STRESS

Stress is a physiological and psychological response to events or situations that are perceived as challenging or threatening. It is a natural reaction that helps individuals cope with demanding circumstances by activating the body's "fight or flight" response. Stressors can be subdivided into internal (subjective) and external (objective) stressors. Another possible classification of stressors distinguishes between different categories, all of which can be subjective or objective:

• Environmental Stressors – environmental conditions, noise, vibrations, cosmic radiation, accelerations.
• Physiological Stressors – fatigue, lack of physical fitness, improper eating habits, hunger, thirst, cold/too hot, humidity, dehydration.
• Psychological/emotional stress – inter-personal conflicts, discrimination, fear of failure, death of a relative, divorce, financial problems, job insecurity.
• Domestic stressors – Social stressors (marriage, pregnancy or death), Economic stressors (bank loans, partner's loss of job, children's Christmas wishes, etc) and Environmental stressors (defective air conditioning or contruction sites close-by).
• Occupational or organisational stressors – strict policies and protocols implemented by the organization, restricted possibilities for professional and personal self-growth and conflicts among individuals in a department or between organizational groups.

The death of a spouse, partner, or child has been identified as causing more stress than any other event. Certain airlines have policies in place to temporarily remove pilots from flying duties if they experience such a loss. This is because the stress levels of the pilot may be significantly elevated, potentially leading to a severe decline in performance and reaction times.