Dwell On It All Night
Sleep is a precious commodity when youre stressed out. Its too tempting to lay in bed worrying all night long. Missing out on sleep can actually make you feel more stressed. Sleep deprivation can interfere with your ability to think clearly. You need your brain in optimal working condition to find the answer to resolve your stress.
Stop Consuming Too Much Caffeine Tobacco And Alcohol
Avoid consuming caffeinated drinks, nicotine, and alcohol. These substances are stimulants. This means that these substances could increase your stress level.
The best thing you can do instead is drinking a lot of water, herbal teas, and fruit juices. Fruits have natural nutritional contents that help boost your physical and psychological health.
What Causes Stress In Our Lives
We live in an interesting, but also fast-paced world. There are lots of sources of stress, including:
- Homework and projects at school
- Family tension as you try to be more independent from your parents
- Pressure from friends to do risky things
- Tension with your boyfriend or girlfriend
- Difficult people in your life
- Upsetting news about disasters, war, or personal tragedy
- Media messages that lower your self-esteem
- Not getting enough sleep
- Chronic illness/pandemic
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Focus On The Solution Of The Problem
Many people become even more stressed out because they focus on the problem without identifying possible solutions.
Once you identify the problem, the next step you need to do is finding the way out. Do not dwell on the intensity of the problem. It is given. Control your emotion.
Nothing will happen if you let yourself be carried out by the pain. Use your mind. Think and dont let your negative feelings cloud your focus. Once you found the way out, act on it. Its an effective way to kick out stress.
Tip : Practice The 4 As Of Stress Management
While stress is an automatic response from your nervous system, some stressors arise at predictable times: your commute to work, a meeting with your boss, or family gatherings, for example. When handling such predictable stressors, you can either change the situation or change your reaction. When deciding which option to choose in any given scenario, its helpful to think of the four As: avoid, alter, adapt, or accept.
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Speak Out Your Problem
Needless to say that problems stressed you out. If you think you cant handle the problem or find it difficult to solve, it is a good idea to find some help.
You can ask your friends, your co-workers, loved ones, or even trained professionals whom you think could provide you a solution.
A tension that has no outlet will develop into a more serious mental issue. Depression, for instance, emanates from a simple stress.
Stress is not only the cause of mental disorders but also physical illness. Studies had proven that stomach ulcer is caused by psychological stress. To eliminate stress before it harms you.
Set And Enforce Boundaries
As much as it helps to stay calm when they are getting upset or angry, you shouldnt allow them to overstep the mark.
Their stress is not a good reason for them to treat you poorly verbally, emotionally, or physically.
You should already have some boundaries in place in your relationship, but it might help to remind yourself and your partner of these if they stray too close to the line.
If a boundary is crossed, trust that it is okay to put physical distance between you and your partner even temporarily to protect yourself and let things cool down.
Should this happen, you must talk about it afterwards with your partner to ensure that it does not happen again.
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Watch A Favorite Television Show
One of my favorite tips for how to stop stressing out is to ignore the world around you and put on the television.
Often, we encourage each other to turn off the television and go out and do something else, but not in this case!
Youll likely have a favorite television show that helps make you feel calmer, likely a comedy or show you grew up watching.
If youre feeling stressed and just need to watch something that is going to instantly put you in a better mood, put that television show on with no regrets.
Have a whole television show marathon if you want, snuggled up on the couch and checking in with your favorite characters.
Avoid dramas or action-based shows that may put you more on edge.
You want this to be easy, fun watching.
Stress Relief Tips: What Not To Do When You’re Stressed Out
When life comes at you fast and furious, the last thing you want to do is make things even harder on yourself. Need some stress relief? Start by avoiding these eight traps:
Mistake #1: Skipping Your Morning Joe Too many cups of coffee make you feel as restless as a puppet and as highly strung. So the smart thing to do when you’re stressed is to avoid the stuff completely, right? Not necessarily, finds a study at the U.K.s University of Bristol… so long as youre female. When women collaborated with other women under nerve-racking conditions , they performed better when they drank about three cups of caffeinated coffee . They trusted their colleagues more, had more confidence in their performance and coped better overall. Meanwhile, coffee-drinking male groups performed worse under pressure. Stressed women often tend and befriend, the researchers contend, while their male counterparts resort to fight or flight. Caffeine appears to augment these behaviors — and, at least for women, thats a real perk.
Correction: A previous version of this post stated that Janice Kiecolt-Glaser is at the University of Ohio. She is at Ohio State University.
