Where Does Stress Come From?

The most common, albeit incorrect, answer to this question is from life’s circumstances…or stated differently, from the situations or events in our lives, some of which cause more discomfort and difficulties for us than others.

Without a doubt, that is how it seems. Most of us would agree that it feels like stress comes from the situations and events of our lives. However, in actuality, it is the thoughts we have, the places we go to mentally after the event or circumstance from which stress results.

We are learning more about the way our bodies and minds work all the time. And we know that every single part of our body has its own individual, specific job. Our muscles, kidneys, heart, skin, and brain all have their own set of directions in charge of what to do, how long to do it for, and when to do something. These ‘directions’ are sent out by the glands of our endocrine system and are critical to our well-being.

Simply put, our hormones are the carriers of our body’s messages, traveling to tissues and organs through our bloodstream, working slowly, affecting many of our human processes. One of those processes regulates our mood.

When we think about events in our lives, the conclusions we draw and our thoughts regarding those events all serve to impact how our endocrine system processes our mood. When things begin to seem as if they are more than we can handle, our capacity for holding onto stress is challenged. If it is challenged too much, our stress is more than we can handle, and it overflows into the way our body deals with some of its other chores and tasks.

It may impact our ability to eat properly. Depending on our individual conditions, we may significantly overeat when stressed or undereat. Similarly, some people feel depressed and fatigued and sleep more, while others cannot get a bit of sleep due to the stress build-up.  Some of us talk more nervously to helps us get through our most stressful times; others shut down entirely and withdraw deep into ourselves.