The 5 Stages of Stress
Last updated November 25, 2021
Stress is a normal part of life caused by all sorts of factors - environment, body and thoughts. We all encounter stressful situations in our daily lives, and it's important to remember that this is normal. The problem is when stress becomes constant in our lives, leading to burnout.
In this article, I explore the five stages of stress and how to manage it:
So how do we get from a 'normal’ level of stress to burnout?
Mostly, we get there because we are unaware of how stress affects us and what the stages of stress are. We continue to ignore the signals that our body is giving us, sometimes even starting to enjoying the buzzy highs and feelings of invincibility that increased levels of adrenalin and cortisol give us. We begin craving stress. Seeking out situations that give us this thrill, disliking and avoiding the signals of recovery. Living like this sends us on a downward spiral. A spiral leading to complete exhaustion, affecting our mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
There are 5 stages of stress, knowing them can help you take action in the moment, to stop yourself spiralling out of control.
Stage 1: Fight or Flight
We perceive some kind of threat. Our response? Alarm.
Our heart rate increases, our focus sharpens and our body begins to fill with adrenalin. We feel an impulse to either stay and fight, or run away. All of this helps us to increase activity for a short time as it’s a natural response, designed to help us to survive a threat - very useful during evolution. But now, not so much.
At work, our fight or flight response can be triggered by multiple things. Boring, monotonous tasks that fill us with dread, looming deadlines, juggling high volumes of work, managing demanding bosses and difficult relationships or coping with changes outside of our control such as company takeovers and restructures.
Stage 2: Damage control
If the threat we perceive is ongoing, such as an ever-increasing workload, our body tries to help us out by sustaining stage 1. Great.
Cortisol floods our system, to help us sustain our stage 1 response without causing any serious damage to our system.
Stage 3: Recovery
It’s time to take a break
After the initial rush of adrenalin and cortisol, our bodies begin to reset. This stage is marked by a feeling of exhaustion or fatigue. This is the time to take a step back and do some self-care like relaxation or rest.
When we listen to our bodies and take steps to embrace this stage we are able to reset ourselves for the next stressful event.
Stage 4: Adaption
Feeling overwhelmed and worn out
We make it to this stage if we have gone through stages one to two and ignore the signals our body has sent us in stage three, recovery.
During adaption, we tell ourselves that this level of stress is here to stay for the foreseeable future and we have to adjust to it. This stage is marked by all the negative effects of long term stress: irritability, overwhelm, overthinking, poor sleep patterns, fatigue, loss of self-esteem, second-guessing ourselves and so on.
Stage 5: Burnout
Burnout is the result of long term, unresolved stress. This can be defined as the loss of meaning in our work, coupled with mental, emotional, or physical exhaustion. For some, it may even lead to further physical and mental health complications.
Five ways to manage stress:
Take breaks throughout the day away from your workplace - move away from where you are working.
If you work in an office this may mean just going outside and taking in some fresh air. If you already work outside then perhaps going into the work cafeteria for a breakaway is just as good.
Introduce laughter and fun into your daily life.
Find ways to laugh at silly situations or introduce some playful approaches to your daily routines. For me, since I work alone and from home, it means occasionally taking a bit of time out to watch comedians on YouTube.
Physical activity.
This is especially important to those of us who are spending a lot of time at a desk (even standing desks) or in confined spaces. Taking a walk a couple of times a day is all that’s needed but you can increase this if you take exercise classes. It's entirely up to what level of exercise you want. The point is to move around, and if you can do it outside surrounded by greenery all the better.
Breathing exercises
It may seem trivial to take time out of your day to well, breathe. But the benefits of breathing exercises have been proven time and time again. All you need to do is sit and concentrate on your breath as it moves in and out of your body. Try this square breathing exercise. Doing this a few times a day will help interrupt negative thought patterns and calm your body.
Increase your EQ (emotional intelligence) skillset.
EQ is crucial to professional and personal success but is often misunderstood.
The easiest way to begin improving your EQ is to take a bit of time to reflect on those things that went well throughout the day. Once you’ve identified the successes, congratulate yourself and celebrate these.
Then turn your mind to things that didn't go so well and review what happened without judgement.
Ask yourself, 'If I was to do that again what different choices could I have made?' and 'how would that have played out?'.
Try to imagine what a more positive outcome could be.
Do this as many times as you like with different imagined scenarios. Then finish this exercise off by considering what you would do in the future if this situation should arise again. This activity helps us become more self-aware and more able to be flexible in our responses and choices when stressful situations arise.
Here are some more stress-busting techniques that you can also try. You may also be inspired by Michelle who learned how to beat stress at work through career coaching.
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