What Causes Us Stress? We Analyze The 7 Main Reasons For Stress

We are in a time when stress is more present than ever, but what causes us stress? Why are there more cases now? The accelerated pace in which we are immersed is the main reason, together with the lack of economic security that a large part of the population is experiencing due to the crisis and that leaves us with less possibilities to enjoy the little free time that we have left.

Many times we know that we are stressed, but we do not know the reason well, usually it is not a single thing, several problems are usually combined. What causes us stress?

Are they, perhaps, reasons beyond our control, internal variables such as our personality or a mixture of both? We leave doubts: below, the 7 main reasons that cause us stress.

What causes us stress?

1. Labor reasons 

The stressful work we have to deal with in this day and age makes us more nervous than usual. Hurry, excess responsibilities, bad relationships with colleagues and bosses . In many cases there are fewer people on the workforce than would be recommended, and that makes the workers have more work and mental load.

Also, on many occasions, there is a fear of saying “no” to job demands that exceed our usual work. Refusing would be a risk of dismissal, and with the bad job market today, there is fear of being fired.

To minimize work stress, it would be advisable to make good use of the free time we have.  Think, what do you like to do the most? What do you enjoy very much with? Even if you have little free time, practice your hobbies and, above all, take care of yourself with good nutrition and sleep the necessary hours.

2. Toxic people

The environment in which we are most of the time, greatly influences stress. Toxic people take away our energy and positivity. To know if you have people around you who harm you, you just have to listen to your emotions.

Healthy people are those who when we are in contact with them, make us feel comfortable and emotions are positive, they are like a ray of light that improves our emotions. Ideally, so that a bad environment does not cause us stress, would be to spend as little time as possible with these types of people .

But since many times it is not possible, because it may be in the family, or at work where we have to spend so many hours, it would be good if the little free time we had was fully  enjoyed , in order to balance the negative balance that we have. had to be exposed.

3. Negative thoughts

You can stress yourself for no good reason. If the mind is focused on the negative in our life, we will stress quickly. It is necessary to focus thoughts on pleasant things and not let pessimism overwhelm us.

We have not come to this life to be perfect and efficient, we have come to be happy and as in countless sentences it has been said “the important thing is not the goal but the path” and although it seems like a utopia it is totally true, on the way there is things to enjoy.

We must be vigilant and look around, instead of looking to the future. There is only one place you can live and enjoy, and it is this present moment , the one you have here and now.If you let your mind wander to the past or future, you will stress and it will be a non-real stress, because you you create with your thoughts.

6. Noise also causes stress

It is a topic that is rarely talked about, but being exposed to busy environments for many hours stresses , especially, if there is an obligation to be in those environments with noise pollution on a regular basis.

Alonso de Esteban (2003) listed the main causes of noise pollution. These are caused by industries and public works, by road traffic (cars, urban transport, trains), by aviation, by public places (bars, discos, outdoor terraces, etc.) and other types of noise such as the neighbors, drains, elevators, air conditioning equipment, television at full volume, etc.

What can be done to counteract this would be to dedicate exclusive time to ourselves each day, alone. It is convenient to listen to relaxing music at low volume, do yoga, practice relaxation.

7. Loneliness

We live in the age of telecommunications and now there is more loneliness than ever. Human relationships have gotten worse and that causes stress. It is increasingly common to reduce real contact by contact with the computer and other electronic devices. Years ago people related more face to face. We should try to spend more time in human contact than using machines.

Although loneliness can be a source of stress in many cases, it is important that we learn to be with ourselves. We will not always have people around us with whom we can carry out an activity, so it is highly recommended to know how to connect with ourselves in order to enjoy peace, serenity and happiness here and now.

Balance your scale

Stress builds up inside us. If we do not counteract and balance our scales, we will end up exploding somewhere in the form of anxiety or other psychosomatic illnesses. How to balance the scale? The first thing would be to find the answer to what causes us stress. Once we know it, we can take things differently.

We should enjoy the free time we have and have fun . Each person has a way of having fun, there is no universal rule, find your way of enjoyment. If you don’t have fun for long periods, you will let negativity gain more ground and your emotions will worsen.

For example, imagine that a person has to work 12 hours in a bad environment. If you then leave work and are so negative that you do nothing more because you don’t feel like it, in the end that stress will take its toll. On the other hand, if you decide that this unsatisfactory job is not going to prevent you from continuing to enjoy life, you will be fine.

We need a reason to put up with the bad things in our life. Find your reason. Practice your hobbies , do things you like, enjoy yourself, keep in touch with healthy and good people, have fun, take care of those who love you and support you. The more positive things in your life, the more reasons you will have to endure less good times.