Understanding stress and how counselling and therapy can help is explained in this article by James Miklos, MCC, R.P., Stress Counselling in Oakville Ontario.  With years of experience and insight James Miklos, MCC, R.P.provides effective stress counselling and caters to the Oakville Ontario area.

Why does stress happen?

Stress is meant to be a mechanism of self-protection, to put us into action that can bring us to a place of safety. When our system, in particular the amygdala of our brain perceives a threat it calls on our body to stress, to react to the situation for fight or flight for self-preservation.

What are some types of stress?

Positive stress is called Eustress, which is a short term stress that occurs in order to strengthen us for immediate action. This can occur when exercising, during creativity, and times when we need inspiration and motivation. The effects of this stress resolves itself in 1 to 2 days and no intervention is required.

Negative stress includes 3 other types, Distress, Hyperstress, and Hypostress.

Distress is harmful to us physically, mentally and socially. It does cause us to adapt to changing situations but if it is longterm or cyclical then it is dangerous to your life and health.

Hyperstress is when we are overloaded because its too much for us. This can quickly bring on physical symptoms that are problematic.

Hypostress this is when our lifestyle is too predictable and lacks productivity and purpose. This will cause the body to degenerate along with your mental faculties. This can be considered a shutdown. Often hypostress occurs because of a deep underlying fear and/or grief.

Who can suffer from stress?

Anyone from children, teens, adults to seniors can suffer from chronic stress which will cause health issues of mind and body.  This is why it is crucial to receive help via Stress Counselling.

Understanding stress and trauma

When trauma occurs this will be worsened such as what happened to those who were present in Las Vegas at the shooting in October 2017. If these stress symptoms turn into long-term for the people that were present then they will develop PTSD.

Anytime we have experienced, witnessed, or heard of family members or friends being in distressing situation we will be stressed and possibly develop Post-traumatic stress disorder. This calls for us to take action and seek out professional help to resolve this stress. If you do not take the necessary steps to resolve chronic stress then not only will your physical health suffer but also you will suffer in your performance in such areas things as:

• Poor decision making
• Fine motor skills affected
• Loss of enjoyment of your work
• Loss of attention span
• Increase of negative thoughts
• You will develop self-confidence issues
• You will experience difficulty concentrating
• Suffer loss of positive energy

What happens during stress?

Short term adrenaline is released which prepares the body for short term short bursts of stress.

Cortisol is usually associated with long term stress which increases energy production in response to stress but lead to many problems including weight gain, inability to lose weight.

Onset insulin resistance, liver disease, high cholesterol, cant lose weight

In a typical day we produce 40-50 mg of DHEA 25-35 of cortisol 3-5 mg of aldosterone but when we are under stress these levels increase.

What steps should I take to reduce stress?

As mentioned above developing some good habits will aid in reducing your stress and sometime all it takes is some Life Coaching to do just that. Some stress is persistent and chronic which requires some quality psychotherapy and natural health remedies along with lifestyle changes.

At New Hope Counselling Centre we specialize in alleviating stress from people’s lives. Our team of professionals are well equipped to help you to destress and normalize your life. We have served and help many from the community of Oakville, Ontario.

We are located centrally in Burlington right next door to Oakville, Ontario. Our expertise and satisfied clients have come from all around the Golden Horseshoe. Contact us today and get the help you need to begin living a stress free life!