Nearly everyone experiences stress from time to time. Stress responses developed to motivate early humans to protect themselves from threats in their environment. While we aren’t facing down predators today, our natural stress responses can still be sometimes beneficial and even enhance our ability to accomplish tasks and solve problems.
Chronic stress, which is long-lasting and goes on for an extended period of time, can take a heavy toll on your mental and physical health. Stress can affect nearly every system in your body. Prolonged stress can increase the chances of developing a mental health disorder, like anxiety or depression, and lead to the onset of migraines, cardiovascular disease, or obesity. An individual with chronic stress, lacking healthy coping mechanisms, may turn to drugs or alcohol as a method of managing it. Stress can cause changes in the brain like those caused by addictive substances. This suggests that some people who experience stress may be more vulnerable to substance addiction or relapse.
It is important to distinguish between chronic and normal stress. Sensation seekers chase stressful situations knowingly or subconsciously as moderate and challenging stressors like games, tasks or exams, can give a high by releasing stress hormones. However, intense, unpredictable, prolonged stress,—such as interpersonal conflict, loss of loved ones, and unemployment, can produce learned helplessness and depressive-like symptoms. Chronic stress increases the risk for developing depression, and illnesses like the common cold, influenza, tension headaches, grinding teeth, and tensing the neck and shoulders. A best rehab in India like Zorbacare can help in treating this disorder.
How Does Substance Use Affect Stress?
There is a two-way relationship between stress and substance use. Chronic stress may lead individuals to use substances to cope. But substance use can also contribute to stress. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the prolonged use of substances is associated with certain changes areas of the brain related to responsible for impulse control, motivation, pleasure, and behavior. Over time, these changes can make it extremely difficult for someone to stop using substances even when they want to, despite negative consequences to their life and health. The negative consequences of one’s substance use, which may include economic instability, job loss, relationship strain, and medical or psychological health problems, can significantly increase one’s overall stress levels. Using is a means to regulate emotions and soothe psychological distress. If someone attempts to stop using substances, they may experience uncomfortable symptoms known as withdrawal. Withdrawal is an experience that can be incredibly stressful, both physically and psychologically, and is associated with strong cravings that lead to relapse.
Factors for Long term stress leading to disorders:
• Trauma in early childhood. Early adversity alters our genetics, making us vulnerable to stressful events causing a Fight-or-flight response, so that unknowingly, you’re ready for action and living in a state of emergency all the time. Adverse childhood experiences such as emotional neglect, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and family dysfunction are associated with an increased risk of addiction.
• The workplace provides almost routine exposure to chronic stress. Work-related stress may include factors such as the demands of the job, the ability to have control over decisions, and the degree of social support within the workplace. People in jobs where they perceive themselves to have no control or as being targeted, constantly criticized are susceptible to developing clinical anxiety and depression, as well as stress-related medical conditions like heart, blood pressure or diabetes which are stress related.
• An unhappy marriage, employment dissatisfaction, or harassment also causes stress and possibly addiction.
• Young adults are known to have decreased emotional control over self and impulses and an inability to delay gratification.
• Negative life events, such as parental divorce, high levels of parental conflicts, the loss of a parent, abusive parents, or even low parental support, are associated with higher levels of substance use disorders in adolescents.
• High emotional stress affects cognitive control and stress regulation. The part of the prefrontal cortex that is involved in deliberative cognition is shut down by stress. The stressed brain loses the ability to be reflective and becomes automatic and is associated with chronic stress.
• Stressed people are prone to give in to impulses like smoking, overeating or alcohol and prescription drug abuse, to cope with daily stress. Their addictive behavior is the result of their experiences and the environments in which they were brought up.
While it may not be possible to eliminate stress, we need to find ways to manage it. The stressful event or circumstance itself is not harmful. What matters is is the meaning that the event or circumstance has for the individual, how the person interprets
the stressor and how he or she copes with it. In Zorbacare – best rehab in India, our team can help with the understanding and redefining of ones stressors.
Coping with stress
- One can use reappraisal as a coping strategy by viewing situations differently. An individual’s style of interpreting the world and events has a profound influence on their experience of perceived stressors and their vulnerability to developing substance use disorders or other mental health disorders. Individuals, who generally view their experiences and actions as being within their sphere of control, and their feelings and attitudes as being subject to change, are less likely to suffer ill effects from stress and to develop substance use disorders.
- Individuals who perceive they have more control will tend to experience stressful events as less threatening and less stressful. These types of attitudes and perceptions are largely learned, and they are also based on experience. Thus, belief systems and attitudes can be changed and altered for better or worse.
- Reach out for help from other people. Positive and supportive relationships can help buffer the effects of stress. Reaching out to family or friends, joining a support group, or getting help from a therapist can help minimize your stress.
- Practice meditation or mindfulness programs which can help reduce stress and improve your health. Even if you do not have time for a meditation program, you can still reap the benefits of a few moments of mindfulness — the practice of focusing on the present moment. Taking some time to count your breaths is a simple way to practice mindfulness.
- Practice healthy habits. Getting enough sleep and eating well may be the last thing on your mind. Eating a balanced diet and getting a good night’s rest can help you cope with stressful situations as they arise.
- Get some exercise. Exercise provides many physical and emotional benefits, including helping people handle stress better. Any purposeful movement, such as walking, biking, hiking, yoga, weight training, or team sports, can be a helpful stress-reliever.
- Spend time in nature. Research has found that spending time outdoors can boost your mood and help reduce stress.
- Focus. To keep from feeling overwhelmed, concentrate on challenges one at a time.
- Step away from an argument or confrontation by taking a deep breath. Go for a walk or do some other physical activity.
- Move on. If you don’t achieve something you were trying for, practice and prepare for the next time. Or check out some other activity
We all must develop healthy ways to manage stress, and avoid turning to drugs or other substances to escape stressful realities. This can be done at alcohol and drug rehabilitation center like Zorbacare.
At Zorbacare rehab in Mumbai, we offer a range of evidence-based treatment options to help people with substance abuse disorders and co-occurring disorders. Our teams of highly qualified addiction treatment specialists will work with you to develop a customized treatment plan that takes into account your needs and goals.