From a purely physical point of view, being under stress is something negative in this respect, when the stress exceeds a certain level. But why is stress such a widespread and big phenomenon in our society?? Is it impossible due to our modern life, to avoid stress, or where are the reasons to be found?
Basically, you can assume so, that just a century ago people had far more reasons, to feel stress than we do today. A human, who, for example, earned his living by farming, could easily get into existential distress, if he brought in a bad harvest and thus either had too little food for his family or purchases, necessary for his future, could not earn due to the low sales volume. It's definitely a lot more stressful, having to pay taxes to a feudal lord, that depend more or less on the arbitrariness of this person - how many people suddenly had to deal with the problem in times of a feudal social order, that they suddenly had to pay more taxes due to a higher tax rate, duties, that were so high, that their existence may have been threatened (and this without sufficient consideration from the legislative side).
Against this background, it seems surprising, that stress nevertheless seems to be such a modern phenomenon. A common explanation is actually very simple: we do not know, whether these people didn't perhaps have just as much or even more stress than we do - the generally lower life expectancy simply led to this, that it often could not come to that at all due to illnesses and hard living conditions, that the ubiquitous stress could unfold its negative effects on health.
Of course, this argument cannot be dismissed out of hand, since we don't know, to what extent stress symptoms were partly responsible for the low life expectancy of people a few centuries ago.
However, what speaks against this explanation is linguistics. We know, that people create words for things, that they encounter in their daily life. If today a new phenomenon occurs, which is shared in the world of experience of many people, so we will strive, to give this thing a name. Do we have "stress", so we look for a word for it or create a new one.
in the old- and Middle High German language, but also in early High German (which one about on that 14. to 16. century can be dated) however, there is no word, which would be known to us, which stands for the phenomenon of stress. After everything, what we know, people don't seem to have had a word for stress in the past, which suggests the conclusion, that they were less aware of this experience than we are today.
Now one must not forget the phenomenon, that language not only depicts the living environment of people, but can also create new areas of experience. Many people only recognize an experience, if you know the word for it. One can easily understand this effect based on personal everyday life, without really having to leave the area of stress.
The so-called "burnout syndrome", that is now medically recognized, I'm sure many people know. It describes a special condition, in which one feels weak and tired, feels listless and unmotivated, without being able to do anything about it. Maybe we would have, when we talk about this syndrome today, said earlier, that we are "faint" or "tired" – The fact that we are now often quick to describe such symptoms as “burnout syndrome” is certainly due to this, that we have given this phenomenon a name.
So it cannot be ruled out, that people used to feel “stressed” too, this feeling but quite simply not with a single one, were able to express the right words.
A development, which we have to take into account in our modern society, is the stress factor as a social phenomenon. At least since we have a well-known and popular word for the experience "stress"., there is a trend towards stress. This goes beyond the factors, who go through a fast-moving time with a multitude of often confusing requirements - stress is not only popular, it is also “in” to a certain extent, to have stress.
This statement, which in itself seems contradictory and not very obvious, can be easily understood, if you think about it, how many people deal with the phenomenon of stress. It's very easy to get "stressed" these days, and for the simple reason, that stress is a welcome explanation, to say “no” to a request or a job.
Think about the people around you. Pupils feel stressed just like students, mothers, managers and bakers. In fact, not all of these people are really like that, that they feel themselves to be in a time of severe stress – one just chooses that word far too quickly these days. It's similar with the flu, a not so common viral infection, which can even be fatal. When someone has a cold, he says very quickly, he has the flu – even if the symptoms only match to a limited extent and all he really has is a cold and a headache.
In the meantime, many people have probably gained the knowledge, that it is a simple necessity, not to burden yourself with all tasks, which one could theoretically adopt. In the household, at work, but also in private life a person today has an extensive canon of tasks, which begins with nurturing interpersonal relationships, which includes work and stops at the small chores of daily living. But we don't always feel like it (and it certainly doesn't always make sense) to carry out all these tasks, but they often can't actually refuse - who cancels an appointment with a friend, because he "doesn't feel like it".?
The solution, which one draws in this case, is therefore very simple: you are stressed, either real, or at least in that, what you say to other people. The personal burden is quickly exaggerated, because you really don't want it to get that far, that you no longer know because of stress, where your head is. However, this completely legitimate need can only be achieved to a very limited extent in this way.
The problem, that arises from dealing with the stress factor, is actually quite simple: one pretends, to be more stressed, than you actually need to be, which supports the view, that stress is the only legitimate reason, to say “no” once in a while. In this way, the phenomenon of stress, especially in the interpersonal area, is becoming more and more important - whoever is under stress, has a lot to do, so the environment has to be considerate too.
If you were to face the demands of everyday life in the negative, without being stressed, would you represent your own resilience as lower, than it actually is - and just that ability, but burdening oneself is a very respected one in our society. people, who always do everything and in the end still have strength left, are very respected, because they are hardworking, appear ambitious and challenged - even if in fact they may not have these characteristics more strongly than a person, who sometimes says "no" for no apparent reason. We all want to convey such an image of ourselves and are therefore very careful about it, that we don't give the impression, our resilience would be exhausted - if the stress wasn't there, who forces us to do it, to step slower.
The social phenomenon of stress is much stronger, than one would assume at first glance. It is closely related to the human need for attention and consideration and thus represents an important possibility, to cope with our everyday life - at least apparently.
The problem is namely, that we create such a positive image of stress by dealing with stress in this way (by abusing it), that it's getting harder and harder, without canceling the help of stress and taking care of yourself. In and of itself we are all not obliged, so much work to do, until it gets over our heads - but it happens quickly, that it comes to this, so that we not only cope with stressful phases of our lives, but also overestimated.
From a psychological point of view, this incorrect handling of stress is easy to justify. Most people would probably wish, having a time with few requirements and tasks (maybe like this, how they felt when they were children), but this is difficult to achieve in adulthood. Such interaction can be created by specifying stress, where you still get a certain amount of consideration and recognition for your performance – even if it may not be that high, how to make them appear.