Stress, tension, and concentration problems

Before we start exploring these topics further, let’s get some basic definitions cleared:

What is Stress? 

Stress is our reaction to a challenging situation. These reactions could be in the form of bodily responses (“sweating hands, shaking legs, headaches) or a mental response (thoughts such as “Will I do well in life, images about a gloomy future). Generally, challenging situations are accompanied by uncertain outcomes. And any uncertain outcome is bound to induce stress within us.

What exactly does tension mean?

Stress is often divided into two types: short-term stress and long-term stress. Short-term stress is usually referred to as tension. Sometimes, a certain period of your life can be highly demanding and your ability to cope may be affected because it feels like there is too much on your plate. During times like this, we start referring to having “too much tension”. In psychotherapy, however, tension is more often a verb. When pressure builds up in our chest, and our hands and legs start to become rigid and tight, this is referred to as muscular tension, or tension in short. Tension is basically a byproduct of stress.

 What is concentration and attention?


Concentration is the behaviour of focusing our attention on a task. Attention is like the torch-light of our mind, that helps us to zoom into things are around us or inside of us. You can bring your attention to a sensation on your legs, and then change it to the sound of traffic. 

When we narrow our attention, and focus on one particular task – we refer to it as “concentrating on the task.” Now, concentration is generally the first thing that gets affected when stress shows up, because it gets difficult to work on a particular task when your mind is continuously chattering in the background.

What are the symptoms of stress?

• Headache
• Muscle tension
• Dry mouth
• Restlessness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Difficulty dealing with to-do lists
• Isolating oneself
• Emotionally drained
• Confusion
• Forgetfulness
• Procrastination

Stress can sometimes be confused with anxiety because they have overlapping symptoms. Read this article to know more about how they are different from each other.

Fun Fact: ‘Stressed’ spelled backwards is ‘Desserts’! 🙂  

What are the causes of stress?

Stress is caused by situations and and circumstances such as: 

1. Situations that are new and out-of-our-comfort zone
Examples: attending a job interview, giving a speech

2. Situations where you do not know what the outcome is like
Examples: dealing with illness, becoming a parent

3. Situations where you have little control over things around you
Examples: the way your company functions, constantly bickering in-laws

More about the stress hormone

As a reaction to our ever-changing circumstances,  adrenal glands in our body produce ‘cortisol’, commonly known as the stress hormone. Cortisol is responsible for making us go through the symptoms mentioned above. 

This is actually a life-saving response. If we didn’t have our body producing cortisol, we couldn’t have survived for so many generations. When we were cavemen and cavewomen, our stress hormone helped us to get away from danger by warning us about the hazards of prehistoric life. But now, due to evolution, our modern mind also reacts in a similar way and challenging situations can lead to high levels of cortisol. To know more about cortisol, read this article from Psychology Today.

How common is stress in India?

A survey conducted by Cigna TTK Health Insurance shows that 89%of the Indian population suffers from stress, and a majority of them do not seek professional help. Females and males seem to have similar levels of stress. 

Interestingly, millenials are more open to seeking help. This is both good news and bad news. The good part is that this means that the awareness regarding seeking counselling and therapy seems to be improving, but the bad part is that the awareness doesn’t seem to be enough because the elderly population is not seeking help. 

The first step towards a less stressful life..

Life is rarely ever giving us what we want – so stress has now become the part and parcel of our lives.

At Aware Mental Health, during our therapy sessions, you will work on recognizing stress (the positive sides and the negative sides of it) and the triggers that’s causing it. Through experiential exercises, you will work on more effective ways to handle stress and get the much needed psychoeducation on ‘attention’ and psychological strategies to improve attention – thereby improving concentration. 

Sindhushri BS
Founder and Therapist - Aware Mental Health

When Sindhushri is not indulging in clinical work, she is seen singing songs with her daughter, exploring board games with her husband, playing sitar with her mother, and creating zentangles during her alone time. 

 

Sindhushri BS
Founder and Therapist - Aware Mental Health

When Sindhushri is not indulging in clinical work, she is seen singing songs with her daughter, exploring board games with her husband, playing sitar with her mother, and creating zentangles during her alone time. 

Take the next step

Call at +91 86603 88394 and we can set up your free consultation.
If you would like to schedule an appointment instead, please click here:

Take the next step

Call at +91 86603 88394 and we can set up your free consultation.

If you would like to schedule an appointment instead, please click here: