Stress Relief Techniques
Nobody goes through life without having stress, but too much of it really can become a problem. It can make everything you do difficult. Stress can occur anytime that something changes in our lives and we have to adjust to the change.
On the positive side, stress gives us new perspectives and induces action. However, on the negative side, stress can also make us feel angry, depressed, and rejected. It can even lead to health problems like headaches, stomach aches, insomnia, rashes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and strokes if it gets really bad.
Some signs of excessive stress include frequent worrying about future and past events, tension, tiredness, doing things in a hurried way, and regularly feeling “on edge”. If you experience these things a lot then you may have a problem. Having some stress in your life is not bad though. It is actually important to have a certain amount of stress because if you don’t have enough then you can become depressed and bored. So make sure that you don’t have a goal of eliminating all stress. Just try and get it to a normal level.
The first thing you should do to reduce stress is to pay attention to it and what causes it. Don’t try to push it out of your mind like it isn’t there. Try and find out what causes your stress and how your body responds to it. When you decide what the major causes of your stress are, then see if you can either avoid these causes or eliminate them entirely. Try to reduce your exposure to these causes as much as you can.
It’s very unlikely that you will be able to avoid all of your causes of stress, so you will need to know how to minimize the effects of stress. You can actually make your emotional and physical reactions to stress not so severe. This will make it much easier to deal with.
Stress is caused by a person’s perception of a situation. If you think that a certain situation is mentally or physically dangerous, then you will get stressed out by it. However, if you don’t think that it’s dangerous then nothing will happen as a result of it. Whenever you get stressed out, look at the situation you are in and decide if you are overreacting. You might be viewing things as being absolutely urgent and critical when they really aren’t. Try to look at stress as something that you can control, rather than something that controls you. Whenever you feel yourself starting to get stressed, start to take deep, slow breaths. It is very important to relax.
There are some things that you can do everyday to manage your stress and make your life easier. Make sure you do something enjoyable at least once a day. Don’t hold your feelings inside of yourself. You need to find a way to let your feelings out. Try to relax as much as possible. You may need to take several breaks during your workday for this. Don’t do anything in a rushed way. Just take your time and enjoy yourself.
Having a healthy body is also very important for stress management. You should try to exercise three or four times every week, eat healthy meals, avoid smoking or drinking, avoid caffeine, and maintain a healthy weight.
If you still are having stress problems after you try all of this then you may need to see a doctor or psychologist. They will look at your specific situation and decide what is best for you. Just remember that stress is normal, everyone has it. Don’t get discouraged if you have one stressful event.
