How to manage stress

We live in a world driven by deadlines, rapid change, economic instability and a trillion other reasons to work ourselves into a constant state of stress.

While stress is unavoidable, it is also manageable. “Stress can be good or bad, depending on how you use it,” says Shawn Achor, a positive psychology expert and founder of Good Think Inc. The key to dealing with the inevitability of stress is to change the way we handle it. If we don’t, unmanaged stress will wreak havoc in our bodies and lives.

What is stress?

Stress is our body’s way of responding to any demanding situation. This response instantly releases chemicals into our blood to give us more strength and energy. Endorphins are released and adrenaline is secreted, causing palpitations, increased blood pressure and a release of vital nutrients.

Emotions such as anger, anxiety and impatience are continuous stress stimulators and, without our knowledge, our body is put (and stays) in ‘fight’ mode. An overdose of adrenaline often causes irritability and uneasiness, while too much cortisol suppresses the immune system, making us vulnerable to a host of diseases. In ‘fight’ mode, our bodies retain extra sodium, which adversely affects our cardiovascular and other systems.

Symptoms of stress manifest in a host of conditions ranging from poor sleep to loss of appetite, chest pains, headaches, digestive problems, back pain, acne, etc. The effects of long-term stress can also cause heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, mental illness, drug dependency and a breakdown in our bodies’ ability to fight off diseases.

How do you manage stress?

Dealing with stress means either changing the situation that is causing it, or changing our reaction to it. “The core principle of stress management is to realise that you are in control,” say Melinda Smith and Robert Segal of the non-profit resource, Helpguide. “It means taking charge of our thoughts, emotions, schedules, environment and the way we deal with our problems.”

According to Smith and Segal, the first step in dealing with stress triggers is to identify the source by analysing our habits, attitudes and excuses. For example, the problem might not be your tight deadline, but your tendency to procrastinate. It might not be your workload, but failing to plan tasks properly. Keeping a stress journal is one way to identify your unique stress pattern. Note what caused the stress, what emotions you experienced, your reaction and what you did to make yourself feel better.

Smith and Segal also suggest choosing a stress response according to the ‘4 As’: Avoid, Alter, Adapt or Accept. Which ‘A’ to choose, depends on the nature of the situation. It could be having to say ‘no’ (Avoid), being willing to compromise (Alter), looking at the ‘bigger picture’ (Adapt) or realising that we can’t control the uncontrollable (Accept).

Stress should never become a constant state of being. If you feel that stress is impacting negatively on your mental or physical wellbeing, it is prudent to contact a health care professional.

The information contained in this article is of a general nature and intended for information purposes only.