Stress Management
Are You Stressed? Take the Stress Test:
- Do you feel tired or have trouble sleeping?
- Do you have a hard time relaxing?
- Do you forget things all the time?
- Are you frequently angry?
- Do you always feel ‘under pressure‘?
- Do you argue all the time about minor things?
- Can you never find time for yourself?
- Do you no longer want to socialize with others?
- Do you lack patience and feel others are always wrong?
- Do people often tell you that you seem tense or upset?
Everyone has bad days and feels some of the above, but if you have answered 'yes' to two or more of these questions and/or feel this way regularly, chances are that you are stressed! Moreover, you may not be handling the stress in your life as well as you could be.
Most of us have had more first hand experience with stress than we care to remember mainly because it provokes a negative emotional experience. Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources that he/she is able to mobilize. It is caused by stressors, i.e any event or situation that provokes stress.
A stressful experience may be stressful to some people but not to others. If the “noise” is your radio playing the latest calypso, then it will probably not be stressful to you, although it may be to your neighbor. Whereas one person might find the loss of a job highly stressful, another might see it as an opportunity to try a new field, as a challenge rather than a threat. How a potential stressor is perceived determines whether it will be experienced as stressful.
Stress affects your mind, emotions and behavior. The signs and symptoms of stress include:
- problems with memory
- inability to concentrate
- confusion
- poor judgment
- headaches
- muscle tension and pain all over body
- fatigue
- chest pain, irregular heartbeat
- shortness of breath
- reproductive problems
- immune system suppression
- frustration
- anger, resentment
- anxiety
- sleep disturbances
- appetite problems
- increased use of drugs
- having sex more or less
- engaging in nervous habits such as nail biting, hair twisting, pacing
- becoming violent
- taking inappropriate risks
- reduced confidence
- depression
It is important to manage stress because it is a contributor to very serious physical and psychological conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, cancer, ulcers, eating disorders, depression, and sexual dysfunction.
There are many proven skills that we can use to manage stress. These help us to maintain calm and effectiveness in high pressure situations and help us avoid the problems of long term stress. Stress management strategies include:
- Changing your lifestyle habits
- Get enough sleep - lack of rest aggravates or even causes stress
- Exercise regularly.
- Dance
- Eat a balanced, nutritious diet.
- Don’t self-medicate and avoid alcohol or drugs.
- Do something relaxing/enjoyable for yourself everyday.
- Pray
- Sing spiritual or uplifting songs
- Practice relaxation techniques e.g deep breathing
- Avoid extreme reactions
- Changing your thinking and emotional responses
- Have realistic expectations
- Ask yourself “Is this my problem?”
- Reframe problems. - Selectively change the way you view stressful situations. Focus on one troublesome thing and manage your reactions to it/him/her
- Positive Thinking / self talk
- Focus on your good qualities and accomplishments
- Avoid unnecessary competition
- Recognize and accept your limits. Remember everyone is unique.
- Avoid unnecessary stress
Not all stress can be avoided, and it’s not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be addressed. You may be surprised, however, by the number of stressors in your life that you can eliminate.
- Learn how to say “no” – Know your limits and stick to them.
- Avoid people who stress you out
- Take control of your environment – If the evening news makes you anxious, turn the TV off.
- Avoid hot-button topics – If you get upset over religion or politics, cross them off your conversation list.
- Pare down your to-do list –If you’ve got too much on your plate, distinguish between the “shoulds” and the “musts.”
- Alter the situation
If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Figure out what you can do to change things so the problem is avoided in the future. Often, this involves changing the way you communicate and operate in your daily life.
- Express your feelings instead of bottling them up.
- Be willing to compromise.
- Be more assertive.
- Manage your time better.
- Accept the things you can’t change
Some sources of stress are unavoidable. You can’t prevent or change stressors such as the death of a loved one, a serious illness, or a national recession. In such cases, the best way to cope with stress is to accept things as they are. Acceptance may be difficult, but in the long run, it’s easier than railing against a situation you can’t change.
- Don’t try to control the uncontrollable. Many things in life are beyond our control
- Look for the upside. As the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”
- Learn to forgive. Accept the fact that we live in an imperfect world and that people make mistakes.
Adapt to the stressor
If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself. You can adapt to stressful situations and regain your sense of control by changing your expectations and attitude.
- Reframe problems. Try to view stressful situations from a more positive perspective.
- Look at the big picture. Ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Will it matter in a month? A year? Is it really worth getting upset over? If the answer is no, focus your time and energy elsewhere.
- Adjust your standards. Set reasonable standards for yourself and others, and learn to be okay with “good enough.”
- Focus on the positive. When stress is getting you down, take a moment to reflect on all the things you appreciate in your life, including your own positive qualities and gifts. This simple strategy can help you keep things in perspective.
- Stress can cause severe health problems and, in extreme cases, death. While these stress management strategies have been shown to have a positive effect on reducing stress, they are for guidance only, and readers should take the advice of suitably qualified health professionals if they have any concerns over stress-related illnesses or if stress is causing significant or persistent unhappiness. Health professionals should also be consulted before any major change in diet or levels of exercise.
Useful links:
By,
Cherrilyn Crawford
Psychologist, JNF Hospital
*************************
DISCLAIMER
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
