How To Control Stress – Stress management strategy #11: Become social

By Philip Yiga | January 27, 2015

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All of us experience stress at some point in life and this is not actually good for our health. However, sometimes stress can be a good thing because it helps us to act in order to overcome obstacles. On the other hand, chronic stress in everyday situations can be very harmful to your psyche and health but the good news is that stress can actually be controlled using the right tools or measures. In fact, with right physical practice and mental make-up, stress can be gradually decreased or minimized within your life. Below are the methods that one can use to deal with stress and I’m very sure that they will of great help:

 

METHOD 1: LEARN ABOUT STRESS:

• Learn a bit about stress: stress is actually physical and emotional tension or discomfort within your life that is caused by any perceived threat to your well-being. While some kinds of stress can be good like planning for wedding, there are other types of stress that can be hazardous to the overall health and that’s why in this article I’m examining the ways to deal with the negative kinds of stress.

• Identify the symptoms of stress: stress can usually be manifested in a number of ways. That is why you should be a lookout for both emotional and physical signs of stress and these may include: tension, sleeping-problems, loss of appetite, weight loss or gain, headaches back-pains, stomach problems, feeling powerless, anger, sadness or crying, worry and many other forms of stress.

• Recognize some causes of short-term stress: short term stress can be fleeting but powerful. Short-term stress is caused by several factors which include: arguments, accumulation of small-problems, too much work in less time and many others.

• Get to know about some of the causes of long-term stress: this kind of stress is more pervasive and in some cases it may be brought on by a positive even in someone’s life such as having a child or getting a job-promotion. On the other hand, long-term stress is more hazardous to one’s health because it stays for such a long time. In fact, with this stress the sympathetic autonomic nervous system (ANS) initiates a fight or reaction semi-permanently without letting the parasympathetic ANS to relax the body and fully take-over it. The causes of this type of stress include: death of a loved one, experiencing long-lasting illness, financial difficulties, chronic problems at work or home, and many other issues.

• Never use drugs or abuse alcohol as a way of dealing with stress: dealing with stress can be a very difficult thing but taking drugs or alcohol so as to deal with stress will not do anything to fix your stress. In the long run, taking alcohol or drugs as problem-solver actually creates more problems than it solves.

• Get to know that stress can be prevented: sometimes it may seem like stress is a constant in life but there are several ways of keeping stress from encroaching on your happiness. This can be done through stress-management or stress-prevention like: planning ahead, creating an order of operations, preparing for potentially stressful events, etc.

METHOD 2: SEARCHING FOR QUICK SOLUTIONS OR FIXES:

• Try to ask yourself whether there is anything you can do about the situation: step back and for some perspective. This is good because at times we get stressed about situations that we absolutely have no control over like being caught in traffic-jam. Letting the mind to that its ok to leave the situation as it is may be all you need to fight your stress. So if you get to know that there is nothing you can do about your sudden stressful event, just try not to worry about it.

• Learn not to sweat over the small issues: this is all about using a perspective to reduce stress because life is full of problems whereby some of them are big while others are small. Individuals who successfully get rid of stress are often good about letting go of small stuff or issues and then focus on the truly important issues.

• Fight your stress with physical activity: in case you feel stressed, just go for any exercise like riding a bike inorder to pedal out that anxiety, put on running shoes and jog around or you can do any other activity of your choice. This is because controlling stress is at times as easy as getting up and doing some activities.

• Go for meditation and breathing exercises: when stress is taking over, the sympathetic ANS pumps adrenaline and some hormones into your body to prepare it for any action. But the parasympathetic ANS will eventually take over and calm the body but you can also help the parasympathetic ANS take over by practicing some meditation and breathing exercises.

• Become social: when you get stressed, it is always tempting to try isolating yourself from people. However, this is not good and evidence shows that being around trusted or supportive people can actually help to ease on the stress. These people don’t necessarily have to be your friends or family hence they can even be great social motivators, acquaintances or people around you like in a coffee shop. In fact, being around the right kinds of people can do wonders when it comes to managing your stress.

• Try distracting yourself: distraction can actually be an effective way of temporarily ignoring stress within your life but it is always best to use a method of controlling stress than ignoring it.Distract yourself by simply helping someone else, by doing some art or with a hobby.

• Focus on only the positive side: this may sound crazy but it can truly help some people who are stressed. There is a silver-lining in any stressful situation and that’s why it would be best for you to grab a sheet and divide the situation into any possible negative and positive outcomes. Then try to do something symbolic to the negative outcomes like: burning them up. Only take the positive outcomes and let them your thinking over negative outcomes.

• Act simple: modern life can somehow complicated and demanding, that is why it’s easy to feel like the world is controlling us. But inorder to like you have alot of control over your decisions, just try to simplify all aspects of your life. this can be through taking a vacation that you have been putting off for about 5-years, setting aside some time to relax as you take a warm cup of tea, taking a walk with your family, trying to fill your life with simple things and trust me, you will able to fight any kind of stress.

• Manage stress with a musical therapy: a music therapy can be a break through concept from your stress yet it is a very simple idea. Try to combine relaxation with music as way of fighting stress, rising blood pressure, dementia and a lot more. It has been proven by scientists that music therapy greatly helps people to calm their body and mind because of tis rhythm, order and predictability.

METHOD 3: INVESTING IN LONG-TERM SOLUTIONS:

• Create a stress journal: it may sound a little funny to dwell on your stress in a journal but it is actually very healthy incase you learn to deal with stress. Try to keep the journal with you all the time while writing in it whenever you feel stressed.

• Begin sharing your thoughts: a stressful situation can actually make you feel like you are alone but this is not true. Just try sharing your thoughts and feelings with other people because this makes you feel like the burden has been lifted from your shoulders.

• Try to maintain a healthy diet: in case our body is running on a poor diet, then it will be hard for it to build energy to fight stress. Stress may actually be frightening and exhausting; therefore it will be important for one to get a healthy diet during this situation.

• Carve-out enough sleep in the day to sleep: inadequate sleep and stress can actually form a vicious cycle. a recent survey proved that most people associated their sleep problems with stress. In fact, scientists found that for each hour of sleep lost at night actually increases the risk of stress to upto 14-percent.

• Try to reward yourself without relying too much on incentives: it is good to reward yourself incase you manage to finish something stressful because this gives an incentive to work through any difficult situation. However, never rely on incentives inorder to get you through stressful times.

• Ask for some help: it is good to actively solicit the advice from other people and to consider their ideas. This is because people are generally keen when it comes to lending a helping hand because it makes them feel good about themselves, so learn to take advantage of this.

• Consult a professional in case any of these tips don’t help you: at times chronic stress holds-up and does not let go. it may lead to depression and anxiety but these need to be dealt with immediately inorder to ensure that stress levels don’t hit the unbearable level and this can be done by seeking out for help from a professional.