What is stress?

What is stress?

The term stress is derived from the Greek “stringere” meaning to cause strain and although this word and its derivatives have existed for centuries, the concept of stress can be traced to the middle of the 19th century.. More than half a century ago, Hans Selye defined stress for the World Health Organisation as “the nonspecific response of the body to noxious stimuli” which is named General Adaptation Syndrome GAS.

In other words, our body becomes stressed, it activates a series of physical and psychological responses to meet external demands, the stress factors that cause a threat to our survival. For example, in the case of being cold our body reacts to conserve and generate heat: our hair stands on end and we get goosebumps, we shiver, etc…, our attention and our perception sharpen to focus on the problem…we move around looking for heat.

Do you think that your tasks, daily activities such as making a report in the morning, presenting a project to a committee, answering emails… can they be noxious environmental stimuli or stressors?

In the 1980s, new study models appeared about stress, in which the importance of subjectivity in each individual when assessing whether a situation is stressful or not, was emphasised.

The most influential model is the transactional or interactional model by Lazarus and Folkman, according to which, stress is a dynamic process of interaction between the individual and the environment.

According to this theory, stress emerges as a consequence of implementing cognitive assessment processes: if we interpret a situation as dangerous, or threatening, as for example a table with a stack of papers, lists of tasks on the computer, and we consider our resources, capabilities, abilities are few to face the negative consequences* that we perceive can bring stressors, a stress reaction will emerge**, which will launch coping strategies to try to eliminate or alleviate the non-desired consequences.