Stress

Stress is a body reaction that arises when a person faces a threat, pressure, or change. Stress can also occur due to situations or thoughts that make a person feel hopeless, nervous, angry, or excited.

The situation will trigger the body's response, both physically and mentally. The body's response to stress can be breathing and a rapid heartbeat, muscles becoming stiff, and blood pressure rising.

Stress is often triggered by inner stress, such as problems in the family, social relationships, heartbreak, unrequited love, or financial problems. In addition, stress can also be triggered by job pressures, job cuts (layoffs), or diseases suffered. Having a family member who is easily subjected to stress, will make the person also more easily experience stress.

Everyone, including children, has experienced stress. This condition does not always bring adverse effects and is generally only temporary. Stress will end when the condition that causes the pressure or frustration is passed.

Prolonged stress can interfere with physical health as well as weaken endurance. In addition, stress can also cause disorders of the digestive system and reproductive system. People who experience prolonged stress will usually also experience sleep disturbances. Symptoms of Stress

Symptoms that appear when a person experiences stress can vary, depending on the cause and how to deal with it. Symptoms or signs of stress can be distinguished into:

• Emotional symptoms, such as irritable, frustrated, volatile or moody moods, difficulty calming the mind, low self-esteem, and feeling lonely, useless, confused, and lost control, to appear confused, avoid others, and depressed.
• Physical symptoms, such as weakness, dizziness, migraines, tension headaches, indigestion (nausea, diarrhea, or difficulty defecating), muscle pain, heart palpitations, frequent coughing colds, sleep disorders, decreased sexual desire, body trembling, ears buzzing, accomplices feeling cold and sweaty, or dry mouth and difficulty swallowing. Stress in women can also cause menstrual complaints or disorders.
• Cognitive symptoms, for example, often forget, difficulty focusing, pessimistic, having a negative outlook, and making bad decisions.
• Behavioral symptoms, such as not wanting to eat or even overeating, avoiding responsibility, and showing nervousness such as biting nails or walking back and forth, smoking, to consume alcohol in excess.

Causes of Stress

When a person faces a condition that triggers stress, the body will react naturally, namely by releasing hormones called cortisol and adrenaline. This reaction is actually good to help someone deal with a dangerous or threatening situation, so that they can get out of the situation.

There are various situations or events that can trigger stress, including:

• Don't have a job
• Burden at work
• Going through a job interview
• I don't get pregnant when you've been married long enough.
• Worry about not being able to care for a child
• Fighting with a partner
• Bad relationship with your boss
• Being a victim of abuse
• Getting married or divorced
• Kicked out of the house
• Undergoing judicial proceedings
• Suffering from a severe disease or difficult to cure.

Stress is hard to avoid. So, the most important thing is how to cope with stress, because when stress occurs prolonged, it can cause health problems. Diagnosis and Treatment of Stress

When a person is unable to cope well with stress and the stress becomes prolonged, it is recommended to consult a psychiatrist. Especially if stress is experienced repeatedly to cause physical symptoms.

Through counseling sessions, psychiatrists will find out the triggers, so that the treatment can be determined. When stress has affected the work of internal organs, the psychiatrist will recommend supporting examinations, such as laboratory examinations or heart records.

After evaluating the patient's problems, mental state, and physical condition, the psychiatrist will determine the appropriate course of treatment. The focus of handling stress is to change the way the patient's perspective and response to situations that cause stress.

Stress management methods include lifestyle changes, relaxation techniques, and psychotherapy.

Lifestyle changes include:

• Exercise regularly
• Implement a diet with balanced nutrition
• Limit caffeine consumption
• Avoiding alcohol and drug consumption
• Enough sleep
• Doing fun activities, such as watching events on the internet such as mukbang videos.

In addition to lifestyle changes, stress management efforts can also be done by doing relaxation techniques that can relieve stress, such as meditation, aromatherapy, or yoga.

In psychotherapy, psychiatrists will try to instill in the sufferer to always have a positive outlook in all conditions. In addition, the psychiatrist will ask the patient to make goals in his life, starting from goals that are easily achieved. Psychotherapy will be done in several sessions.

Don't hesitate to consult a psychiatrist if you feel prolonged stress.

Last updated: March 18, 2019

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5 Healthy Steps to Overcome Autoimmune Diseases

Illustration of an autoimmune disease awarness campaign (Flickr/Myostis Support)

Busy busyness is often the main reason a person forgets to take care of his health. How do I set the balance of time to take care of yourself, your family and your career? Especially if you often feel short of time off and experience stress due to the pressures of work in the office, taking care of the household and children at home, or social pressure from the surrounding environment.

These days it is often heard the term "autoimmune" disease, which attacks the immune system of the human body. However, due to lack of awareness and difficulty detecting this disease, then often the treatment is too late and fatal.

Recognize Autoimmune Diseases and Their SymptomsIed autoimmune diseases such as fatigue and joint pain (Flickr/ Karimah Laera)

According to John Hopkins Medicine research, autoimmune diseases occur when the body's natural defense system or immune system can no longer distinguish between normal cells and foreign cells, thus causing the body to mistakenly attack healthy cells. The function of the immune system (antibodies) is to fight bad cells such as germs, bacteria and viruses, not healthy cells.

What symptoms are often felt? Many autoimmune sufferers have similar symptoms, including: fatigue or prolonged fatigue; joint pain, swelling and stiffness in the neck, arms, hands and knees; skin problems such as hives and dryness; abdominal pain or digestive problems; swollen glands; hair loss; And difficulty concentrating.

