Stress is everywhere we look. Let me tell you what stress looks like, how it affects your life, and then 10 simple steps to stress management.
Did you know that 75 percent of all medical complaints are stress related? Here are the most common complaints:
· Insomnia/sleep disorders
· Sexual dysfunction
· Indigestion/ Vomiting
· Ulcers/diarrhea
· Headaches
· Muscle Aches
· High Blood Pressure/heart attack/strokes
· Chronic illnesses ( flu, colds, etc.)
· Hives
At least 50 percent of the population suffers from one of these symptoms on a regular basis. The difference in how we react to stress depends largely on how we perceive ourselves and our situation. Stress releases hormones into our system that attack our immune system. While you can seek out medication to help with stress, it does not take away the source of the stress and the stress hormones are still released to reach havoc on our immune system.
Over work and anxiety may result in hormonal imbalance, which can cause exhaustion or sluggishness in our systems. This hormone reduces the ability of our bodies to fight diseases. There are several symptoms of ongoing stress. They include:
· Isolation from family and friends
· Drug/Alcohol abuse
· Increase in smoking
· Depression/anxiety
· Irritability/rapid mood swings
· Compulsive eating/dieting
· Child/spouse abuse
There are 3 key areas stress hits the hardest:
· Personal/home
· Work/career
· Money/financial
Stress is contagious. If you experience continual intense stress in one area of your life, you will find it in all other areas of your life. That is why Stress Management is so important. There are four phases or coping mechanisms that people usually use to cope or hide stress.
· Phase I: Hope it will go away.
· Phase II: Seek fast relief. (Turning to medication, alcohol or drugs)
· Phase III: Take it out on others:
· Phase IV: Seek help. (The use of stress management techniques; talking to someone)
There are 3 skills to coping with stress. Most people do not plan ahead to cope with stress. These are just some things to think about.
1. Identify the stress source.
2. Have a stress-management strategy in place that offers a step-by-step method to relieve the symptoms and eliminate the cause of the stress.
3. Have outside support available such as family and friends or a counselor.
There are 10 Ways to Manage Stress
1. Do not let minor aggravations get to you. Do not try to ignore feelings of aggravation. Acknowledge them and then look toward possible solutions. Review them the next hour, day, or when the situation will change. Keep your perspective. Small stressors can seem huge, but fade quickly if you let them.
2. Don't succumb to guilt. If you did something you regret fix it if possible-apologize, change your behavior, and learn from your mistakes. Do not let others use guilt to manipulate you. If it is legitimate, take steps to make sure it does not happen again.
3. Develop strategies. This is an action strategy to achieve a specific solution or a coping strategy for adapting to the situation.
4. Learn to accept and adapt to change. Look for opportunities instead of staying in the status quo of things. Take a leadership approach-an active approach to coping with stress.
5. Change the way you look at stress. Look at stress producers from all angles. Look for choices and alternatives. View problem solving as enjoyable and challenging.
6. Develop a support system-at least one person who can be a sounding board. These people can provide valuable insight and perspective.
7. Learn to accept the things we cannot change. You cannot control everything. Look to the future, when things will improve. Accept your feelings and do not hide them, instead look for your supports. Keep busy. Avoid too much free time to think about problems. Change the environment-take a walk, plan a trip. Pamper yourself. Indulge in a personal luxury like relaxing in a hot bath or buy yourself a small gift.
8. Develop a personal anti-stress regimen. This involves a combination of diet, exercise and relaxation. Make it convenient, time effective, inexpensive, and enjoyable.
9. Don't take it personally.
10. Believe in yourself.
These are 10 simple steps to reduce stress. I recommend that you look up how your diet effects stress, simple exercises that reduce stress, and look into relaxation CD's or Podcasts that can teach you relaxation and can be used as relaxation exercises. Having these in hand will greatly reduce your stress level.
Carolyn L. Nelson is a licensed clinical social worker who has been in the field over 20 years. She writes for her Blog at http://blog.therapistscornerblog.com/
She also can be reached at her website at http://www.therapistscornerblog.com/
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