Stress is a stimulus, or a challenge to a person’s capacity to adapt to inner and outer demands. It can be physical, emotional and/or psychological. Stress experiences typically produce physiological and emotional arousal and typically elicit cognitive and behavioural efforts to beat the stressor. Every human being is a unique individual and consequently a stressor perceived by one person may not be appraised the same way by another.

Examples of stimulus-based perspective might include highlighting the characteristics of a stressor as physical (‘I am ill or I am in pain’), social (‘this job is taxing’), role (‘being a community pharmacist is stressful’) or task (‘I can’t understand all this IT stuff’). So, what is a stressor? Holmes and Rahe (1967, J Psychosomatic Res) have suggested that life events are stressful to the extent that they precipitate ‘life changes’. It should be noted that these include not only obvious negative events, like bereavement, but also (arguably) positive ones like childbirth and marriage.

Stress can elicit:

• – Organisational effects: burnout, low morale, low performance, poor working relationships, absenteeism, high turnover, job dissatisfaction, high use of health facilities, accidents.
• – Behavioural effects: drug and/or alcohol use, smoking, overeating, appetite, impulsive/aggressive outbursts, accident proneness, restlessness, blaming others, withdrawal, isolation.
• – Mental effects: such as loss of concentration, task performances, defensiveness, mental blocks, sleepiness, loss of focus on details.
• – Emotional effects: such as anxiety, anger, boredom, depression, fatigue, frustration, irritability, moodiness, tension, nervousness and self-hate.
• – Physical effects: such as medical imbalances, including blood glucose, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, numbness, tingling, back pain, fatigue – every system is affected, the results of which can be damage to organs, chronic disease and possibly even death.

Some tips on reducing stress might include (this includes pharmacists):

• – Prioritise the important things in life.
• – Allocate time for planning.
• – Lead a regular life-style with well-spaced meal breaks.
• – Exercise and relax regularly.
• – Delegate wherever possible.
• – Share problems with friends and colleagues.

Some tips on the management of stress might include (yes, you the reader):

• – Identify your stress situation; when you get caught in one, use it as a cue to relax.
• – Think positively – you get what you expect.
• – See how you can organise your life. Stop trying to do several things at once. Take jobs in order and plan ahead.
• – Work out the priorities. Make a list of goals for the day – tick them off as you do each one.
• – Make a list of stressors – see if you can identify a specific activity which will help to reduce each particular one.
• – Take up mild exercise. Gentle repetitive activities such as cycling, swimming or jogging are ideal ways to reduce the tension caused by stress.