**Stress** is a big topic and I cannot do it justice here, but here goes. > [!note] This note is **not** about the _physics_ definition of stress. Stress is an umbrella term for **physiological stress** and **psychological stress**, which are separate (but related) things. They are both caused by **stressors**, which can come in all sorts of forms (physical, emotional, mental, etc) # Types ## Psychological Stress Psychological stress refers to the emotional, spiritual, and mental strain caused by stress. This includes things like: - Fear, worry, and [[Anxiety]] - Irritability - Depression Psychological stress is caused by more _personal_ factors than is physiological stress. Financial hardship, [[Expectations - Control = Depression|high expectations]], relationship issues, and other areas from the top-half(ish) of [[Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs]]. ## Physiological Stress Physiological stress refers specifically to the body's _physical response_ to stress. This includes things like: - Increased heart rate (and decreased [[Heart Rate Variability|HRV]]) - Sweat - Muscle tension - Impacts to the digestive system - due to the triggering of "fight, flight, or freeze" response and stunting the "rest and digest" mode Physiological stress can arise _from_ psychological stress, but also from environmental & situational factors. # Interaction & comparison - Physiological stress can be measured directly by instruments, whereas psychological stress basically needs to be self-reported. - These forms of stress can cause and be caused by one-another. See: [[Anxiety and Overbreathing]] # Managing Stress This is somewhat of an index of stress management notes rather than a section covering stress management. So - see: - [[Meditation]] - [[Interoception]] - [[Anxiety and Overbreathing]] - [[Exercise, Sleep, and Diet are 85% of Mental Health]] - [[Ideal Exercise Regiment]] - [[Protect Sleep]] - [[Social Connections Protect Your Brain]] - [[Go Outside]] **** ## Source - Dozens of books from across my sources have covered stress before I wrote this note for it - ChatGPT to generated an overview comparing the two types above - Actually, I also ran this against Gemini & Deepseek-R1 ## Related - [[Stress Response Cycle]]