– Quarratul Ain Ifrah
What if stress is not about the head and worrying the way it is commonly understood? The word ‘stress’ has been receiving a lot of attention with the rise of new work ethics, and the simultaneous increase in psychological studies, but the mere popularity of the word has done little to manage its effects. The way we understand stress needs to be completely redefined.
We cannot help but agree that teaching as a profession is highly stressful. The teacher is required to do high amounts of work in short periods, mix up his work and personal life boundaries and perform constant “emotional labour”. He/she must appear calm and encouraging before the student, suppressing their own emotions at all times. The AI and technology have brought a sudden generation gap between the teacher and students, without any time for the teacher to catch up, creating a very overloaded and confused work state. Therefore, they must understand stress as a concept and the strategies of managing it.
In the simplest of terms, Stress is the state of imbalance between the demands placed on the individual and his/her ability to handle them. Any task that is beyond the individual’s resources is deemed as stressful, and the resources can be physical, mental or material.
But where is the pressure coming from?
Stress is a highly subjective experience; a single event may have different effects on different individuals. The sight of a snake may scare a little girl, but for a snake-charmer, it creates no stress at all. A student who has prepared completely for an exam is very obviously less stressed than one who is unprepared. The cause of stress can hence be defined not only by the difficult event or situation, but also by the personal interpretation of that event, which decides whether it is difficult or easy.
The personality traits of the individual, if he is a perfectionist or a procrastinator, his genetic or hereditary traits and also the social pressure placed on the individual in his/her family or work setting – to perform a given task in a given time with high proficiency as well, all lead to the experience of stress.
And It Has Consequences
The part that makes stress intolerable and disables the person from doing any other task is, of course, its aroused state. The human body is designed for survival, and anything that is in any way threatening to its survival is a cause of stress. It does not differentiate between the sight of a tiger or an important work deadline, so any stressful event pushes the body into a fight or flight state, which is characterised by high heart rate and BP, tensed muscles, digestive issues or sleep disturbances. The aroused state uses up all of the body’s energy sources, so if the body is under stress for a long time, it eventually shuts down. The individual faces chronic fatigue, and at one point, the mental processes dysfunction as well. Concentration, memory, mood swings and feelings of frustration arise. The person may then depend on the use of substances like excess coffee, drugs, tobacco or alcohol to cope. He begins to avoid more responsibilities, and simply exists helpless and overwhelmed – leading to more causes of stress in the future, and the cycle continues.
But what if there was no exam? No pressure at all? The result would not be productive or healthy either, because a limited amount of stress is required at every stage to enable growth and learning, and only when this limit is crossed unreasonably, and the individual is expected to perform more than their abilities, the stress becomes harmful. Harmful to the extent of death.
What can we do differently?
So, if unchecked stress is that fatal, it is not only needful, but immediately vital to understand the ways to manage the stress. We may begin by understanding that stress is not a disease or an enemy; it is simply our body’s call for balance, a signal of overheating, and if we listen to the call, the situation is easily faced. Stress management may require different methods, based on the extent and the event of the stress, such as direct problem solving if the stressor is addressable, or emotion-focused management to change our negative emotions if the event is out of control. Cognitive reframing also allows the person to change their outlook to a more positive one, so that the same event is perceived as a challenge or opportunity instead of a threat, and hence reduces the stress.
Some instant techniques like deep breathing/box breathing, grounding exercises (5-4-3-2-1), or brain dumping can help to provide immediate relief in the middle of the stressful situation by calming the body and reminding it that you are still in control, but if the stressor or the event is likely to be long-term and stretch for years, it requires a complete change in lifestyle and mindset to adapt to it.
Solutions in the long run
This may include seeking relief in religion and spirituality, a belief and faith, which allows the person to think beyond his material situation and be patient. Regular physical exercise, healthy diet and sleep schedule prepare the body for future stress and reduce its effects, while mental activities such as engaging in hobbies, reading, emotional expression and social interaction may strengthen the mind and its ability to deal with stress. Time management is also a major feature in stress prevention, as more than half of the pressure arises due to a lack of time. The priority of tasks to be done in a given time has to be arranged appropriately. Some tasks are important-urgent, important-unurgent or not-important and not-urgent at all. If important tasks are performed before they become urgent, the likelihood of stress is completely erased.
If any of the long-term lifestyle changes are implemented, the likelihood of stress is erased.
Stress is inevitable, and for teachers who carry the weight of so many futures, acknowledging stress is not weakness; it is wisdom. So let’s strive to not only eliminate stress, but recognise it and respond to it in the way it requires.
[The writer is based in Kalaburagi, Karnataka. qurratulainifrah@gmail.com]
