SMT | What is stress? | Who the course is for | What to expect | Courses and fees

When you are faced with any challenging situation in your life your body chemistry changes to help you cope better with the demands put upon you. This is the stress response. It is a natural reaction which helps you perform well at critical times and helps you to get through dangerous or traumatic situations.

When the challenging situation or event is over, however, the body must come back into a balanced state. Your body is not designed to sustain the stress response. Indeed if it is sustained over long periods of time then the systems of the body begin to break down and you begin to experience stress-related symptoms, such as headaches, aching muscles, fatigue, anxiety, depression, irritability, tearfulness, panic attacks, insomnia, digestive problems, high blood pressure, to name but a few.

Stress-related symptoms often arise after many years of living with stress. Many people live with long-term low-level stress without realising it. It becomes so habitual that you don't even notice it any more. Or you may suddenly realise one day that you have forgotten how to really relax properly. You need to learn some relaxation skills to give your mind and body a rest!

What we call stress is not caused by our life's situations, but by how we react to them. We all go through difficult times in our lives, but we can learn to let challenges strengthen rather than weaken us. Practicing relaxation exercises regularly, and examining our own reactions to stress, we can learn to develop a more relaxed attitude to life and to live it to the full.

We all live very busy and complicated lives these days. More than ever we need to plan regular periods of relaxation into our everyday activities. This is not selfish or a luxury, but necessary for busy people who wish to maintain good physical and mental health.

SMT | What is stress? | Who the course is for | What to expect | Courses and fees