Stress is part of life and would always be around. The keys to dealing with stress are appropriate control of stresses and management of our physical and mental responses. We all have different stress responses because of our different genetic make up.
Stress is a normal part of life that can either help us learn or cause us significant problems. Stress releases powerful nerve chemicals and hormones that help prepare us for action (to fight or flee). If we don’t take action the stress response can create or worsen health problems.
Prolonged uninterrupted, unexpected, unequal and unmanageable stresses are the most damaging types of stress. While unchecked stress is undeniably damaging. There are many things that can be done to reduce the impact of stress and cope with stress symptoms.
You might feel that the stress in your life is out of control but you can always control the way you respond.
Managing is all about taking charge, taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment and the way you deal with problems. Stress management involves changing the stressful situation when you can and changing your reaction when you can’t change the situation, taking care of yourself and making time for rest and relaxation.
You can’t completely eliminate stress from your life but you can control how much it affects you.
Relaxation techniques such as yoga. Meditation and deep breathing activates the body’s relaxation response. It creates a state of restfulness that is the opposite of the stress response.
When practiced regularly these activities lead to a reduction in your everyday stress levels and a boost in your feeling of joy and serenity. They also increase your ability to stay calm and collected under pressure.
Strengthen your relationships:
A strong support network is your greatest protection against stress. When you have trusted friends and family members you know you can count on life’s pressures don’t seem as overwhelming. So spend time with the people you love and don’t let your responsibilities keep you from having a social life. If you don’t have any close relationship or your relationships are the source of your stress make it a priority to build stronger and more satisfying connections.
Tips for reaching out and building relationships include: helping someone by volunteering, going for a walk with a ‘workout’ friend, having a lunch or coffee with a co-worker. Schedule a weekly dinner with some people. Call, text and email an old friend. Take a class or join a club. Your Emotional Health:
Most people ignore their emotional health until there is a problem. But just as it requires time and energy to build and maintain your physical health, so it is with emotional well being. The more you put into it the stronger it will be. People with good emotional health have the ability to bounce back from stress and adversity. This ability is called resilience. They remain focused flexible and positive in bad times as an evidence of emotional health.
In summary: Stress can be managed by regular exercise, meditation or other relaxation techniques, structured time outs and learning new cope strategies to create predictability in our lives. Many behaviours that increase times of stress and poor adaptive ways of coping with drugs, pain medicine, alcohol, smoking and overeating actually worsen the stress and can make one more reactive or sensitive to further stress.
While there are promising treatments for stress the management of stress is mostly dependent on the willingness of a person to make the changes necessary for a healthy lifestyle.
The most effective strategy for stress management is stated in the scriptures in the epistle of St Paul to the Philippines in chapter four verse six and seven which reads thus: “Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayers and thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”.
Jesus also said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you and my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be ye afraid”.
I pray that the peace of God which passes all understanding would be yours always.
