Thwarted by Stress

As a good friend once mentioned, many societies "must thrive on stress. Otherwise, why would they put up with so much of it?" Living overseas (in Spain, to be specific) for years now allows me to compare and contrast cultures with first-hand knowledge and experience.

One thing that I notice each and every time I get caught up in an American current of events is the hurried, pressured lives that the US presents as "normal." Whether in school or at work, everyone always needs to be somewhere else, and must hurry for some undefined reason. Students face class work, homework, busy work, assignments, projects, exams, reviews, presentations, history fairs, science fairs, deadlines and, most influential of all, getting good grades in everything, all the time. The list goes on and on!

Supposedly, school prepares you for life, and trains you for working at your job later on in life. But, if we keep pressuring students now, we are setting up their futures to breed more and more stress as they grow older. If we are told to freak out so much over a 2-page book report now, how much more so will we when we need to put together a 15-page review later? Some claim that we are merely preparing today's youth for tomorrow's future; however, in reality, it appears that we are merely forging patterns and habits that cannot be easily broken later on. Results and productivity have always been a key factor in America's success, and, the more other countries catch on, the more we effort we have to put into "leading the way."

"Stress" is a relatively new concept, given that it was coined 1963 by Hans Selye as "the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change" (American Institute of Stress, http://www.stress.org/topic-definition-stress.htm). Every era has its own plethora of maladies that plague its societies. Today, we call it stress.

What I find the most ludicrous is the wide range of symptoms classified under stress. It seems as if every unpleasant reaction is directly linked to it. Frequent headaches? Stress. Feeling lightheaded or dizzy? Stress. Heartburn, stomach pain, nausea? Stress. Difficulty breathing? Stress. Oh, and furthermore, we have not-so-phyisical pains. Forgetfulness, disorganization, confusion? Stress. Difficulty in making decisions? Stress. Lies or excuses to cover up poor work? Stress. Frustrated or irritable? . . .You guessed it: stress.

On the other hand, in Romania, for example, every little thing that ailed a person was diagnosed as a "calcium deficit," and patients were given a few calcium pills and sent on their way. A friend of mine who used to live there once went in with a broken nose and arm--after having crashed into a cement wall on his bike--and was given a couple of band-aids and a few calcium tablets, and sent home. After all, if he came in with a broken arm, it MUST be because he does not drink enough milk. Forget the wall he plastered himself onto. In Spain, they prescribe an ibuprofen pill if it is bad, and olive oil if it is anything less than a broken arm. Ear infection? Rub some olive oil on it!

Now, I acknowledge and understand that each culture has its own basic "fix-its," but, can we really rely on defining everything that hurts us as "stress"? Does the very thought of all that we have to do keep us from doing it, because we are too busy feeling stressed, instead of motivating ourselves to DO what we need to?

Stress: Proven science, or the same excessive generalizations found in Romania?