HOW TO MANAGE STRESS

EASY STEPS TO UNDERSTAND AND MANAGE STRESS

STRESS …now a days it’s too often to hear this word, yes actually STRESS is the new age disorder gripping the world , simply defined stress is mental strain which causes physical , emotional, medical disorder or psychological and behavioral changes in the person affected.

Stress grips a person without any warnings it is basically the way we handle different situations in our daily life on WORK, EMOTION, PERSONAL RELATIONS, SOCIETY, FINANCES AND TO EXTENT OF EVEN DRIVING TRAFFIC AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES. Acute stressed situations lead to unhealthy eating habits, or eating too much, developing alcohol habits, increased smoking , less sleep and eventually leading to bad physical conditions and ailments.

According to the available statistics of MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION’s online survey conducted on mental health, the findings were citing early warning on scale of stress.

74% of people responded acute levels of stress which they find difficult to cope up in past year

Behavioral effects -46% of the respondents reported thy they either ate too much or too less or irregular eating  29% admitted to increased drinking and 16% admitted to increased smoking or started smoking habits.

Psychological effects -51% of people who reported stressed condition stated feeling depressed and 61% respondents reported feeling anxious.

18% reported of self harm and 30% reported of having suicidal feelings.

IDENTIFYING STRESS

It is important to identify stress before it starts taking toll on one’s health, when you start feeling misbalance in your work and personal life and either of one is carried on your mind throughout the day  , that is stress. It triggers our nervous ability thus creating imbalance causing mood swings, or just not bothered attitude. Stress can be broadly categorized in following heads as listed below

Human body is well engineered and is able to cope with diverse situations, but when we divert our attention to one topic Is first level of psychological stress, or we start developing behavioral changes like signs of aggression, pissed off with most of things, difficulty in concentrating or too much worrying .

Most of the people who are not able to keep balance in psychological AND behavioral aspects may develop physical , emotional and social ailments like neck and back muscle tension, physical fatigue,headeaches,digestive problems. Dizziness, loneliness, we should not underestimate these early warnings.

NOT ALL THE STRESS YOU TAKE IS HARMFUL

Stress can be broadly categorized in four types based on the occurrence and symptoms it carries. Let understand it better

GENERAL STRESS: This is very common and has been experienced by almost everyone; this is momentous and has a short impact, it has adrenaline rush and it comes and goes in routine. Like getting stressed when our favorite team is losing in a match or routine traffic woes.

ACUTE STRESS – more than the general stress, but something which as deep impact on one’s life more than a day, it settles as the time passed by, recoverable financial loss, signing a bad deal. Having trouble with peer group over an issue in life. The tendency of this stress level is acute and can some time lead to nervous trauma but in general it can be managed with time. Loosing someone in friends or family is also the same level of stress.

CHRONIC STRESS– CHRONIC stress is periodic and seems never ending, it is inescapable like a bad marriage, taking a stressed job, major financial losses leading to downgrade living standards or social status, social crimes leading to social loneliness.chroic stress can also stem out from traumatic situations These are the levels which are eventually harmful to one if not taken care of.

ONGOING ACUTE STRESS– acute stress which becomes never ending , it reoccurs very often and rums rampant ,seems to be in way of life, you may also term it s ongoing stress.

EUSTRESS – CHEER UP, THIS IS THE POSITIVE STRESS, AND IT IS THE ADREALINE RUSH WHEN YOU ARE WINNING OR PERFORMING WELL AND OUR PERFORMANCE IS MOTIVATING US REGULARLY. EUSTRESS IS BLESSING AND UNLIKE DISTRESS WHICH BREAKS US DOWN, IT IS THE ONE WHICH REJUVENATES US.

IMPACT OF STRESS

We are connected with our mind and our body revels much about our mental health as well , similarly when we are stressed we start showing the sign of decaying mind and changes in our routine and behaviors. Situations of GENERAL STRESS and ACUTE stress can be managed as they are momentous , but situations of CHRONIC and ACUTE ONGOING STRESS  needs immediate attentions as they lead us to severe physical ailments and effect adversely on our overall health

When our mind experiences heavy levels of stress it is invariably delivered to our body , showing sign of diabetes , high or low blood pressures , the signs of mild anxiety or frustrations start affecting our other goals as well leading to overall failure.

Chronic tress situations are at times responsible for taking toll of life , like heart failures , chronic nervous attack leading to nervous breakdown. Socially it leads to more miserable conditions as we start getting away from our immediate family as well as society finally ends up with more severe health conditions such as

DIABITIES – FORGETFULL NESS- PARKINSONS –HAIR LOSS-HYPER TENSION –LOW BLOOD PRESSURE-SEXUAL DYSFUNCTION –OBESITY-TOOTH AND GUM DISEASES ETC.

HOW TO TREAT STRESS

Well by now we have all understood stress, it is a condition developed by the situations around us and inability or limitations of our brain to cover them up or psychologically get over the situations. Stress is part of being human and we may encounter stress due to serious illness, job loss, financial losses or painful life event of loosing someone in family or friends

It is advised to go for medical diagnosis and recommended for treatment as advised by your doctor, but it is seen that there is no direct treatment of stress; the treatments followed by medical practitioners are symptomatic.

That is the treatment given is for less sleep or high blood pressure or obesity etc. stress can be dealt with only behavioral therapies and physical exercises

BEHAVIORAL THERAPIES

CONNECT WITH PEOPLE –connect socially with people, spending times with your family and friends lower stress levels by releasing certain hormones responsible for calming you down mentally

CREATE LIFE AND WORK BALANCE-create work and life balance, do not over commit, share the responsibilities, and create peer work balance, walking out of heated discussions or situations, do not over think

LAUGH MORE-create light environment around you , laugh out loud, attending standup comedy shows , actually laughing out loud improves your lungs and increases the intake of oxygen in blood, thus improving overall health , reduce fatigue and lessening pain.

TALK THERAPY-There are talk therapist available now a days for patience listening and providing valuable advice on how to cope up these situations, get involved with these professionals a they involve cognitive thinking approach and change the negative thoughts to positive ones.  

TAKE UP A HOBBY –HOBBY is something which is closer to your heart and you like doing that activity, involve yourself in it, it may be gardening, taking a PET for a walk, painting or something else. It develops sense of achievement and takes your mind away from the negative things.

PHYSICAL THERAPIES [EXERCISE]

EXERCISE REGULARLY – maintain a strict exercise regime, push yourself to physical activity. This not only improves positivity but also distract your mind to other achievable goals which motivate you. Involving in some physical games is also one good advice

Cycling , swimming, skiing etc are good games to involve with , if you are member of a club involve yourself in a team game.

DIETING –Maintain strict diet controls, it is advised to improve intake of vitamin C , Magnesium and omega 3 for better stress management, taking food high in these may help ,lean proteins –veggies and lentils improve overall heath.

YOGA – is eternal exercise, it not only improves physical fitness but also balances the soul and organ balance. Choose deep breathing and stretching YOGA exercises for relieving stress levels … to read more click link

MEDITATION –Meditation has been a proven technique to rediscover yourself, your inner sense and been practiced from over thousands of years. It improves the ability of brain and expand your thinking abilities. Click for more on meditation