Managing Stress

How Do I Manage Stress ?

Stress management is not only an urgent need in today's fast-paced lifestyle, but an important factor in both physical and mental health. It is a psychological approach which teaches people, skills to cope with anxiety and stress. It is all about understanding where your stress is coming from, and finding ways to alleviate it, and also to manage your life so that it becomes easier and more enjoyable.

Stress management is the application of methods to either reduce stress or increase tolerance to stress. It needs to be practiced regularly is the most effective when practised regularly. Managing stress means our ability to maintain control when situations, people, and events make excessive demands on us. It is a key to happiness. It is your ability to effectively manage the pressures you feel at work and at home. It is about knowing your limits.

A complete nutritional approach, combined with proper fitness maintenance and stress management is most important. Stress management is the application of methods to either reduce stress or increase tolerance to stress. Here's why managing your stress is important: stress wears your body out and can kill you.

Workplace stress management is a great way of making sure that you can get through the workday in peace and then go home with little or no stress weighing on your mind. The key to stress management is to determine the right amount of stress that will give you energy, ambition, and enthusiasm versus the wrong amount which can harm your health and well-being.

One of the first rules of effective stress management is positive thinking and behavior. Exactly how exercise helps in relaxation and stress management is not clear. At work, stress management is a breeze when you let employees take on tasks that fit their skill and interest. Another strategy for stress management is to live in the moment. But it is not about putting yourself first at the expense of your family and clients. Fortunately, stress management is largely a learnable skill.

Stress

Stress is your response to any physical, emotional or intellectual demands. Stress management includes following a healthy diet, getting regular exercise, and making time for uninterrupted relaxation.

Nutrition is one area where stress can be reduced most effectively, because we eat every day at least 3 times a day, so even the smallest of changes could bring about significant benefits. Stress can and does also result from unbalanced and inappropriate nutrition; excessive use of socially acceptable intoxicants; suppressive drugs and vaccinations; environmental toxins; negative emotions; lack of physical exercise; genetic factors; and improper body alignment.

Stress is a normal part of life. It is an unavoidable consequence of life and it is not something exclusive of the human beings, because the animals also have it. Stress is the answer of the body in response to external conditions that are perceived as dangerous, worrying or irritating.

Stress management takes into account our needs for exercise, food, rest as well as personal time to reflect. Stress management involves challenging what you have been doing in the past as well as your perceptions. Although we can't eliminate stress, we can all do a better job in managing it. Symptoms of stress can be either behavioral or physical. And some people who have a chronic illness may find that the symptoms of their illness flare up under an overload of stress.

Effective stress management is a lifestyle and we must learn to incorporate into our daily lives. A commitment to live a healthier lifestyle should never take a back seat, especially not to stress. In the alternative, if stress is more the result of one's lifestyle, eliminating the stress causing factors and / or gaining healthful insight on how to alleviate stress the right way might just be the best thing for an individual to do for themselves.

All you need to do is Chill, get control of that stress. More recently, however, it has been argued that external circumstances do not have any intrinsic capacity to produce stress, but instead their effect is mediated by the individual's perceptions, capacities, and understanding. The model breaks the stressor-stress link by proposing that if stressors are perceived as positive or challenging rather than a threat, and if the stressed person is confident that he/she possesses adequate rather than deficient coping strategies, stress may not necessarily follow the presence of a potential stressor.

The model conceptualizes stress as a result of how a stressor is appraised and how a person appraises his/her resources to cope with the stressor. The model proposes that stress can be reduced by helping stressed people change their perceptions of stressors, providing them with strategies to help them cope and improving their confidence in their ability to do so.

Anxiety

Anxiety is stress, tension and strain brought onto one's body and mind. Anxiety comes in two forms Somatic and Cognitive. Anxiety can be broken down into two types: Somatic -sweaty palms, pain in neck or sick to the stomach. Anxiety may be due to not feeling that they are not in control. These symptoms may manifest themselves psychologically as irritability, anxiety, impaired concentration, mental confusion, poor judgment, frustration and anger.

