Health and Wellness

Health & Wellness

Stress Management

As we adjust ourselves to the continually changing environment around us, our bodies experience stress. Stress is simply our response to threat and has both physical and emotional effects on us. Depending how we take stress, it is not necessarily bad on us and has both positive and negative influences.

There is no single optimal level of stress for everyone. We are all different individuals with unique and specific requirements. When dealing with stress, our goal is not to eliminate it, but rather to learn how to better manage stress and use it to our advantage. Stress signals are categorized into 4 different groups and you may experience some of the following when you are stressed:

Feelings:
Anxious, irritable, fear, moody, embarrassed, etc.
Thoughts:
Mentally disorganized, forgetful, self-critical, have trouble concentrating, fear of failure, etc.
Behavioral:
Acting on impulse, nervously laughing, usage of alcohol and/or drugs, increase/decreased appetite, crying, having speech difficulties, etc.
Physical
Headaches, sleeping problems, cold/sweaty hands, fatigue, rapid breathing or pounding heart, trembling, etc.

Following are some strategies to help to manage stress:

Acknowledge your feelings and physical/emotional reactions
Don’t force yourself to be happy just because it’s Christmas time. It’s okay to express your feelings, be sad, or just cry.

Take a deep breath
Take a minute to slow down and take a deep breath next time when you are feeling uptight.

Seek support from others
You don’t have to go through it alone. When you feel isolated, sad, lonely, or down, a good way to combat these feelings is to seek out others including family, friends, community, social or religious groups, who are able to give you support and company.

Manage time
Plan ahead. Make a schedule for different activities and events to avoid last minute scramble. Poor time management or over commitment can lead to stress. It can be overwhelming when trying to deal with everything at the same time. Make priorities and do not overwork yourself. Also remember to allocate time for both work and recreation.

Build up physically
Physical activities play an important role in reducing and preventing the effects of stress. Next time when you feel angry, upset, or nervous, release your pressure by exercising or participating in physical activities.

Know your limits
Sometimes people try hard to control events/things or other people which and whom they have not much or no power over, hence becoming stressed. When confronted under stressful circumstances, try to ask yourself if this is really your problem. If it is not, leave it. If it is, try to get the situation/problem resolved, and accept whatever changes that you have made.

by Wayne King

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