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Stress Survey: What Types Of Stress Are You Coping With
Problem solving the controllable aspects of a stressful situation is one of the most effective ways to lower our stress. Identifying the problem and breaking it down into manageable chunks is the first step in creating a plan of action.
You can use this survey to help identify the different sources of stress in your life, and to track your progress in coping with them in a healthy way. Check the boxes beside the sentences you feel apply to you, then brainstorm strategies for coping with or solving each problem. See the Coping with Stress section of this wellness module for more information and tips on how to ensure your coping choices lead to reductions in stress and a healthier, more fulfilling life for you and your loved ones. Try taking the survey once a month to track patterns in your behaviourand the positive and negative ways you manage stress.
Adapted from: Holmes and Rahe, 1967 Wheaton, 1997.
About the authors
Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division helps people access the community resources they need to maintain and improve mental health, build resilience, and support recovery from mental illness. CMHA BC has served BC for over 60 years.
Anxiety Canada promotes awareness of anxiety disorders and increases access to proven resources. Visit www.anxietycanada.com.
Select sources and additional resources:
How Do I Know If I’m Too Stressed
The key to stress management is finding the right balance between productive stress and stress that makes you feel overwhelmed and unproductive.
You can look out for physical signs of stress as well. Stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are released by your body and cause your heart to beat faster and your breathing to quicken. Your stomach may feel uneasy, your muscles may tense up and your skin can become sensitive.
All of these are signs that your body is preparing for a fight or flight situation. These feelings should pass soon after the stressful situation is over. If they dont pass, it may be a sign that you are too stressed.
The point where stress is no longer productive is different for everyone, but you might look out for the following clues:
- feeling overwhelmed or unable to cope
- feeling on edge or unable to stop worrying
- changes in sleep patterns, feeling exhausted
- problems at work or school, financial issues or relationship worries
Sometimes internal stress can be brought on by anxiety, depression or self-criticism. Talking negatively about yourself and feeling as though you are never living up to your own or others expectations can be very stressful and can strain your mental and physical health.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been stressful and may also be impacting your mental health and wellbeing. Go here for steps on how to manage your mental health during this time.
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Sometimes It’s Like You Forget To Breathe
You’re sitting there in class and you get a mediocre test grade. All of a sudden you’re convinced that you’ll never get into college and that your future is over. Your emotions can spiral out so fast that you actually feel light-headed, or slightly tingly, or straight-up shaky. So what’s up with that? Sometimes when you’re all worked up you literally hold your breath to keep the tears down and/or the emotion in. And it’s not something you should ignore. “Research has shown that there is no such thing as a spontaneous panic attack,” says Ehrman. “Holding your breath, rapid breathing, a little dizziness these can and will get worse over time.”
Get Hold Of Your Emotions By Focusing On The Present
Properly focusing on the moment you are in can be accomplished in many different ways. Theres meditation, breathing techniques, focusing on sights, sounds, or other sensations. Whatever works best for you is what will help you to get out of your head. Pull back from whats bothering you, and focus your mind on the present.
My mindfulness trick is relatively simpleI can concentrate better when things smell good, so whenever I start to feel like things are getting out of control, I stop and put some lotion on. Its good for my skin and the scent and action itself brings me back to what Im doing at the present.
Meditation is a common way to address mindfulness as well. You can visit a temple for a quick yoga session with complete strangers or travel to Akita for a Buddhist meditation weekend retreat. Of course, you can also practice it on your own at home. The point is to change your environment for a moment and give it a genuine, honest tryin this way youll give yourself reasons to look at things from a better angle.
Ready to move on? Keep in mind that to destress and regain your confidence you first need to declutterand that involves every part of your life. Just keep going!
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Do Not Allow Yourself To Veg
Wallowing, isolating, and vegging help nothing. It only encourages more stress, as does continuing to push too hard. Theres a balancing point we have to find between doing and not doing. This is not the time to sit on the couch and watch Netflix marathons all weekend. This is also not the time to take on more responsibilities and try to keep up the typical pace.
Then what is it the time to do? Lets have a look at what you should do when stressed.
Make Major Life Decisions
Good life decisions rarely come from rash actions. While packing up all your belongings and running away to Madagascar may seem like a dandy idea at the time, youll regret it later. The only exception to this is making decisions that directly impact your stress level, like taking a new job or ending a toxic relationship.
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Do Not Give Yourself A Get Out Of Jail Free Card
There are a number of things we all turn to when were stressed. Namely, alcohol, saturated fats and sweets, and caffeine. We subconsciously look for mood-changing substances, including food, in an attempt to self-soothe.
