If we look at stress neutrally, everything in life creates some form of stress on our system. How we respond to that stress is what makes us all unique.
(Fair warning, my thoughts below may be a little philosophical).
Typically, when people hear the word “stress” they think of perceived emotional stress. In other words, stress that one is conscious of experiencing. Although these are indeed significant sources of stress, we must also consider unperceived emotional stress and both perceived and un-perceived physical stress.
Before I delve into the differences between these terms, the point I’m ultimately trying to make is that by simply being alive, we are consuming and experiencing the world and constantly responding or pushing back against it. In my opinion, your current state of health reflects your ability to efficiently handle this exchange.
Perceived emotional stress refers to the emotional stress of which you are aware. Relationships, finances, traffic, etc. These are events that create increased emotional demand that you are conscious of.
Non-perceived emotional stress refers to the combination of genetic emotional inheritances acquired from your parents and your individualized created identity. These inheritances and created identity form your “self.” When you are faced with environmental triggers, the “self” forms emotional behaviors and creates tendencies to cope with those emotional triggers. For instance, common emotional behaviors include embarrassment, shame, boisterousness, shyness, timidity, harshness, explosiveness, etc. We then begin to label these behaviors as our inherent “character” or “temperament.” We do not often view these behaviors as an affirmative decision because we are not conscious enough to observe our “self” interacting with our environment.
Perceived physical stress refers to physical trauma our body encounters that we are aware of. For example, a common cold, the flu, a concussion, broken bones, sore muscles, etc.
Unperceived physical stress refers to adaptive physiology that we are unaware of. Some examples of this are hypertension, elevated blood sugars, chronic infections, neurotransmitter reuptake, etc. This category can be the most challenging to understand and often requires medical diagnostics to uncover.
Disease is an example of our systems failing to respond well to their environment; symptoms are the body’s way of telling us that something is out of balance. Your physiology and biochemistry are not biased, they operate based on acute needs in the present moment to continue life. While these responses may produce uncomfortable sensations, it is important to remember that our body and mind are working together in an attempt to protect us and attain equilibrium.
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