Stress is a normal component of the body‘s response to demands that are placed on it. When we are frightened or angry, the body responds to this stress with a number of physical reactions that prepare it for action. Factors that trigger this stress response are known as stressors. Stressors are encountered in almost every aspect of our lives. Excess stress, or distress, has been identified as an important factor in many types of illness. Occupational stress is often the combined effect of several stressors. Workplace stressors include physical and organizational factors.
Stress can be described as the adverse psychological and physical reactions that occur in an individual as a result of their being unable to cope with the demands being made on them. Stress is usually triggered by external problems faced by individuals as by the way they cope (or fail to cope) with these problems. Once an individual fails to deal adequately with pressure, symptoms of stress appears. Stress is an important psychological concept that can affect health, well-being and job performance in negative dimensions. Stress according to Arnold et al (1995), is a word derived from Latin word ―Stingere‖ meaning to draw tight. It is regarded as a force that pushes a physical or psychological factor beyond its range of stability, producing a strain within the individual. Stress is the process by which environmental events (stressors or challenges) threaten us, how these threats are interpreted, and how they make us feel. Stress is an affective behavior and physical response to aversive stimuli in the environment. According to Selye (1976), stress is a state within the organism characterized by general adaptation syndrome. In other word, it is the nonspecific response of the body to the demand made upon it. It suggests excessive demands that produce disturbance of physiological, sociological and psychological systems. Stress may be acute or chronic in nature.