Everyone experiences stress at some point in their life. In fact, stress is a natural part of life.
Your ability to identify stress, manage it, cope with it and reduce it where possible can have a dramatic impact on your life and on the lives of those around you. How well you do these things will ultimately determine if this impact is for the better or for the worse.
Types of Stress
There are two major types of stress, good stress (eustress) and bad stress (distress).
Eustress is the positive tension that we experience when we get a job promotion, purchase a new home, go on holidays or have a baby. This type of stress can be helpful to us because it can provide motivate and other essential things to help us grow as individuals.
Distress is negative tension caused by things like increased work demands, running late for an appointment, financial difficulties or experiencing sickness in the family. Because stress is cumulative (it builds up in our body), too much distress over a long period of time can be very bad for us and may lead to unhappiness, serious illness, and even death.
Identifying Your Stressors.
Stress affects us all differently. Understanding what causes you stress is critical if you want to reduce its negative impacts on your life. To help you identify your stressors, ask yourself these questions:
? What is stressful to me?
? How does stress affect me?
? When am I most vulnerable to stress?
Once you understand the stresses in your life and how and when they affect you most is the first step to minimizing bad stress and negative impact on your life. Remember this old saying, 'once you have defined the problem, you are half way to finding a solution'.
Managing and Coping with Stress.
Once you've identified your stressors there are many things you can do to help you cope better and reduce its negative impacts. Here are just a few examples:
? Improve your time management skills
? Eat a healthier diet
? Start an exercise program
? Create some eustress in your life
? Use relaxation techniques
The best ways to relax.
Relaxing is one of the easiest and best ways to cope with stress and there are many different ways to achieve a relaxed state. Most relaxation techniques are simple, inexpensive or free, can be performed anywhere at anytime, and don't need to take up a lot of time.
Here are some of the best relaxation techniques we know:
Deep Breathing
Stretching
Meditation
Tai Chi
Yoga
Massage
Prayer
Visualization
Progressive Relaxation
Exercise
Reducing Stress in your life
It is difficult to reduce your stress levels if you haven't identified the major causes of stress in your life. Once you've identified the causes, you can devise an action plan to reduce the stresses you experience.
If work is a main cause of stress for example, speak to your boss about ways to ease your workload or find a new job. If being around certain people causes you stress, make plans to avoid them as much as possible. If lack of time or money is a major stressor for you, attend a course on time or money management, keep a daily and money diary or start to plan your time and budget.
Coping well with stress is a three-pronged process. First, identify the stressors in your life by asking yourself questions and taking note of how you respond to the various pressures of life. Next, reduce the amount of stress that has accumulated in your body by employing one or more of the many relaxation techniques available to you. Finally, try to remove the major stressors in your life where you can.
For all your weight loss and healthy lifestyle needs, visit www.weightloss.com.au and become a happier, healthier you.
Scott Haywood
affordable house cleaning Park Ridge ..No need to go spend money at a spa! There... Read More
Stress can affect virtually any part of the body and... Read More
I'm sure you have heard of IBS, irritable bowel syndrome,... Read More
There are times in every person's life when things do... Read More
The predominant role human conditioning plays in a stressful environment.... Read More
"Slow down, you move too fast, you've got to make... Read More
The National Center for health statistics reported that in 1997,... Read More
Worry, big or small blocks positive vibrations from entering your... Read More
Everyone worries. As bothersome as it is, worry isn't all... Read More
Everywhere I go, I hear the same unpleasant sentence repeated... Read More
Most people find it easy to identify the sources of... Read More
Several studies, including one of medical students around exam time,... Read More
What is Stress?Stress may be defined as the three-way relationship... Read More
What do you think of when you see that word?... Read More
Everyone knows that stress isn't good - that it can... Read More
Q: What is Stress?A: Very basically it is the physical,... Read More
Let's face it! The majority of our time is either... Read More
We are not designed for long term stress.It causes us... Read More
A friend has this quotation on his office wall: "I... Read More
On a beautiful summer day years ago, I went water... Read More
Looking for all of the answers in how to manage... Read More
One of the ways I have avoided a lot of... Read More
26 ways to minimize and manage the unhealthy effects of... Read More
Shit happens. I know this to be a fact, because... Read More
It was a self-exploration that made me understand myself. It... Read More
affordable house cleaning Mundelein ..What good is Personal or Business Success...if your Health is... Read More
The predominant role human conditioning plays in a stressful environment.... Read More
No this is not related to praying, this is how... Read More
We all know what it's like coming home from a... Read More
Panic.Heart racing. Palms sweating. Breathing rapid and shallow. Mouth dry.... Read More
Do you get frustrated with your spouse, your kids, your... Read More
An excellent stress reducer can be something as simple as... Read More
Stress is defined as a response by your body to... Read More
"We do not stop playing because we grow old. We... Read More
File this one under the category of "watch your language."The... Read More
ResentmentsA wise friend once said that holding onto resentments is... Read More
A stressless lifestyle? That's very easy to say. Yet it... Read More
How much attention is paid to one of the biggest... Read More
In our article about Exercise & Stress, we looked at... Read More
Learning methods of stress elimination is a vital skill in... Read More
Understanding StressStress has been called "the invisible disease". It is... Read More
We've all experienced it-computerized technology that doesn't function properly. PCs... Read More
Let's take a look at some of the more serious... Read More
Whenever we think of 'stress', negative thoughts come into our... Read More
Here's an amazing quote from Time magazine:"At birth a baby's... Read More
10 Ways to Monitor Corporate Stress LevelsGood military leaders work... Read More
One question that is not asked enough by people under... Read More
Most people find it easy to identify the sources of... Read More
Raise your hand if you have ever been rejected by... Read More
I just got through reading some troubling news in the... Read More
Stress Management |