Stress
Stress is our body’s response to pressures from challenging situations in life. It can be a feeling of being overwhelmed or under pressure. You can look at stress as a demand on the body that outweighs its ability to cope with it.
Stress affects everyone young and old and is a completely normal reaction. All human beings will experience stress from time to time when faced with situations in which they feel under pressure.
It’s very normal to feel like this and a certain amount of stress can be healthy as it increases our ability to cope in challenging situations.
However, there are times when this ability will be outweighed by various factors. If you’re increasingly feeling like this and you’re struggling to cope, it’s time to make some changes.
But please remember this is a very common psychological reaction within your body, and the most important thing is how you deal with the feeling of being overwhelmed.
Here’s information on how to understand more about stress:
If you have symptoms of stress then think about talking about these with your GP.
Anxiety
Anxiety is what we feel when we’re worried, tense or afraid. Often this is when things are about to happen or we think that they may. It’s a natural human response.
Symptoms vary from one person to another but typical signs of anxiety include feelings of nervousness and tension, as well as sweating and an uneasy stomach.
Please do see your GP if anxiety is affecting your daily life or is causing you distress.
You can learn more about anxiety and how to cope with it:
Time to Talk Health: Stress and anxiety management
Time to Talk Health is a free confidential NHS service for West Sussex residents aged 18+ who need support to cope with or manage long-term conditions such as a heart condition.
We understand that living with a heart condition can be difficult. It’s common to become worried, anxious or low in mood, which may make managing your condition harder.
Our qualified team of therapists and practitioners work alongside the team caring for your physical health and with you to achieve the outcomes you want.
For example this could be:
- finding ways to overcome your worries, anxiety and feeling low about the condition itself
- finding ways to reduce the impact of the condition on your life generally
- supporting you to make healthier lifestyle changes
- helping you get the best out of medication you have been prescribed
- helping you gain more knowledge about the condition and understand its symptoms
- feeling more in control of your condition, rather than feeling that it controls you
- feeling better generally
You can get support from the Time to Talk Health team in many ways, such as:
- phone consultations
- one-to-one in-person sessions (online during the COVID-19 pandemic)
- supported use of digital materials
- group work with others experiencing similar difficulties
- joint working with healthcare teams
A member of the Time to Talk Health team works alongside the cardiac Rehabilitation team at St Richard’s and at Bersted Park Community Centre in Bognor. They always try to be available to talk to all patients during exercise classes or privately afterwards.
Time to Talk Health is provided by Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.