In my previous post I listed a bunch of different negative effects stress can have on your life. I’m sure you were able to relate to at least a couple of them. That being the case the big question is “what can be done about stress?”
Let’s take this in two parts, what is causing the stress and what will help alleviate it. First, you need to pin point the things that are stressing you out. This is pretty easy and you may find that you have a pretty long list once you really start thinking about it. Common culprits are things like: life changes, your environment, unpredictable events, family, work, social, fears, uncertainty, attitude, and unrealistic expectations. These are pretty broad so take some time to grind down to some of the specifics that really stress you out. Hopefully just thinking about them doesn’t cause you too much stress.
Secondly, now that you know the causes you can plan for reducing the stress. A handful of common stress relieving methods are: exercise, relaxation techniques, building healthy relationships, plenty of sleep, and counseling. I know these may not sound as specific or practical as you might like them to be, but you need to customize the actions to your specific stressor. For example, if you get to work everyday at 8:00 and right away your boss is on your back stressing you out, and you can’t get out to exercise or for some counseling until you get off work at 5:00 then you might need to develop a little bit more effective plan. You should have a good idea of the things that relax you and take your mind of things you don’t want to think about, those need to be incorporated into your stress relief plan.
Additionally I’d like to say that simply having a stress relieving response to every stressor is not quite enough. In some cases you may need to find a way to stop certain stressors from occurring. If you have a friend that stresses you out every time you interact with them something isn’t quite right with that relationship and it should be addressed. I’m not saying avoid your friends or end the relationship but maybe you could talk it out and resolve whatever is making the friendship stressful.
There’s a lot to say about stress and I don’t want to try and accomplish too much in a blog post. Just remember, there are professionals out there who are trained to help you with this stuff and for your health’s sake it is worth it to seek their assistance.
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Understanding Stress
You are probably pretty familiar with stress because you experience it on a regular basis. You know you don’t enjoy stress and its negative effects on your life but you can’t seem to escape it. You have probably come to an understanding that you just have to live with it and hope you get through it. This is a common response but it is not made in the best interest of yourself and your health. Check out this long list of physical, mental and behavioral issues that can result from stress and see if you can relate to any of them:
Physical: Headaches, chest pain, pounding heart, high blood pressure, shortness of breath, muscle aches, back pain, clenched jaw, grinding teeth, upset stomach, diarrhea, constipation, increased sweating, tiredness, sleep problems, weight gain or loss, sex problems, skin breakouts.
Mental/feelings: Anxiety, restlessness, worrying, irritability, depression, sadness, anger, mood swings, job dissatisfaction, insecurity, confusion, burnout, forgetfulness, resentment, guilt, lack of concentration, negativity.
Behavior: Overeating, under eating, outbursts of anger, drug use, excessive drinking, increased smoking, social withdrawal, crying spells, relationship conflicts, decreased productivity, blaming others.
Your body has its methods of reacting to stress in order to protect you from perceived threats. Constantly being in a stressed state will mess you up bodily and mentally because your “fight or flight” reaction system is always on. This long-term activation of the stress response system results in over exposure to stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol disrupting your body’s processes and increasing your risk of serious health problems.
All this is to say that simply trying to live with excessive stress is not the way to go. Ideally you want to be able to manage the stress in your life. By understanding what stresses you out you can take action to reduce the duration and severity of stress, as well as incorporate healthy relief activities into your daily life.
In my next post I will discuss common stressors and in what ways you can manage your stress so that your health risks are reduced. In the mean time, try to get a grasp on what stresses you out on a regular basis so that you can begin to formulate a plan to manage those stressors.
Physical: Headaches, chest pain, pounding heart, high blood pressure, shortness of breath, muscle aches, back pain, clenched jaw, grinding teeth, upset stomach, diarrhea, constipation, increased sweating, tiredness, sleep problems, weight gain or loss, sex problems, skin breakouts.
Mental/feelings: Anxiety, restlessness, worrying, irritability, depression, sadness, anger, mood swings, job dissatisfaction, insecurity, confusion, burnout, forgetfulness, resentment, guilt, lack of concentration, negativity.
Behavior: Overeating, under eating, outbursts of anger, drug use, excessive drinking, increased smoking, social withdrawal, crying spells, relationship conflicts, decreased productivity, blaming others.
Your body has its methods of reacting to stress in order to protect you from perceived threats. Constantly being in a stressed state will mess you up bodily and mentally because your “fight or flight” reaction system is always on. This long-term activation of the stress response system results in over exposure to stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol disrupting your body’s processes and increasing your risk of serious health problems.
All this is to say that simply trying to live with excessive stress is not the way to go. Ideally you want to be able to manage the stress in your life. By understanding what stresses you out you can take action to reduce the duration and severity of stress, as well as incorporate healthy relief activities into your daily life.
In my next post I will discuss common stressors and in what ways you can manage your stress so that your health risks are reduced. In the mean time, try to get a grasp on what stresses you out on a regular basis so that you can begin to formulate a plan to manage those stressors.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
