Stress is the combination of psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions that people have in response to events that threaten or challenge them. Stress can be good or bad depending on the situation which someone is facing. Sometimes, stress can be helpful, providing people with the extra energy or alertness they need. Unfortunately, most stress does not fall under that category and can become harmful when not managed effectively. This is known as distress and is what most people are referring to when they mention stress. Distress can increase the risk of developing health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and anxiety disorders. Stress can be thought of in terms of stressors and stress responses. Stressors are events that threaten or challenge people. They are the sources of stress, such as having to make decisions, getting married, and natural disasters. Stress responses are psychological, physiological, and behavioral reactions to stressors. Anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and muscle tension are all examples of stress responses. You can test your stress by taking many different stress tests or exercise electrocardiography, a test that evaluates the performance of the heart by subjecting it to controlled amounts of physical stress. I know that many students, and sometimes I do, feel an increase in stress and anxiety when writing a paper, meeting a deadline, or studying for an exam. This can cause twitching, trembling, muscle tension, headaches, sweating, irritability, fatigue, and even dry mouth. I deal with this by just having a positive attitude, by knowing that I can complete the task in front of me and following a few simple rules for myself. By following these steps a student that scored high on the stress test can do many things to lower their level of stress. First off, when dealing with stress a student's physical well being and the attitude of that student need to be improved.
