4. What is stress?

Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous.

Stress is your body's reaction to a challenge or demand. For short periods, stress can be positive, such as when it helps you avoid danger or meet a deadline. But when stress lasts for a long time, it may harm your health.

Apparently most of us only think about the negative sides of stress, things that we believe or perceive to be beyond our control. When we feel we cannot cope with the task in front of us or the situation we are in, we can feel overwhelmed and stressed. Some Carers may feel overwhelmed, tense, irritable, can’t cope, can’t be bothered, tearful, and can’t sleep, have no time, no energy and may smoke, take drugs or may drink more. These may be some of the signs of feeling under pressure of feeling stressed.

But if we believe we can cope, this belief can motivate us into action. Even from a difficult situation we can learn and we can grow. 

We will look at Stress and Coping in the context  of Later Stage Dementia Care.