Stress – Stressors

In the last article, we saw what is Stress and mentioned about two categories of causes for Stress (Stressors) – External and Internal Stressors. What are they?

Stressors are of two categories Internal and External. External Stressors are triggers acting upon our mind and body causing Physical or Mental Stress. Internal Stressors are triggers acting from within us (our mind and body).

External Stressors

• Physical Environment: We may get stress due to loud noise, bright light, temperature (cold or hot) from our surroundings. We may also get stress by being confined to a closed environment – within the four walls of a room
• Social Interaction: At work or at home, there may be many who control us or act like our boss. Some people may interact with you in a rude manner. Aggressive behaviour of others may annoy you. Due to these, we may also lose our temper and react in the same manner which results in stress on our body and mind
• Organizational Structure: Every organization will have its own rules and regulations, do’s and don’ts to control their operations and interaction. Not all will be in our favour. You will be pressurized with deadlines from your customers, suppliers, superiors and the board. All these add to your physical and mental stress
• Life Events: A Job Loss, Death of a near and dear one, unable to get an appreciation or promotion in work all creates mental stress on you. You may be pregnant and nearing delivery. There are many such events in life which are stressful to you
• Daily Routine: You may be struggling to balance the work and home life with no one to help you in daily chores. Getting up early, doing household and office works and not getting proper sleep will pressurize you a lot. You may have to commute between home and office in heavy traffic. It is obvious that such a person gets both physical and mental stress at the end of the day
• Unexpected Events: Some days you may forget to take your office keys or mobile and remember only once you are half way through. Your vehicle can breakdown in the middle. You may also meet with a minor accident. These are common scenarios in our daily life and quite natural to get stressed
• Money Problems: You may be having a tough time balancing your income and expenses. Your budget and calculations can go wrong due to unexpected expenses

Internal Stressors

• Lifestyle: Everyone wants to live happy though not in luxury. You will have social gathering, late night parties and outings. How you live your life, what you eat, when you eat, how much sleep do you get are all important in life. If you have an overloaded schedule every day, it is going to hurt you mentally and physically. So, have a control on your lifestyle
• Negativity within Self: You may compare yourself with others in the peer. Everyone cannot be similar and you can only be you. Each person has good and bad within. If you start thinking yourself inferior to your colleague, neighbor or others, it will create a negativity within you. Over a period of time, this will reach its peak and start taking a toll on your health as well as behaviour
• Expectations in life: Everyone will have certain ambitions and expectations in life. When you are over ambitious or expect more than what you can achieve, then you slowly feel dejected and making your life stressful. You may have to compromise on several occasions and don’t be rigid in your expectations and dealings. Being rigid will take you to a situation, where you cannot adjust to anything
• Personality Traits: You may be a perfectionist or workoholic. You will expect the same thing from your family members and colleagues. It will be difficult for you to adjust or compromise with others if they don’t perform as you wish
• Ego: Ego is one big factor which can put you into enormous stress. You would never want to listen to others or allow others to do things in their own way

Internal Stressors creates emotional and mental stress within you. Some common symptoms are Anger, Anxiety, Worry, Fear, Depression, Laziness etc.

We will look into the Negative and Positive Stress in our next article.