We are aware that people that suffer from Anxiety Disorders have problems mixing in social gatherings and I myself have found that online chat, forums and even Voice Chat can be an excellent way to deal with Anxieties, because you avoid one of the big things many people with Social Anxiety are afraid of: Meeting people. Stress-related disorders include a broad array of conditions, including depression, anxiety, dissatisfaction, fatigue, tension, aggression, substance abuse, impairment in concentration and memory problems. Tranquilizers, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety medications account for one fourth of all prescriptions written in the USA. Why generate anxiety when you can be nervous.

Exercise can help to relieve stress, tension, and anxiety. By expelling your excess negative emotions and adrenaline through physical activity, you can enter a more relaxed, calm state of being from which to deal with the issues and conflicts that are causing your anxiety. Exercise is one of the most important coping medium to combat anxiety and stress. Exercise may trigger a neurophysiologic high-a shot of adrenaline or endorphins- that produces an antidepressant effect in some, an anti anxiety effect in others, and a general sense of "feeling better" in most. Frequent exercise is an effective treatment for anxiety and, according to some research, is as effective as psychotherapy in treating mild or moderate depression. In various studies, researchers have found that exercise can decrease anxiety and depression, improve an individual's self-image, and buffer people from the effects of stress.

Other researchers have found that light exercise, such as walking or swimming, decreases anxiety just as effectively as vigorous jogging does. (If you suffer from physical symptoms of anxiety such as gastrointestinal problems, sweating, palpitations, pacing back and forth, etc).

On the other hand, if your anxiety is caused by psychological causes such as worrying, difficulty concentrating, or intrusive thoughts, you may find more relief from mental exercises such as meditation, imagery, prayer or other form of mental relaxation. Exercising too much may lead to a state of fatigue characterized by anxiety or depression, insomnia, and a loss of interest in personal life.

Symptoms

Symptoms of stress can be either behavioral or physical. Symptoms of despair and hopelessness may be experienced in Acute Stress Disorder and may be sufficiently severe and persistent to meet criteria for a Major Depressive Episode. Symptoms of Acute Stress Disorder are experienced during or immediately after the trauma, last for at least 2 days, and either resolve within 4 weeks after the conclusion of the traumatic event or the diagnosis is changed.

These symptoms may manifest themselves psychologically as irritability, anxiety, impaired concentration, mental confusion, poor judgment, frustration and anger. And some people who have a chronic illness may find that the symptoms of their illness flare up under an overload of stress. Common physical symptoms of stress include: muscle tension, headaches, low back pain,

Most, however tend to ignore the problem as they unaware of the symptoms, causing the hemorrhoid to grow larger and cause more discomfort. If the stress symptoms persist during many days, it is reasonable to go to see a doctor or to request psychological support. Common physical symptoms of stress include: muscle tension, headaches, low back pain, insomnia and high blood pressure.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle modifications to prevent and control hypertension. Healthy Lifestyle Stress management should be a major concern for a healthy lifestyle. Effective stress management is a lifestyle and we must learn to incorporate into our daily lives. A commitment to live a healthier lifestyle should never take a back seat, especially not to stress. In the alternative, if stress is more the result of one's lifestyle, eliminating the stress causing factors and/or gaining healthful insight on how to alleviate stress the right way might just be the best thing for an individual to do for themselves.

For these reasons, stress management is vital to being successful at work and living a healthy lifestyle. Stress management is steadily increasing in importance due to today's busy and demanding lifestyles.

By : Pradeep Mahajan

Author is a free-lance writer. He is an engineer-MBA and management consultant by profession & practice. Also visit www.health-fitness-wellness.com for more useful & interesting information on health, fitness & wellness. This article is available for reprint on your website and/or in your newsletter, provided it is not changed and you include the author's web-site address.

Managing Stress - Brainsmart - BBC

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