Tips to Manage Stress

   9 Tips to Manage Stress 

In this article, I will share the powerful tips to manage stress in life. Stress* is a part of our lives that we must accept it. But, there are techniques to manage stress in a better way. I believe these techniques for managing stress and anxiety will help in making life happier and comfortable.

The happenings of events, changing circumstances, and behaviour of other people can cause stress, because these kinds of stresses are unavoidable to a certain level.

In life, everyone has stress and anxiety because of different reasons. The reasons may vary from person to person. In the same way the level of stress may also vary from person to person.

For example, someone may be too much stressed for not having a job, but for someone may not be stress for job at all. A person may be stressed for financial crisis, but other person will be stressed for his health issues.

So, it means we all experience stress in life to a certain level. We have stress in workplace, stress about family because we have to look after, we have to pay bills, rent and other expenses. All these elements or stressors* in life can cause stress in one way or other.

Is it important to manage stress?

The answer to the question is yes. A high level of stress can devastate your life, happiness and well being. It can affect your physical as well as mental health. It disturbs the equilibrium of your whole life and affects all aspects of your life.

It narrows down your thinking ability, when you are thinking power lessens it can affect all aspects of life in a negative manner.

Managing stress seems to be difficult because it is an unavoidable phenomenon to a certain level, but still there is possibility to avoid to a certain extent and reduce it.

To manage stress effectively can help you to be happier, healthier and more productive. It can also help you to have a balance life, maintain a good relationship at home and work, reducing pressure and meeting challenges in life.

There is not a fix formula of stress management that suits everyone. The reason is every individual has different circumstances and levels of stress.

Definitions

We also must understand the concept of stress and stress management.

What is Stress?

It is of highly importance to understand what exactly stress is. In a medical and biological context stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that cause bodily or mental tension (definition by MedicineNet).

Further elaborating; stress is continue feelings of worry about your work or personal life that prevent you from relaxing (LONGMAN).

A state of mental or emotional strain or tension are resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances (Lexico).

In nutshell, stress is a feeling of an emotional or physical tension, when an individual to cope with a situation, or an event. This is your body’s reaction to a challenge or demand.

What is Stress Management?

In general,stress management is a wide range of techniques and psychotherapies that aim at controlling an individual’s level of stress.

In other words, it consists of making changes to your life to handle a stressful situation. It means that using all techniques and making changes can be referred as stress management.

FAQs about; Stress and Stress Management

How does stress affect you? What are the effects of stress?

Constant stress can damage your physical health as well as mental. Stress can cause physical problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, disturbs stomach, and may cause insomnia. Stress is one of the major factors for ‘diabetes’.

On emotional side, it causes anger, depression, and low self-esteem and also can affect the sexual health of an individual.

What are the causes of stress?

Stress can be ‘external’ or ‘internal’.

• External stress; stress that causes by external factors such as environment, political and social situations, behaviour of other people, workplace problems, events out of control.

• Internal stress; stress that causes by internal factors such as chronic illness, negative thinking and perspective, exaggerating too much a normal situation. Negative self-talk causes stress as well.

What is/are the biggest cause(s) of stress?

In my opinion, there are two major reasons of stress in general.

   1. Financial problems; financial problem is the biggest stressor*. When an individual finds it difficult to pay expenses, increase in utility bills, increase in credits, so all these are finance related matters that cause stress. And mostly people have these kinds of financial problems.

    2. Relationship; for healthy life relationship is an essential factor. Many of us, under stress and anxiety because of bad relationship.

Do we need stress?

A moderate amount of stress is not a bad thing. It keeps us focused, makes us efficient, and productive. It can help you to perform and complete tasks on time. But, the important thing that should be realised is that, the stress should be in control which gives the sense of accomplishment. If stress crosses the level, it could be destructive rather constructive.

Why do we feel stress?

As we know stress is a part of our lives as well as changes in life. When circumstances change, events happen, and the things around us change, it has impact on us in one way or other. Stress is our body’s response and reaction to these changes. So, we feel stress by responding to the situations and events.

What is good stress?

Psychologists refer ‘Eustress’ a good and positive stress. Eu is a Greek prefix which means ‘good’, so literally meaning ‘good stress’. It comes from the challenges and experiences which are positive in nature. We feel eustress, when we are excited. It motivates us, makes us working towards goals and makes us feel good about life.

What is Stress Management in simple words?

In order to define stress management in simple words, we can split stress management into two parts, stress and management. That means managing stress or controlling stress to cope with situations and events.

In other words, reducing and keeping at low level the effects of factors that cause stress can be referred as stress management.

It could be included, using techniques, avoiding certain situations or making changes that help in managing stress effectively.

Why is Stress Management Important?