Its fairly intuitive that alcohol will only worsen the situation, but it takes discipline to resist the temptation. Part of us wants to numb our feelings, but in actuality, alcohol only increases our anxiety. It also decreases quality of sleep, something were in desperate need of when were stressed, and our negative experience is only prolonged by a hangover the next morning.
Similarly, the types of foods we crave when were stressed saturated fats and sugar are deceptively harmful. When the body is in stress-mode, it takes longer to digest saturated fats, keeping them in our systems longer. This makes us more susceptible to weight gain and systemic inflammation. Just what we need to worry about when were feeling stressed!
Caffeine is another stimulus that exacerbates stress symptoms. When we drink caffeine, it blocks adenosine receptors in the brain. The extra adenosine floating around activates neural activity preparing our bodies for increased activity, including the release of adrenaline.
The trouble is, stress has already created a big release of adrenaline. A bit of adrenaline during our day can be helpful, but too much can have lasting damaging effects on our physical and emotional health.
Ultimate Ways To Chill Out And Reduce Stress
Small amounts of stress are healthy and can help you get stuff done. But high levels of stress can have a serious impact on your mental and physical health so its important that you find ways to manage this.
- Post author
Small amounts of stress are healthy and can help you get stuff done. But high levels of stress can have a serious impact on your mental and physical health so its important that you find ways to manage this.
People find different things relaxing so weve constructed a list of our fave chilling out tips and urge you to give them a try to see which ones work for you!
It took us a bloody long time but we did it, we really did it. Here are 101 different things you can do to chill out and reduce stress.
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Ways To Cope With Chronic Stress
“Its key to recognize stressful situations as they occur because it allows you to focus on managing how you react,” Dr. Stoll says. “We all need to know when to close our eyes and take a deep breath when we feel tension rising.”
Use these tips to prevent or reduce chronic stress.
1. Re-balance Work and Home
All work and no play? If youre spending too much time at the office, intentionally put more dates in your calendar to enjoy time for fun, either alone or with others.
2. Build in Regular Exercise
Moving your body on a regular basis balances the nervous system and increases blood circulation, helping to flush out stress hormones. Even a daily 20-minute walk makes a difference.
3. Eat Well and Limit Alcohol and Stimulants
Alcohol, nicotine and caffeine may temporarily relieve stress but have negative health impacts and can make stress worse in the long run. Well-nourished bodies cope better, so start with a good breakfast, add more organic fruits and vegetables, avoid processed foods and sugar, and drink more water.
4. Connect with Supportive People
Talking face to face with another person releases hormones that reduce stress. Lean on those good listeners in your life.
5. Carve out Hobby Time
Do you enjoy gardening, reading, listening to music or some other creative pursuit? Engage in activities that bring you pleasure and joy research shows that reduces stress by almost half and lowers your heart rate, too.
6. Practice Meditation, Stress Reduction or Yoga
Plan Something Fun For The Future
There are some stressful situations that are time-based.
Maybe youre applying for college or applying for a job or theres just a really busy month ahead.
Instead of getting caught up in how stressed you feel now, think about how youll feel when it ends and plan something fun for the future.
Book a nice dinner out, book an entire vacation, or just tell yourself that youre going to buy yourself that new phone youve been waiting for when this stressful period is over to give you something to look forward to.
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Appetite Changes And Weight Gain
Changes in appetite are common during times of stress.
When you feel stressed out, you may find yourself with no appetite at all or overeating without noticing.
One small 2006 study of 272 female college students found that 81 percent reported that they experienced changes in appetite when they were stressed out, with 62 percent stating they had an increase in appetite .
Changes in appetite may also cause fluctuations in weight during stressful periods. For example, a study involving 1,355 people in the United States found that stress was associated with weight gain in adults already living with extra weight .
A third study from 2017 found that individuals with higher cortisol and insulin levels and higher levels of chronic stress were more likely to gain weight in the future . However, the study was limited in the scope of research in that participants were predominantly white females.
While these studies show an association between stress and changes in appetite or weight, more studies are needed to understand other possible factors are involved and how stress impacts different people.
Help Out At Their Home
Chores like grocery shopping, cooking, or laundry can feel totally overwhelming when youre going through a stressful time. Surprise them by bringing over dinner one night, send them some groceries through Instacart, or offer to come over and help out with any laundry or quick cleaning that makes a big difference to take one less thing off their plate.
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