What actually is stress? Stress is a reaction to something that affects our mental and physical equilibrium. As a result of this imbalance, our autonomous nervous system provides a physical response that leads to the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome, where the body releases hormones and chemicals, such as adrenaline, cortisol, and noradrenaline to prepare the body for physical action.

During ‘fight or flight’, the heart rate increases, raising blood pressure as the muscles need more blood to act. Breathing increases to receive more oxygen moving from the abdomen to the upper part of the chest, simultaneously accumulating carbon monoxide in the blood, and sometimes causing dizziness and a feeling of unreality. This is a completely natural response that works exactly as it is designed to do.

In certain cases, during ‘fight or flight’, the brain function is minimized as blood is diverted to other parts of the body, causing a reduced cognitive ability, and so negative effects on work and life. Remaining in this state of stress for extended periods has a negative impact on our general health, due to high cortisol levels, an increase in sugar and blood pressure levels, and the lowering of libido. Stress causes tension and worry affecting bodily functions, such as the cardiovascular, digestive, and immune systems. Additionally, chronic stress can cause mental illness and conditions such as high blood pressure and obesity.

However, stress, in appropriate doses, can enable improved performance by increasing efficiency and helping overcome demanding tasks. Without the presence of stress hormones, people would struggle to get out of bed in the morning. Stress is needed to drive extra effort. We often see athletic coaches and trainers ramping up performance by putting athletes under some form of stress. Business managers and leaders recognize performance can be increased by establishing a ‘burning platform’ (i.e. a situation of emergency a do-or-die kind which calls for a specific response). John Kotter has described this as a model of improving employees’ motivation simply by creating stress in the organization, thus demonstrating stress in appropriate doses, does not always have to be harmful, but can help improve results, given it is not a permanent state of mind.

Stress in appropriate doses, does not always have to be harmful but can help improve results, given it is not a permanent state of mind

Associated with stress is the notion of pressure. Pressure is the perceived burden of physical or mental distress and the constraint of circumstance. The perception of pressure is dependent on each individual and their mental state, in particular their ability to cope. Stress is our mental state in response to pressure where we feel an inability to deliver and meet expectations. Stress is very dependent on the perception of a situation, of the individual, and thus different people respond to stress in very different ways.

Stress and the Modern Environment

Stress is a natural state for humans that has been present since the origin of man and is part of our survival instinct, as described by the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome. Humans probably would not have been alive today if they had not been able to experience stress, as it enables extra effort when needed, to overcome potential threats or dangers, and protect from unsafe, intimidating, or anxiety-provoking situations. Stress is thus a help and not a hindrance. Stress has evolved over time, as modern life is not really appropriate to the ‘hunter-gatherer’ mentality, which was more suited to handling physical stress, rather than the mental stress caused by the modern-day working environment. Our physical bodies are set up to cope with short bouts of high levels of stress, such as when a lion appears, but are not really set up to cope with the chronic stress of, for example, working for a demanding boss.

Causes of stress in the modern world

Modern man is experiencing increasing stress and pressure, and among others, the WHO (World Health Organization) predicts that stress will be the biggest cause of sickness globally in 2020, probably killing more people than Covid-19. The WHO also predicts the existence of Covid-19 will increase the prevalence of stress.

The modern world sees an increase in stress among people caused by the following:

• Interaction with a greater diversity of people
• Increased expectations and higher standards
• Faster innovation
• Faster innovation
• Greater adaptability of markets
• Broader range of activities and greater specializations

Technology is also a major cause of stress. The key trends are:
• Continuous distractions
• Lack of sleep
• Work-life balance
• Social anxiety caused by the “fear of missing out”
• Social comparison
Over the last 35-50 years, stress has been seen as a problem created by external factors such as work tasks, staff management, tight deadlines, the amount of work to be done, and the lack of resources.

Conventionally, stress has been considered to be caused due to the levels of these factors exceeding the resources available to the individual, and therefore, stress actually occurs in the individual. During this period employers have attempted various actions at the organizational level, with limited success.

Many researchers divide stress into i) work-related stress, and ii) privately-related stress, thus, maintaining the belief locally, globally, and culturally that stress is caused by external factors meaning the individual has little or no influence on their own stress management and development.

It is crucial to understand the cause of an individual’s perception of external stressors to find the cause of stress

External factors can be described as stressors, creating a stress perception in the individual representing their interpretation of the external stressor thus activating a stress response both physically and mentally. As the perception of the external stressor is different amongst different people, it is reasonable to assume different people will also react differently to these stressors. A team or department of, for example, 10 employees of which only 2 employees are experiencing stress due to the manager, shows that if it was the external stressor alone i.e. the manager was the main cause of the stress, then all 10 employees would experience negative stress but that is not the case!

Therefore, it is crucial to understand the cause of an individual’s perception of external stressors to find the cause of stress. For many, it is a surprise that stress is not a clinical diagnosis and it is not a disease. When it is not possible to conclusively diagnose stress, there are many different conditions that can be described as just stress and therefore mix stress with, for example, pressure, or to be very busy.

The human brain is an extremely complex organ that contains an indeterminate number of options, and despite massive research, still surprisingly very little is known about these options. One of the things that brain research has shown is that the brain may not distinguish between what we see and what we imagine; it is the exact same neural network activated whether something is real or just a thought. For example, an unpleasant conversation with a colleague can create neural traces in the brain, recurring when the colleague is seen again activating the same neural track, causing negative emotional and bodily reactions, as experienced initially - the brain does not know the difference.