It is highly important and essential in life to manage stress. The reason is a healthy and happy life should be stress free. The people who experience too much stress and unable to manage it, they cannot enjoy life fully.

These kinds of people engulfed with different physical and psychological diseases. The life becomes less attractive for them.

What is the objective of Stress Management?

The basic and fundamental objective of stress management is, to enable you to identify the things that cause stress in your life. And also to help you to acquire and learn basic skills for managing stress in your life.

Symptoms and Signs of Stress

Emotional Symptoms Agitation and anger Staying constantly unhappy Frustration and anxiety Isolation Moody and irritable Lack of physical and mental control Low self-esteem	Cognitive* Symptoms Lack of concentration Poor ability to judge Constant worry Memory problems Negative approach
Behavioural Symptoms Too much use of drugs, alcohol, cigarettes Avoiding responsibilities Avoiding people Unhealthy pattern of eating	Physical Symptoms Constant headaches and other body pains Upset and disturbed stomach Negative effects on sexual health Low energy Insomnia

9 Tips to Manage Stress

Here, I share the powerful tips to manage stress in life. If you want happy and stress free life you must manage stress to reduce negative effects to the minimum level.

I believe, using these techniques to manage stress can help you coping with it effectively. The important thing is that, while dealing with stress, don’t focus on stress but you must try the different techniques to handle it in an effective manner.

Below are the tips to manage stress;

Know Yourself

A very first step towards managing stress is to know yourself. You are the only one who knows very well the inner world of you. You are the person who can easily find out the stressors that cause stress.

There are many factors that can cause stress. You should do ‘introspection’ to know what things give you the stress. Sometimes, over thinking about events and situations creates stress, but we always search for external things to overcome it.

When you know yourself very well, you hold the full control and it makes you less distracted and stressed. You, then understand how to deal with a particular stressor(s).

So, the fundamental principle here is that, you know your emotions and negative triggers than can cause stress.

Identification and Analysis of Stressors

The second and important thing you must do to manage stress effectively is that, to identify stressors or elements that cause stress. Like a doctor who examines the patient, detect the disease and then prescribe medicines.

An individual must identify factor(s) that cause(s) stress. In this way, it will be easy to understand the stress caused by either external factors or internal. Once, the stress has been identified and analysed it will be quite easy to find solution.

Also, by using identification technique we can eliminate unnecessary stress in life. Sometimes it seems very complex situation, but by careful analysis we can deal with most of the stresses without any panic and losing energy.

For example, if someone finds it difficult to arrive at office at time every day, because of heavy traffic in rush hours. Rather than getting angry, cursing people and system, a very simple solution is that getting out of home 10-15 minutes earlier, can solve the problem and eliminate the stress.

In the same way, in life we can fix or eliminate many stresses by an effective process of identification and analysing stressors.

Life is Unfair

The third powerful tip or technique to manage and overcome stress is you must understand that life is unfair. It has never been fair for anyone in the universe.

Unfair means, life is combination of ups and downs, happiness and sorrows, sometime lack of resources and many problems. The unfairness of life may be different for different people.

All we do in life to achieve the ultimate goal. For every individual the ultimate goal of life is to achieve happiness and high level of satisfaction.

This is the law of nature that, nothing is constant neither happiness nor sorrows. In societies, many people stressed because they think the life is so hard and unfair for them. But, this is not true.

You must accept it; on the planet for everyone the life is unfair. Every individual has problems and stresses in life. People think they are the only victims of problems and challenges and getting unnecessary stress.

Life is unfair, it seems a negative phrase, and we must say thanks God for creating life unfair because unfairness of life connects human beings. We must see the positive side of that.

So, it is not possible to make life fair. It will always bring challenges and problems to each and every individual. You must accept the unfairness of life, rather than getting stress. You must accept what you cannot change.

Self-Talk

It is true that, we talk to ourselves. It is a very important part of our personalities. It can play a huge role for bringing happiness and comfort in life.

Self-talk can be constructive or destructive. It can be positive or negative. Positive self-talk increases hope and optimism, which has a positive impact on life. It causes high self-esteem and directs you towards success.

Negative self-talk can affect your life and self-esteem in a negative way. It takes away happiness and peace of mind from you. The reason is that, negative self-talk increases the level of stress.

It can make you hopeless and in result your self-esteem will be low and the life will become terrible. An important thing is how to deal with this problem?

The solution to the problem is possible, simple and easy. You just have to shift your self-talk from negative to positive. This shift can bring great changes in life. You have only to change the words or sentences.

Such as, I can’t do this , I can do this, in life nothing is possible, in life everything is possible, life is a problem, life is a challenge, I can’t face the challenges, I can face challenges. It is just the matter of practice; you will have to make it a habit.

