How to Cope with Chess Stress

"Chess Stress" is something I have seen a lot on chess.com and is something I thought would be interesting to talk about

Chess Stress is stress that is chess or chess.com related. I know that sounds stupid to say out loud, but it is real.

What causes Chess Stress?

If you still think that Chess Stress isn't real, read this: "The death of a chess player in the middle of a match at the world’s most prestigious competition may have shocked those who view the game as a relaxing pastime. Kurt Meier, 67, collapsed during his final match in the tournament and died in hospital later that day. But chess, like any other game or sport, can lead to an immense amount of STRESS." 

Stress can be caused by something as little as your rating. To many, their rating is EXTREMELY important, so much that it causes stress when it goes down. Remember that your rating is just a number, and that is has no bearing on your talent whatsoever.

Another major factor that causes stress is notifications. I see people sometimes that are in literally hundreds of clubs across chess.com. Imagine the number of notifications when waking up in the morning. The most notifications I have ever had is 18, 15 notifications and 3 messages. Hundreds of notifications can take forever to sift through, and can therefore cause stress, especially if you are in leadership roles in clubs such as: coordinator, admin, or SA. 

I faced some Chess Stress recently. Some of you know that I made banners and pfps for other people. I stopped because the pressure of making so many banners for so many people caused me stress. I couldn't do it anymore, and since then I only take on few projects every now and then. 

I can also understand that blogging causes stress. Especially Top Bloggers who post nearly all the time.

But how can we stop allowing stress to rule our lives? If we have a better understanding of why we experience stress, we can learn how to deal with it more productively.

Why do we have stress?

Our bodies are made to respond to  danger, which is one cause of stress.  The threat of an intruder, being in an accident; all of these things are stressful situations. Our bodies are made to respond to these threats by increasing our adrenaline level.

If someone has a fear of anything, it can cause  stress. Someone who is afraid of dogs for example may be scared of walking by a neighbor's house where there is a dog, even changing their route to avoid it. Many people become  sick before flying on an airplane because of a fear of flying.

Not having close relationships with family can also contribute to  stress.

There are also some serious health effects caused by stress.

Stress can affect your respiratory and cardiovascular systems. During your body’s response to stress, you breathe very fast to quickly move the blood in your body. If you already have a breathing problem like asthma, stress can make it even harder to breathe.

Under stress, your heart also pumps faster. Stress can cause your blood vessels to give more oxygen to your muscles, so you’ll have extra strength to take action against whatever you are facing. But this also raises your blood pressure.

Stress will make your heart work too hard for too long. When your blood pressure rises, so do your risks for having a heart attack.

How to Cope with Chess Stress

There are a few ways to cope with Chess Stress. 
The bulk of people who deal with Chess Stress usually either close their account or take a break from chess.com. This is a good solution because we are just tossing the stress out the window so to speak.

After having taken a break, I see that people are glad to come back to chess.com again.

Another good solution is to leave as many clubs as possible. This cuts your notifications in half or more, and lets you make time for something more important! 
Solution No. 3 is to simply just to STPU (Shut the phone up). Turn it off! Leave it be! Just sit back and relax! We our too addicted to our phones nowadays, it's nearly a survival tool for some. Cut your usage in half and set limits for yourself. Because despite what some may say, the internet is not an entirely safe or kind place. 

Spending too much time on your phone can also cause bad health. No surprise there.

It may be unknown to some, but two hours of TV a day increases the risk of weight gain, and diabetes. There are several factors to blame. Less sleep, and bad eating habits when hooked on a screen.

Looking at a screen for a TON of time can cause something called computer vision syndrome. The symptoms are strained, dry eyes, blurred vision, and headaches.

Poor posture when using screens can cause neck, shoulder, and back pain.

Studies link heavy computer and smartphone use to sleeping issues.  The blue light from digital devices suppresses the melatonin, the sleeping hormone. Lack of this keeps us from having restful sleep.

Cognitive studies have found that spending lots of time on your devices will lead to less efficient information processing

Studies have also indicated that spending TONS of time on the screen, whether it’s a TV, computer or tablet, lowers your cardiovascular health and increases the risk of having a heart attack, which can be fatal

Very serious things to think about. Do we always go on chess when it is necessary, or do we just do it just for the sake of doing it?

Think about it.

And for all of those people who can handle all their notifications and all the pressure, I applaud you! I could probably never do it! 

I hope this was helpful to y’all! Let me know what you think in the comments,

Thank you! 

- @FA-18_SuperHornet2007

#STPU