Autoimmune Diseases In Indonesia - Drugs and supplements needed to reduce the impact of autoimmune diseases (Pixabay / Steve Buissinne)

The level of awareness of Indonesian people against autoimmune diseases is still low so data management does not yet exist. It is currently estimated to number survivors or autoimmune sufferers to the millions, and most are women of productive age.

In addition, autoimmune diseases are not widely understood by the public because of the lack of education and understanding about this disease. What's more, because the symptoms are not specific and there are 80 types of autoimmune diseases that affect various parts of the body.

Some common autoimmune diseases include:

• Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE): Chronic inflammation of various organs of the body, especially joints, kidneys and skin.

• Rheumathoid Arthritis (RA): the immune system that damages joints.

• Psoriasis: inflammation of the skin that makes the skin dry, red and scaly.

• Type 1 diabetes: The immune system damages the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

• Thyroid: when the body produces too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism) or does not produce enough thyroid hormone (hypothyroidism) it damages the thyroid gland and affects metabolism.

Characteristics of autoimmune diseases (Flickr/ Healthy Eve)

Until now, the cause of autoimmune diseases has not been known with certainty, but several factors such as lifestyle, environment, weight, genetics and gender are often associated as causes of immune system disorders. Most autoimmune diseases can not be cured because there is no cure, so if complaints are not quickly treated can attack vital organs and cause chronic diseases.

Even so, autoimmune diseases can already be diagnosed through antibody tests, and can also be controlled by following a healthy lifestyle.

5 Healthy Steps to Overcome Autoimmune Diseases

So what can autoimmune patients do or you to relieve symptoms and restore the balance of the immune system?

Here are some steps that can be followed to overcome autoimmune diseases and maintain health:

Sunlight As a Source of Vitamin D

UVB from sunlight as a source of vitamin D (Pixabay/ Jill Wellington

Some studies have found that one of the causes of autoimmune diseases is vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D not only serves to increase bone strength but also maintain immunity.

Sunlight can help produce vitamin D in our body, through the process of synthesis when the skin is exposed to Ultra Violet B (UVB) sunlight. The best time to sunbathe and get exposure to UVB rays is between 10:00 – 16:00 and is done for 5 - 15 minutes depending on skin color. People who are white absorb UVB rays faster than darker skins. But you are not recommended to sunbathe for too long to avoid the risk of skin cancer.

Food Consumption contains Vitamin D

Foods that contain vitamin D: salmon, cereals, milk and eggs (Flickr/Sheryltips)

In addition to exposure to UVB rays, to overcome autoimmune diseases, it is recommended to eat foods rich in vitamin D, such as: fatty fish with a high omega-3 content (salmon, tuna, and mackerel); soy processed products (tofu, tempeh and soy milk); milk and its products (cheese and yogurt); telor; mushrooms; And the heart of the cow.

Daily consumption of vitamin D for adults is recommended as much as 600-4000 IU, depending on the need. It is also best to choose natural sources of vitamin D that do not contain preservatives. Gluten-free breakfast menu: avocado, grapefruit, turkey sausage and sweet potato (Flickr/dejahthoris)

For autoimmune sufferers, a gluten-free diet is the best choice to improve the health of the digestive system. Research from John Hopkins Medicine also mentions for autoimmune sufferers, such as celiac disease who consume gluten can damage the small intestine and other organs, making it difficult for the body to absorb nutrients. By eliminating gluten consumption, it can automatically treat autoimmune conditions by reducing intestinal inflammation and leaky gut.

Gluten-containing ingredients such as flour and wheat, which are found in bread, pasta, cereals, pastries, instant noodles, sweeteners and artificial flavorings. Instead, non-gluten food options that can be tried such as: almonds, avocado, olive oil, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, rice (white and red), quinoa, corn, turkey, organic beef and berries. Stretching and yoga are recommended to boost the body's immunity (Pixabay/ Evita Ochel)

Many autoimmune sufferers, such as rheumatoid arthiritis avoid exercise for fear of worsening their symptoms. Safe and recommended sports are walking, cycling and swimming. Stretching movements from yoga and aerobics are also very helpful for flexing stiff joints and experiencing swelling.

Exercise is essential for improving physical fitness and flexibility, especially for strengthening the body's immune system, regulating the hormone system and optimizing the body's cells. Reducing the impact of stress: healthy and happy living (Pixabay/ Free-photos)

There is undoubtedly a huge effect of stress on physical and mental health, especially the body's immune system. Studies from Harvard Medical School report that stress can lead to autoimmune diseases, such as lupus or rheumatoid arthiritis. The study found that the incidence of autoimmune diseases was higher among people previously diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

In addition, stress causes physical, psychological and emotional tension, especially when facing a "fight or flight" response. This response is characterized by an adrenalin rush that causes rapid pulse and breathing, and an increase in blood pressure. For example, when you are chased by a dog or avoid a ticket on the highway. But what if there is prolonged stress triggered by worries, for example because you don't have money, a lot of debt or fear of failure? This condition can cause chronic diseases such as high blood pressure or autoimmune diseases.

So how do you reduce stress? There are many ways to deal with stress and manage unhealthy habits. By following the 4 important steps above, you can also lower stress levels. Exposure to UVB rays from the sun, consumption of foods containing vitamin D and gluten-free, and regular exercise have been shown to reduce stress and depression.

Education and awareness about autoimmune diseases are essential for autoimmune prevention and treatment, as well as improving public knowledge. Like any other disease, preventing autoimmune early on would be much better than having to treat it.

What about you, ready to try? Let's start following the above healthy steps to overcome autoimmune diseases and live a healthy life.

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