6 Causes of Stress You Might Be Ignoring & How to Fix Them

Today, working professionals are running everywhere for work, family, home and social events. A big to-do list and not enough time to complete the tasks. Ever wondered, what happens inside our body during this time?

On top of that, what happens to our body if we do this for many months and years? All this constant running around uses enormous amount of energy from our body. We go in stress mode. As Deepak Chopra said, “Stress is a state of imbalance that is experienced by each and every cell in our body.” This means, we are putting all our cells in a state that is not desirable.

Everyone has different stress triggers. Here are 6 causes of stress.

1. Workload: Excessively high workload and unrealistic deadlines at work.
2. Sedentary Lifestyle: On workdays, we go through a routine from the morning starting from brushing, shower, breakfast and going to office. Then at work, we sit for most of the time and work in front of a laptop or we are in meetings. At lunchtime, we eat our lunch, come back and do more work while sitting. When we come home, we take care of our family responsibilities. We eat dinner and sleep. Physical exercise is required for proper functioning of our internal body systems. If this does not happen, our body goes in stress.
3. Sensory Overload: In today’s world, we have busy schedules both at work and at home. In addition, we are bombarded with data from all sides. We browse through forwards, images and watch & listen videos on our smart phone. We face traffic and noises on roads. We have strong aromas and variety of tastes. This is called sensory overload. Sensory overload can result from the overstimulation of any of the senses. For 1 stimulus from the environment, our body has to go through 3 trillion calculations and this uses tremendous energy available in our body. Now, imagine the number of stimuli we are subjecting ourselves to everyday!
4. Different Roles We Play: As working professionals, at home we play different roles of a mother, father, brother, sister, son and daughter. At work, we are either an individual contributor or a manager or both. We participate in social events. In addition, we are neighbors. Each of these roles comes with a set of responsibilities. If there is no proper understanding of these roles and there is no proper planning, we go haywire.
5. Food: What we eat, how much we eat, when we eat, how frequently we eat and what is our state of mind when we eat – all these factors affect the internal workings of our body.
6. Lack of Physical Exercise: Our body can produce energy only if we exercise. Our body is designed in such a way that it can help us, but it cannot help itself. For example, our hands and fingers help us lift and grab different things, but the hand cannot help itself. We have to help our hands by exercising. We have to take care of our body.

To learn more, you can check out my How to Manage Stress: Effective Tips and Techniques online course.