Stress is generally a common phenomenon among people. Stress, if it is manageable, can actually be helpful and motivating to carry out our obligations on a timely manner. On the other hand, intense and chronic stress diminishes our functionality and paralyzes us.

What do we mean when we refer to stress? It is the indication of a disturbing threat. In the stone years, our threats appeared in the image of a wild animal, an extreme weather phenomenon, or a life threatening circumstance. In modern era, our threats have a psychological basis (occupational, financial, and interpersonal issues). We are consumed by thoughts that are difficult, intense, and lead to the worst case scenario, which creates a tendency to experience panic. Our body and thoughts chance. Two of the most common cognitive thoughts is to magnify the worst case scenario and to perceive its chances to happen, as higher. We experience a variety of symptoms connected to panic (palpitations, sweating, fast and shallow breathing, dizziness, urge to vomit or to faint, numbness is extremities etc). This is expected as our body is biologically programmed to increase our chances for survival, and our sympathetic nervous system is activated in the perception of a threat, so we either run away from the threat or we are preparing to fight and exterminate it, or we paralyze.

Even though all these reactions are expected, they are many times perceived as uncomfortable and undesired. These sensations put us into a panic mode even more, and as a result we find ourselves being dysfunctional in our everyday life. Chronic stress can cause other serious effects such as difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbances, memory issues, fatigue, and body exhaustion.