What Is Your Stress Level?
We can't tell what stress is doing to our body; what we don't know can harm us. Stress is not just what happens to you, or a feeling, or upsetting thoughts. It's all of the above, and more. The severity of the stressors we face, and our thoughts, feelings, and bodily responses, can differ in the levels of stress they indicate. Coping effectively with one component of stress may not help with others. So much has been written about stress that you might think everything that can be said has been said. But there are issues that are not widely recognized and yet have importance both scientifically and for the individual. Stress has multiple components. There are “stressors,” events and conditions that initiate stress; cognitive mediators, such as the perception and interpretation of stressors; stress responses, such as negative emotions and physiological changes; coping activity, our mental and behavioral efforts to manage stressors and their subjectiv...