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Introduction:
Stress Diaries are useful for understanding the causes of short-term stress in your life. They also give you an insight into how you react to stress. 

The idea behind Stress Diaries is that on a regular basis you write down how stressed you’re feeling, so that you can understand these stresses and then manage them. This is important because often these stresses flit in and out of our minds without getting the attention and focus that they deserve.

Introduction
This article provides an insight into what happens at a physiological level when a person becomes stressed. Although this article may seem rather complicated, it is an oversimplification of what happens. It is suggested that readers interested in increasing their understanding about this topic refer to advanced texts that are available.

The Stress Response
When people perceive that they are in threatening situations that they are unable to cope with, then messages are carried along neurones from the cerebral cortex (where the thought processes occur) and the limbic system to the Hypothalamus. This has a number of discrete parts.

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In the past four decades, a number of useful definitions of stress have been developed by researchers. We provide a range of these below: 

Stress arises when individuals perceive that they cannot adequately cope with the demands being made on them or with threats to their well-being. R.S. Lazarus (1966). Psychological stress and the coping process. New York: McGraw-Hill. 

Stress, it is argued, can only be sensibly defined as a perceptual phenomenon arising from a comparison between the demand on the person and his or her ability to cope. An imbalance in this mechanism, when coping is important, gives rise to the experience of stress, and to the stress response. T. Cox (1978). Stress. Basingstoke: Macmillan Education. 

Stress results from an imbalance between demands and resources. R.S. Lazarus and S. Folkman (1984). Stress, Appraisal and Coping. New York: Springer. 

Stress is the psychological, physiological and behavioural response by an individual when they perceive a lack of equilibrium between the demands placed upon them and their ability to meet those demands, which, over a period of time, leads to ill-health. S. Palmer (1989). Occupational stress. The Health and Safety Practitioner, 7, (8), 16-18. 

A simple definition that can be used is: Stress occurs when pressure exceeds your perceived ability to cope. 

S. Palmer, 1999.

So far, we have seen that stress is a negative experience. We have seen the short-term negative effects that stress hormones can have on your performance, and have seen how stress can contribute to burnout.

The Positive Effects of Pressure

Sometimes, however, the pressures and demands that may cause stress can be positive in their effect. One example of this is where sportsmen and women flood their bodies with fight-or-flight adrenaline to power an explosive performance. Another example is where deadlines are used to motivate people who seem bored or unmotivated. We will discuss this briefly here, but throughout the rest of this site we see stress as a problem that needs to be solved.

We’ve already looked at the survival benefits of the fight-or-flight response, as well as the problems this caused for our performance in work-related situations. We’ve also seen the negative “burnout” effect of exposure to long-term stress. These effects can also affect your health – either with direct physiological damage to your body, or with harmful behavioral effects.

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There are two types of instinctive stress response that are important to how we understand stress and stress management: the short-term “Fight-or-Flight” response and the long-term “General Adaptation Syndrome”. The first is a basic survival instinct, while the second is a long-term effect of exposure to stress.

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Using the principles of Rational Effectiveness Training to achieve a satisfying and productive life

The twelve principles outlined below are the heart of the book GoodStress: The life that can be yours by Wayne Froggatt (Harper Collins, Auckland, 1997). They will help you achieve success at stress management in two ways. First, they will help you counter the self-defeating beliefs that create distress. Second, they will help you overcome a number of common blocks to using the practical strategies that are a standard part of stress management training.

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Stress is the physical and mental response of the body to demands made upon it. It is the result of our reaction to outside events, not necessarily the events themselves.

Not all stress is bad. We each function best and feel best at our own optimal level of physiological arousal. We need some stress to get everyday things done. Too little can lead to boredom and "rust out" - but too much can produce "burn out".