Managing everyday stress

You are well aware of this feeling. You feel difficulty breathing. Your ears become hot and red. Your

mouth and throat become dry. Your heart pounds heavily against your chest. You are not able to

focus. You feel muscles ache and pain. You feel like you are under attack, and everything is

happening all at once. This is your body under stress.

What is Stress?

The latest psychological research says that 85-90% of our medical visits to the doctor have their

roots in stress and anxiety. Imagine the positive impact on your health if you could learn to manage

your stress. Stress happens when we wish to achieve something important to us, and the outcome is

not certain. It may also occur due to a major change in life circumstances, or a small disruption in the

day-to-day routine. Stress is our body’s way of telling us that something is wrong in our

surroundings. Unfortunately, we cannot control most of the external situations. Stress is therefore,

an unfortunate and unavoidable part of our lives, but its emotional, physical, and mental impact can

be managed. We can also learn to control our response to stress thereby lessening its overall impact

on our life. Our goal therefore, shouldn't be to eliminate all stress but to eliminate unnecessary

stress and effectively manage the rest.

How do I Manage Stress?

Contrary to popular opinion, stress is a healthy response, and it helps us to pay more attention

towards important things in life. It also saves us from potential threats during times of danger by

activating our fight or flight response. Stress also enables action and helps us to be more productive

and healthier. Modern psychology offers us a wide variety of tools to effectively manage stress. As

the fundamental purpose of stress is to draw our attention to a hostile environment, giving the

emotion its due attention is a start. Some of the ways in which we can give attention to emotions is

by talking to a professional therapist, writing a journal, or talking to a good listener.

The most effective stress management plans include a mix of cognitive and physical coping skills. A

good example of a cognitive coping skill is writing a journal. A journal is a document where we pen

down our unfiltered thoughts and then try to identify the root cause. Writing down our thoughts in

their raw format helps us in processing the unresolved emotions that exist at a subconscious level.

We can even use this technique to heal past wounds, grudges and traumas that others may have

caused us.

Physical stress management techniques involve using our body to reduce the levels of cortisol (stress

hormone). Exercise is one of the best ways to do this. The American Centre for Disease Control (CDC)

recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise every day. This could include fun

activities such as dancing, running, or skipping.

Most psychologists also recommend using deep breathing for reducing stress. One of the most

popular deep breathing techniques is diaphragmatic breathing. It involves taking slow and long deep

breaths, letting the belly expand during inhalation and then letting out a long exhale before

repeating the process. A few repetitions of this cycle for around 3-5 minutes activates the human

parasympathetic nervous system that calms our mind. International athletes use this technique

during critical match situations, especially when there is chaos around them.

Another effective physical technique is Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR). It involves tightening

muscle groups one at a time as you breath in and then relaxing as you exhale. A good way to

practice it is by tensing your forehead muscles, and then following it up with relaxation. You then

move downwards and follow the same procedure for other muscles in the body. If you are lying

down in your bed, and something is bothering you, using PMR will give you instant results.

Apart from cognitive and physical coping skills, some easy positive psychology interventions can also

be used to manage stress. These include helping a person, walking on grass with bare feet, listening

to music, gardening, petting an animal, walking in nature, and cooking. It’s not necessary that you

will always be able to do these activities while you are stressed, but being aware and engaging in the

ones you like is definitely helpful.

To sum it all up, if you are taking adequate rest, engaging in self-care activities, exercising every day,

and paying attention to your emotions, chances are that stress won’t bother you too much!