Stress is a reaction to changes or challenges in your environment.

This reaction concerns

• Your body (heart palpitations, increasing muscle tension),
• Your thoughts (“I have so much to do, I just can’t do it”) as well as
• Your feelings (nervousness, anxiety).

We especially get stressed when we think that we are not prepared for a situation (“I’m sure I’ll fail the test”). Even the thought “I can’t do it” is enough.

The body reacts to stress by activating different areas: Heart palpitations, rising blood pressure, more muscle tension, nervousness…

Many small sources of stress can be hidden in our everyday lives (e.g. arguments with friends or family, having many appointments, upcoming tests at school). Every now and then there could also be a really big stressor in your life (e.g. parents separating, bullying).

Having many small – or one big – source of stress can stop our body from calming down at all and thus remain under constant tension.

We must help our bodies when this happens!