Imagining horror scenarios not including solutions, causes the brain to believe the scenario is real, making it appear the situation is happening right now. This causes a feeling of loss of control and powerlessness causing anxiety and creating stress, as if the imaginary situation is real. This is a concern as the situation is future-oriented offering no solutions.

Research conducted by the co-author, Danish Stress Researcher Stig Solvhoj, with more than 3,100 respondents shows that about 80% of all who experience stress, have this type of thinking, regardless of external factors such as tasks, deadlines, finances, etc. Thus, concluding stress has nothing to do with these external stressors, but more the way people think about the stressors.

Key findings of research

This thinking type is defined by concerns and is driven by beliefs about the lack of control over an individual’s attention and focus, and their ability to manage focus. That said, 48% of respondents are convinced it is useful to worry and is thus beneficial. The research also shows that 82% of respondents would stop worrying if they thought they could. A worry is defined by thoughts of the worst-case scenarios in the future and never includes a solution for the imagined worst-case scenario. This causes a feeling of being ‘out-of-control’ and being powerless, causing anxiety and stress. The process of worrying is driven by metacognition convincing individuals it is beneficial to worry and it is important to worry, so it should not be stopped. Working only with this defined metacognition has shown it is very powerful to both prevent and treat stress efficiently.

• 86% of people who suffer from stress worries
• 48% think it is beneficial to worry
• 52% capable of stopping worrying
• Men worry more than women
56.94% of the men surveyed believe that there is value in having negative thoughts, whereas 45.53% of women surveyed believe that.
64.37% of the men surveyed feel that they can stop their thinking, whereas 61.92% of the surveyed women believe that.
74.65% of men would stop their thoughts if they could, though 56.94% believe that there is value in having these thoughts.
83.33% of women would stop their thoughts if they could, though 55.28% believe that there is value in having these thoughts.
• 82% want to stop worrying
• Of 322 people, 98% is capable of stopping worrying within 5 x 1 hr sessions are

Traditionally, it has been thought that women are more likely to worry about almost everything, so it was interesting the research showed men worry more than women. Despite that, men feel they are better able to stop worrying than women are.

It was interesting the research showed men worry more than women

The research showed it is possible to get 98% of people out of stress within five 1-hour sessions. The method developed is called MIND strain and has been used in Denmark and Scandinavia since 2016, with persuasive success. It is a highly efficient way to reduce the costs of stress-related sick leave for the company, individuals, and the community.

We see that people worry about the future, and are unable to find ways out of the situation. As individuals believe it is beneficial to worry, they have no motivation to stop worrying. The key is to understand there are no benefits in worrying! People are then able to control focus and thoughts, replacing inappropriate ways of thinking with more self supportive thinking processes.

In the modern world stress levels are also activated by attempting to fit into the ideals created by others, frequently via social media. Society is presented with multiple success stories on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram, most prominently through following celebrities. They see their abilities and apparent ease of success and do not realize that in many cases it is an illusory world that is presented. People think everyone has to live like these celebrities, forgetting these are isolated moments that are captured, and not a reflection of their real life. Consequently, people get the impression certain things must be handled, and provided, with a given standard i.e. what is experienced is accepted as being the average level, but is possibly a single case of success. Consequently, people worry whether they are ‘right’, or can make it right, rather than try to do the best they can, focusing on the positive, rather than the negative.

A study by Kings College, London, and the University Of Marburg, Germany showed that young people who are exposed to stress, suffer a more rapid decline in their stress response using Facebook, than young people who read the news on digital media. Why is it that we are so busy denigrating social Media?

Many stress researchers have been focusing on pointing out that people must change their digital habits to reduce stress. They also suggest that modern man has difficulties distinguishing between business and leisure and that people must learn to separate their work, but we see that this transition has not been successful.

Society needs to realize it is difficult to turn off the Internet, that the clock cannot be turned back and people cannot remove themselves from the digital world. However, they can learn to understand how they think about the new world order, and how it can work for them, rather than work against this development. The Internet, global digital development, and the boundaries between work and leisure are constantly changing. Realizing that this is not what creates stress, but how we relate to this, is crucial to how people create undesirable stress only then will it be possible to change the development of stress. A lot of consultants, both internal and external, are working hard to influence and change the stressors affecting employees at work, but they have had only limited success because there is such an increase in the number of people suffering from stress. The most common actions have focused on developing leaders to be able to communicate differently and be more sophisticated in their approach to interacting with employees. Leaders have often passed responsibility to their employees, who then

experience stress, and many of these leaders have subsequently experienced stress because they blame themselves for their inability to manage thus creating further worry unnecessarily.

Within the service sector, most employees experience stress. This may be due to their concern for other people, meaning they worry about whether they are doing well enough for the people they serve. They cannot expect to reduce stress in organizations single-handedly to continue to develop leaders or set task-management on the agenda. They need to ensure all employees learn to recognize what type of thinking is stressful and to change this to more self-supporting types of thinking, namely solution-focused thinking.

Since 2016, several large companies in Scandinavia have completed courses focused on solution-focused approaches, and their results are convincing. A single financial institution has in a three-year period increased headcount by 21% and in the same period reduced stress-related absenteeism by 53%, solely by teaching employees a way to identify that they worry and that they can change this relatively simply.