For many of us, stress is a part of our daily lives. It’s what you feel when the deadline for an assignment approaches or an exam is just around the corner. People who work, for example, feel stress when they have to complete specific tasks or struggle with the workload. There are various forms of sources of stress.
Stress is an old mechanism that puts the body into a heightened state of reaction to cope with the situation. But because of its archaic origins, it does not always do its job well (and does not always adapt well to the modern age).
We will start by looking at the types and sources of stress.
Then we will look at the different causes of stress, including life changes and daily life hassles and uplifts.
Next, we will explore physiological sources of stress.
Then we will look into sources of stress in the workplace, including the effects of workload and control.
Finally, we will briefly look at the effects of stress in the workplace.
Types and Sources of Stress
So what is stress, and what are some types and sources of stress?
Stress is an automatic physiological response to a perceived threat.
The stress response is also known as the fight or flight response. This is the body preparing to fight or run from the perceived threat. The body’s response includes an increased heart rate and muscle tension. This is known as acute stress and will fade when the threat passes.
If this stress response is chronic and the overwhelming pressure often occurs or over a long time, this can lead to physical and mental health issues, such as high blood pressure or anxiety.
Fig. 1 - Stress can be acute or chronic.
Sources of stress include the environmental factors that trigger a stress response, and that can influence our mental health.
These factors can be:
- Everyday struggles inherent to our routine
- Workplace stress includes many factors, such as workload and project deadlines.
- Significant life changes, such as the death of a loved one, disrupt one’s life.
Some main sources of stress are financial problems, work stress, personal relationships (e.g., friends, partners, family), stress from parenting (managing a busy schedule), and daily hassles.
In addition, our personality can play a part in the stress we experience; for example, perfectionists may demand too much of themselves, leading to stress.
Causes of Stress
Let us examine some of the different causes of stress, such as life changes and daily hassles and uplifts.
Sources of Stress: Life changes
Life changes are significant events that disrupt daily routine to such an extent that the tasks automatically become more strenuous, such as getting ready for work every day. We then invest more mental energy in these minor tasks, leaving us exhausted and unable to focus on other areas of our lives.
Life changes can be positive (e.g., a marriage) and negative (e.g., a divorce) at the same time. Any type of life change requires physical and psychological adjustment; the more significant the life-changing event, the more adjustment it will require.
Holmes and Rahe (1967) developed a Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) based on 43 everyday life events and analysed 5000 patients. These events are referred to as life-changing units (LCU) and constitute the numbers of each score. A higher LCU means the event was more stressful.
The death of a spouse, a divorce, and a school change are examples of the 43 everyday life events included in the list.
The scale itself is composed of these LCUs, and Holmes and Rahe ranked them according to how stressful they were reported to be.
The death of a spouse would have an LCU value of 100, while a change in eating habits would have a value of 15.
A total LCU score of less than 150 was associated with a healthy life. However, people who reported a total LCU value of over 150 were 30% more likely to have a disease in the next year. People with an LCU score above 300 were 50% more likely to report poor health.So we see that the more stressful life events occur in a person’s life, the more likely they are to become ill afterwards.
Life events are a group of experiences collected from the patients in the sample (400 participants) and then rated according to the degree of adjustment in their lives.
Fig 2. - Holmes and Rahe’s Social Readjustment Scale gives numerical values to life events known as Life Changing Units.
Sources of Stress: Daily Hassle and Uplifts
Small but frequent events that produce stress and frustration characterise daily annoyance. Daily annoyances are cumulative because they occur frequently and build up. They can also cause chronic stress.Lazarus (1980) stated that daily hassles cause more stress than life changes because life changes are less frequent. Daily hassles are common, everyday struggles, such as missing a train, being late for work, getting a warning, etc.
Everyday occurrences that can cause stress are both positive and negative.
Negative problems are smaller, frequent events that cause stress throughout the day.
Positive uplifts are small, good things that counteract stress during the day.
According to some research, daily inconveniences and uplifts are a source of stress. Let us look at the studies that support this concept.
Kanner et al. (1981) developed a hassle and uplift scale. The hassle scale consisted of 117 events that included work, family, and friends. Participants had to rate the intensity of the hassles they experienced on a three-point scale. The uplift scale included 135 positive events, such as a good night’s sleep. Participants had to rate how often they experienced these events during the period.
