Do you know that stress can cause physical symptoms such as fatigue, headache, upset stomach, and psychological symptoms like irritability and feel nervous? Would you like to know how to manage your stress more effectively?
In this blog, I’ll share with you six recommendations to manage your stress very simply.
According to the American Psychological Association, and the American Institute of Stress, the leading causes of stress in the United States are job pressure and money (https://www.stress.org/daily-life).
Furthermore, 77% of people experience physical symptoms caused by stress, while 73% experience psychological symptoms for the same reason.
But what is stress?
We can see stress from two perspectives. The first are events that we long for, such as a job promotion, a concert, or a romantic date.
Usually, before these events, we feel a cumulus of emotions and bodily reactions classified as beneficial because they do not interfere with our daily functioning.
The second form of stress is characterized by events that we categorize as catastrophic in our lives.
For example, a divorce, getting fired from a job, the bad economy, the loss of a loved one, natural disasters, etc.
These situations are classified as unfavorable since they tend to interfere with our daily functioning.
In other words, stress is how your mind and body respond to events and daily life pressures.
Defining whether stress is good or bad depends on how you perceive these events and how your emotions affect your daily functioning.
Here, I describe the ways to recognize stress:
- Heart palpitations
- Nervousness
- Insomnia
- Difficulty concentrating
- Fatigue
- Depression
- Indigestion or upset stomach
- Occasional nightmares
- Muscle tension
- Irritability
- Change in sex drive
- Teeth grinding
- Lack of energy
Here are six ways to manage stress:
- Hot or Warm Shower: After a long day at work, take a bath or hot shower for at least 15 minutes while visualizing your body relaxing.
- Get Enough Rest: Try to get enough rest because insomnia or lack of sleep will affect your mental and physical health. When we sleep less than 7 to 8 hours, we are more likely to feel tired and irritable.
- Muscle Relaxation: At the end of your workday or when you feel more stressed, try to practice body or muscle relaxation. It takes approximately 15 minutes and is done progressively, starting with the feet ascending to the head.
- Internalization: Do not internalize your problems. In other words, could you not keep them to yourself? If you have a family system made up of friends and family, go to them and share your situations or concerns.
- Consider Changing your Perspective: Epictetus, the Greek philosopher, taught that men are not afflicted by the events that happen around them but by how men perceive those events. It means that our perceptions of the situations that occur in our lives cause our healthy or unhealthy emotions.
- Get Professional Help: When you feel you have practiced the techniques mentioned above and have not given you the expected result, consider seeking professional help.
You can talk to your primary care doctor, a priest or pastor, or a trained professional like a psychotherapist. If you would like to know more about the benefits of psychotherapy, read them here.
The most important thing about this blog is to remember that not all stress is negative.
What matters here is the way we perceive the events that happen around us.
I hope this blog has been helpful. Would you mind leaving me your comment and any strategies that have been helpful to you? I’ll read them all, and thanks for sharing.
