These triggers are now widely accredited to past experience , often in childhood , that can set off feelings of anxiety , panic or sadness . Realising how we behave in response to a stressful situation , therefore , usually reveals a recurring reaction , and once that ’ s identified , we can choose to respond in a different way .
Think about the bigger picture Prolonged stress is often a product of
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