Kanner et al. (1981) examined the relationship between daily hassles, uplifts and stress symptoms they caused. The SRRS scale served as a predictor of stress symptoms.
The researchers conducted the study on 100 American, white, middle-class individuals aged 45-64 years. All participants completed the SRRS questionnaire one month before the study’s start and completed another SRRS questionnaire during the nine-month study. Once a month, all participants completed the hassles and uplift questionnaire and a questionnaire measuring symptoms of depression or anxiety.
The research found:
Researchers found a positive association between daily hassles and symptoms of stress, such as depression and anxiety.
Researchers found a negative correlation between uplifts and stress symptoms in women but not men.
Daily hassles cause more stress symptoms than life events.
Gervaise et al. (2005) examined the relationship between daily hassles and stress symptoms. The participants were all nurses.
Nurses had to keep a daily diary for one month to record their daily hassles and uplifts in their jobs.
They also had to rate their job performance during the month.
After one month, the nurses reported their uplifts counteracted the negative stress related to their daily hassles.
The nurses’ performance also improved.
DeLongis et al. (1988) developed a combined hassles and uplifts scale in which they rated 53 items according to the extent to which they were either a hassle or an uplift to an individual. In addition to the scale, participants also completed a questionnaire that captured life events.
They also observed the hassles and illnesses to coincide the next day. Still, there was no association between life events and illness, suggesting the daily hassles we described above have more impact on stress and health.
Physiological Sources of Stress
We can also experience physiological sources of stress. Any internal or external stress affects our internal body system and disrupts homeostasis (a stable internal environment).
Our body may experience physiological stress in three ways: from the environment, development, and ageing.
Environmental stress refers to anything in the environment that can disturb the body, such as extreme temperatures.
If someone were climbing an icy mountain, plunging the body into a freezing temperature, they would experience physiological stress from this cold.
Developmental stress is the stress the body experiences as it develops from an embryo until adulthood.
The nervous system undergoes stress due to the developing brain increasing in mass.
We can also distinguish stress from ageing. As we age, different parts of the body change.
Areas of the brain may lose functionality from the deterioration of synaptic connections.
Sources of Stress in the Workplace
There are six main areas of work-related stress:
- Demands (e.g., not being able to cope with job demands).
- Control (e.g., someone feeling like they have no control over how they work).
- Support (e.g., not receiving enough support).
- Relationships (e.g., being harassed at work).
- Role (e.g., not fully understanding what the role entails).
- Change (e.g., adjusting to when changes at work happen).
Two main aspects of workplace stress studied by psychologists relate to the effects of workload demands and perceived control.
A high-demand workload that requires a lot of time and energy combined with a low perception of control (such as not feeling free to work independently or being under constant supervision) can cause excessive workplace stress.
Effects of Stress in the Workplace
As we have mentioned previously, stress causes significant changes in the body, and chronic stress can have a detrimental effect on people’s health and well-being. Workplace stress is not different.
Consistent stress in the workplace can lead to job burnout, which involves severe physical, behavioural and psychological fatigue due to the demands at work. Symptoms of burnout include:
- Severe fatigue.
- Sleep problems.
- Gastrointestinal issues.
- Feelings of hopelessness.
- Mood swings.
- Increased isolation and relationship difficulties.
- Anxiety.
- Depression.
Workplace stress is an important factor for employers to consider, as it can seriously affect employee health. In turn, this affects businesses and other employees when staff take time off sick or leave permanently.
Fig. 3 - Workplace stress can lead to job burnout.
Sources of Stress - Key takeaways
Sources of stress are factors that trigger a physiological response, i.e. trigger a stress response.
Different sources of stress include daily hassles, life changes and workplace stress.
Life changes are significant life events that can disrupt the daily routine. The more stress, the more psychological adjustments are required. Holmes and Rahe (1967) developed the SRRS scale to measure major life events and their effects on stress.
Some examples of physiological sources of stress are environmental, developmental and ageing factors.
The effects of stress in the workplace, i.e. the psychological effects of job stress, can have a detrimental effect on physical and psychological well-being.
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