Stress is high worldwide, in poor and rich countries, men & women, and even among rich & famous people. Stress became a major topic, and you would find many articiles and blogs about stress like stress relief, stress management, stress medication...etc. In Google, stress search would return at least 169 million results...and more. Worldwide, stress is becoming a major health concern. In America, 75% of adults have moderate to high stress in 2012, as reported by the American Psychological Association. U.S. teens of 9th & 12th grade are suffering from high stress that it is considered as a top health issue. In Australia, 91% of adults have high stress, according to Lifeline Australia. Regus Group claims that global working conditions create more stress level in different countries and that 6 in 10 workers of major economic regions of the world are reporting higher stress because of their work. China is the highest in the world in work stress, at 86%. The American Psychological Association conducted a survey about stress in 2011, and it concluded that most Americans believe that stress level has increased in the last 5 years. The study reports that main causes of stress are the economy, work & money. Research shows that causes of stress are related to relationship problems, loneliness, noise, and isolation. Some credible studies link high stress with high technology effects and these include mobile phones and video games. The causes of stress are more than these factors, but it is important to realize that stress level is on the rise, almost everywhere. Having said that, the next question is this: As stress is getting higher, do we deal with it in a proper way?

The answer is No. Actually, humans deal with stress in an opposite way. It is a strange but true phenomena. When most people are under stress, they reinforce it by negative behavior, and this response is mostly unconscious. Women and men react towards stress in a negative way, and both make it stronger inside them because of this negative reaction. They are only different in the type of behavior.

Men: They make it stronger by the denial behavior. They act as if this stress is non-existent, or they deny its effect on them. They adopt the belief that men are strong inside and because of this belief, they should act as if nothing hurts or affect them. Denial behavior is not helpful at all because this person would not try to solve or tackle stress. It would grow until it becomes something very serious, and later create other negative emotions like depression.

Women: They make stress stronger, not by the denial behavior but rather by engaging in another negative behavior that also create more stress. Women under stress, usually over eat, something like Bulimia, or they isolate themselves. Sometimes they behave in both way: overeating and self-isolation. Under rare cases, women may start self-starvation, similar to Anorexia, similar to what happened to Lady Diana. This behavior is not suitable to the nature of women because women by their nature like to look and feel graceful or slim. Women are very sensitive to their looks especially how their body looks like. To engage in overeating is like self-sabotage, for women. They in effect destroy that very important factor of their physical appearance. Overeating leads to overweight, and by this stage women become more depressed than before. It can be viewed as a form of self-destruction. This happens mostly unconsciously.

For both men & women, their behavior under stress will result in more stress and ultimately this may create a stress cycle which can be very severe and depressing. This can be a cause for depression.

Let us remember that we can deal with stress and even overcome it. There are many techniques and tools for stress management, and people who used them noticed a big difference in their lives. However, before using these tools, the first step is to stop that negative behavior which is usually associated with stress.

Keep your thoughts positive, and be optimistic. Things change and you too can change.