Who doesn't know it: The daily stress of a colleague affects your mood.
dr
Andreas Hagemann explains how this happens.
The trigger for permanent stress is often the pressure at work, within the family or in a relationship.
But can the stress reaction rub off on fellow human beings and colleagues?
dr
Andreas Hagemann, medical director and psychiatrist at the Röher Parkklinik and the Merbeck private clinic, explains in an interview with the news agency
spot on news
whether stress is actually contagious and how those involved in such situations can protect themselves from it.
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Why does the stress of others often affect your own mood?
dr
Andreas Hagemann: Stress can literally be “contagious”.
The reason for this is our ability to empathize: we put ourselves in the position of other people - and just as we can empathize and suffer, we may also “stress” with our colleagues.
The longer and more intensively we know someone, the more we empathize with them and their feelings.
Why is it so easy to get infected by stress?
Hagemann: The “feeling of togetherness or togetherness” has a stress-intensifying effect here.
This phenomenon occurs more frequently, especially in the circle of family and friends.
But even relative strangers can “transfer” stress: Often it is enough if we see other people in a tense situation, for example in a TV series, to react with an increased release of the stress hormone cortisol.
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How can you listen without developing a negative mood yourself?
Hagemann: If you get into hectic situations, you should try to gain some distance.
The bird's eye view can be helpful here, i.e. to examine the whole thing from above.
Is the situation really that dire?
Am I affected myself?
What's the worst that can happen?
Answers to these and similar questions usually bring me back down to earth and can relax the situation.
And what is the best help for stressed fellow human beings?
Hagemann: Feel free to talk to the person in question.
Show understanding - and listen quietly.
Try to distract her, get her mind off things.
However, please avoid prompts such as “You should” or “You must”.
It is better to ask what is causing the stress and what could make the situation easier.
Exercise also helps - maybe take a few steps or go up and down a flight of stairs together.
Breathe in and out deeply together.
What basically protects against stress?
Hagemann: Regular endurance sports, a healthy, balanced diet and avoiding nicotine, caffeine and alcohol help against stress and its consequences - as do adequate sleep and the reduction of recurring excessive demands.
Stress management techniques and relaxation methods such as progressive muscle relaxation or so-called imaginative techniques and yoga/meditation also bring more calm into life.
It is just as helpful in many cases to identify stress triggers: think about which situations particularly stress you out and how you can largely avoid them in the future.
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How does the body react to too much stress and pressure?
Hagemann: According to research, there is an archaic mechanism that is deeply rooted in us.
This originally served to arm the body in life-threatening situations and to prepare it in a matter of seconds for top performance for flight or fight.
Accordingly, stress hormones are still released in particularly challenging situations in life – primarily adrenaline and cortisol.
The muscles tense, breathing and heart rate accelerate, blood sugar and blood pressure rise.
However, the immediate, maximum activating effect of adrenaline is limited to a few minutes.
In the case of permanent stress, the long-term effects of cortisol come to the fore - with corresponding side effects.
Not only does our psyche suffer, but also our body: the immune system is weakened, the ability to procreate and conceive as well as the libido are reduced.
There is a risk of complaints such as stomach pain and diarrhea through to diabetes and serious cardiovascular diseases.
Even depressive disorders are a possible consequence of the biochemical changes in the brain.
dr Andreas Hagemann is a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy as well as medical director of the Röher Parkklinik in Eschweiler near Aachen, which specializes in burnout disorders and depression, and of the Merbeck private clinic in Wegberg, North Rhine-Westphalia. The focus of this recently opened facility is the multimodal psychosomatic treatment of people with chronic pain and pain disorders.
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