Stress: Taking Care of You, Letting Stress Go

Introduction:

Stress is the leading cause of; high blood pressure, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue and depression. Stress, left unchecked; can lead to diabetes, heart attack, stroke and severe depression. Stress, good and bad is around us all of the time – how we choose to handle certain stressors that come up, is the deciding point as to how we manage our overall mental, physical and emotional health.

Description:

There are many ways that we can detect the negative ways that stress is affecting our lives.

We might:

See a significant weight gain or loss

Eat excessively or hardly eat at all

Sleep too much or too little

Be agitated or complacent

Be overly aggressive or too docile

These are just a few indicators that we are not handling everyday stress, or excessive stressors that come up. Diet, exercise and relaxation are all instrumental keys to helping us cope during stress time, and for helping prevent small incidents from becoming larger than necessary. Using de-stressing techniques each day, helps us build an immunity to the larger stressors we face- much like preventive medicine.

stress management

Some stress relief techniques when you are already in the hurricane;

Think seriously about the stress you are under and invite others to discuss the situation with you. You may find that the stress you feel is exaggerated and exacerbated. Examine, write down your feelings, write down a plan of action to down size your stress level and still complete the task at hand.

Understand the type of stressors affecting you. Are you really stressed about the workload you have on the job and the time frame of completion, or are you not delegating, scheduling, or multitasking the way you should. Can you alleviate the stress before it even begins?

Try writing a schedule of your workday whether at home or in the office. Take one day and write down as you go everything you do half hour to half hour. Now, critically and honestly look at your schedule. Are you spending a lot of time getting set up for the day, do you spend more time than you should on emails (especially joke emails sent by friends), do you put off the most difficult task and plan to do it later?

Procrastination is a leading cause of stress in the workplace, school and at home. Some people claim they work better under the gun, but they usually go into major stress mode in order to complete the work.

Procrastination usually leads to;

Excessive worry about the project.

Excessive self-doubt about even approaching the project.

Over thinking the negatives about the project

Over analyzing the reasons the project cannot be completed

Underestimating the quality of work that can be accomplished

Worrying too much about the ramifications of an ill-fated project

Worrying too much about the out-come of the project, will it pass or fail?

The afore mentioned panic buttons for procrastination are the extreme definition of a perfectionist. Many people think that a perfectionist is a person that is extremely precise at what they do and how they accomplish a task.

In reality, a true perfectionist is a person that will not even attempt a goal or project, for the possibility of failure.

Improve your diet:

Make sure you are getting plenty of Vitamin B, this aids the body in recovery from the damage that stressors do. It can make you somewhat calmer and better able to handle the stressors you may face. Many green leafy vegetables contain Vitamin B, in some cases; you may want to look into a Vitamin B complex supplement. Vitamin C is imperative in helping the immune system, it is found naturally in citrus, but can also be taken as a supplement. A healthy, well balanced diet is the key to a better you, physically and emotionally.

diet and nutrition

vitamin b supplements

Reduce or eliminate your toxin intake – what seems to be a quick calming aid, may in reality be causing more stress to your body.

Smoking seems to be a calming agent, and many people that are under duress, tend to increase the amount they smoke. In reality, it is the act of smoking that is calming your system temporarily. When we smoke we take a deep inhale, and exhale slowly. We get the feeling of calm from this act. In reality the tobacco reacts as a stimulant, and actually speeds up the metabolism, creating a more accelerated heart rate and can cause hyperventilation. If you remove the tobacco from the equation – and inhale deeply through the mouth and then exhale slowly through the nose, the body will loosen up, your lungs will fill up, and after repeating this act 2 to 3 times, you will achieve this same calming affect without the negative aspects of nicotine.

stop smoking programs

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise:

When we are feeling very stressed our bodies produce more adrenaline, causing us to have shakes, tremors, light headedness, lack of mental clarity and stress on the heart. Exercise burns up adrenaline and produces helpful chemicals that actually induce positive feelings of well being. Aerobic exercise is the best form for adrenaline release, and although you may feel lack of breath, rapid heartbeat and other symptoms that mimic a stress or panic attack – in reality you are releasing the body of this excess adrenaline and creating a calming effect, when the exercise is over and heart rate has returned to normal.

aerobic exercise

Let things go:

There are so many things that are out of our control, and it is easier said than done to just let it go.

Death

Birth

Sickness in the family

Loss of job

Sudden illness

These are all stressors that hit us out of the blue, and there is not a thing we can do about them. We need to let go, adjust to the new circumstances, train and retain our health, and deal with the situation. If we let stress take over, we are less capable of handling and coping with these huge stressors. Take time out to relax, meditate, exercise, eat right – or you will not be able to cope with the main issue. Feeling stress is a natural condition to the equation, but getting over-stressed to the point of not being able to cope, is non-productive and exacerbates the problem.

stress and anxiety