It seems very simple and ineffective, but believe me the words and changing thoughts have a big impact on our actions and life. In this way, replacing negative with positive self-talk can help control stress.

Gratitude

Having gratitude in life can play an important role in managing, reducing and overcoming stress. By nature human beings always focus on the things which they not have in life. I think very less number of people have the habit of gratitude.

We must be thankful to God for what we have in life, rather than complaining about the things we don’t have. Many people become stress for the things they don’t have. This perception of looking at things can increase the level of stress.

Gratitude can be a stress reliever. In positive psychology research, gratitude is strong associated with greater happiness. It can make people more emotionally positive, improve health, deal with challenges, and build strong relationships.

Therefore, you must make gratitude a habit to reduce stress in life. It is just saying thanks to God for having all things in life.

Healthy Activities

By replacing non-productive activities with productive ones could be a stress reliever. Involve yourself in healthy activities; this can help you to manage stress in an effective way.

When you feel stressed, do some kind of sport or some other hobby you like the most. You can go to the gym for workout that makes you healthy and strong.

Reading good books, for example self-help books can be a healthy activity. Rather than wasting time on watching news or movies, you can read a book that gives you knowledge and wisdom. It helps to control stress as well.

You can learn some new skills, or things. For example, you can learn a new language, or a short computer course.

There are so many healthy activities you can do that help you to reduce and overcome stress and make your life beautiful.

Stress Diary

Almost all of us experience stress in everyday life in some form. It could be rush-hour traffic stress, dealing with difficult customers or workplace stress or stress caused by unpleasant news. So, all these are stresses we face.

Many people don’t check their stresses; these can affect their productivity, and health. In order to identify, analyse and control stress, keeping a ‘Stress Diary’ can be useful.

Stress diary is an ideal thing to write down information about stresses you experience in everyday life. You can also write down your reaction to a stress and help you to identify the level of pressure.

Maintaining a stress diary can be productive and useful to manage stress. When properly written in black and white could be easily identified and analysed.

Negative Ways to Deal with Stress

There are numerous ways and techniques to deal with stress. We can apply these techniques to reduce and overcome stress. Those tips, we can say are positive ones.

But, there are some negative ways people use to deal with stress. Such as;

• Over-consumption of Caffeine; many of us use caffeine to reduce and overcome stress. Over-consumption of caffeine can increase the level of stress, rather than decrease.

• Spending too much; some people spend too much on shopping, buying unnecessary things. They use spending money as stress reliever, but in long run it can increase stress.

• Eating Patterns; our body needs proper food intakes. Over or under eating can cause more stress. To control stress it needs appropriate eating patterns to follow.

• Taking Drugs; using drugs to avoid or reduce stress is common practice in the society we live. People take pills for sleeping, pain relievers and muscle relaxing, when they are stressed. With the use of these drugs, you can’t reduce stress or avoid situation.

• Excessive use of Alcohol; drinking alcohol excessively is not a remedy to cope with a stress and anxiety. People, who drink too much alcohol, experience the high level of stress.

• Sleeping Patterns; our sleeping patterns can affect the level of stress. In times of stress, under sleeping or over sleeping can lead to health problems and increased level of stress.

• Smoking; smoking can’t help to reduce stress. Many smokers think that, smoking is stress reliever; in reality it is not true. People who quit smoking feel good and less anxious.

• Overworking; overworking could be a stress reliever? I think no, working hard can lead to further stress. But, smart work can help to reduce stress.

• Social Withdrawal; keeping yourself isolated, and social withdrawal can’t help to overcome stress. Too many people find social withdrawal is an option to cope with stress, which is not true.

• Procrastination about Stress; ignorance of problems that cause stress can’t be procrastinated. Putting stress under carpet will not reduce the level. We should face the stress rather than delaying the response.

Accept the Things You Can’t Control

In life, accept the things you can’t control such as, your past, nature, behaviour of other people and there are so many other things that we can’t change.

Don’t stress yourself for the things which are out of your control. And just focus on the things that you can change. The unchangeable things could cause stress, but remember this kind of stress may be unnecessary.

If you want to get rid of unnecessary stress, you must accept the unchangeable, and change the changeable. This technique can reduce the level of stress and help you to handle in an effective way.

Conclusion

I shared the best techniques to manage stresses. I believe these tips to manage stress will definitely help to reduce and overcome the stress level. Remember, life is full of challenges, problems, and stresses and this will continue.

The wisdom must prevail. You must learn how to handle stresses in life. It apparently seems difficult to manage stress, but when you start working on it, and by following these stress relievers can help you to achieve happiness and comfort.

Star* words explanation:

Stress; synonyms, pressure, tension, strain (merriam-webster.com)

Stressors; the factors that cause stress

Cognitive; also cognition, refers to the human mind and mental process