Home
About Stress What is Stress?
Causes of Stress
Stress & Health
Solutions Healthy Habits
Instant Stress Relief
Natural Stress Relief
Stress Relief Herbs
Helpful Techniques
Physical Solutions
Emotional Solutions
Mental Solutions
Spiritual Solutions
Values & Stress
Applications Anger
Fear
Healing Tips
Stress and School
Assistance Create a Plan
More Resources
Subscribe to GSR
Contact Us
Site Map
Participate

Our Response to Change can be
A Main Cause of Stress

change is a main cause of stress -part of nature

Change, as a main cause of stress, can not be completely avoided. Change and stress are part
of life.

Look at the natural world and you will see
ongoing change. The seasons change, the tides change, the earth turns. Beings are born, they live for awhile, and they leave.

The changes are continuous.

Adapting to Change
Requires Energy

The energy required to adapt to change is called "adaptation energy."

Hans Selye discovered that even changes we consider joyful create stress. He called this eustress. Changes which we are not happy about Selye called distress. Not surprisingly, distress can be more damaging to our bodies.

Walter Cannon, another pioneer in our understanding of stress, coined the term homeostasis. Homeostasis describes the body's natural tendency to maintain balance and stability in essential biological systems. Homeostasis is required for health.

From this we can understand why our response to change is often a main cause of stress.

If the challenges of excessive change overwhelm our homeostatic mechanisms, then our bodies can not maintain the required stability for health. Then stress and illness follow.

However there are strategies for coping with stress and change that help...

Sometimes We Can Choose to Reduce
the Changes in Our Lives

These 6 habits can increase our stability and reduce the amount of change and stress in our lives:

  1. keep a regular daily and weekly schedule,
  2. get up at the same time every day,
  3. go to bed at the same time every day,
  4. eat meals at the same times every day,
  5. eat simple easily digestible foods that our bodies are familiar with, and
  6. exercise daily.
But even when we do this...

Some Changes are Inevitable

This is true no matter how hard we try, or how many experts we consult. Change is going to happen in our lives. Change requires us to adapt and grow. It takes energy. We may have to:
  • reorganize our lives, or
  • learn new skills, or
  • make new relationships, or
  • create new habits, or
  • change our ideas and beliefs.

These Life Events are Usually Experienced
as a Main Cause of Stress:

These events often require major change and adaptation in our life.
  • Getting married or divorced,
  • Having a child,
  • Death of a loved one or close family member,
  • Having a serious health challenge,
  • Serious illness of a loved one or close family member,
  • Loss of job or profession,
  • Starting a new job or profession,
  • Loss of money or prestige,
  • Moving to a different house or city.

Adapting to Change is Easier
When We Are Emotionally Peaceful

Hans Selye recommends that we "do not put up resistance in vain."
By peacefully accepting the changes which are unavoidable we can reduce our stress levels. This is an important strategy for coping with stress and change.

This idea is expressed in the Serenity Prayer used in many
12 Step Recovery Programs and Groups.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change,
the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom
to know the difference.”

Although our response to change is commonly a main cause of stress, change is necessary for achieving our goals.
When we accept the necessity to change, we can more easily take the steps required to adapt, grow and fulfill our potential.

Fortunately, Stress Relief
Solutions Do Exist

Healthy lifestyle choices can give us more energy, make us stronger and more resilient. Healthy habits enable us to meet life’s inevitable challenges more easily. They help reduce the negative impact of all major types of stress and common causes of stress. They help with stress prevention.

Wander through this website and you may find some ideas and suggestions which are just perfect for you.

Read more about more of the biggest causes of stress, or,

Return from Change is a Main Cause of Stress to Gentle Stress Relief home page. Sources:

Selye, Hans. “The Nature of Stress.” http://www.icnr.com/articles/thenatureofstress.html

stress. (2008). Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2007 Deluxe Edition. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica.


footer for main cause of stress page