Stress Management: Ways to manage stress
Stress management is the process of reducing negative feelings caused by stressors (such as pressure) while maintaining a healthy mind/body balance. There are many ways you can manage your stress levels by making small adjustments to your lifestyle.
Stress can be a powerful motivator and a great source of energy. But when it gets out of control, it can lead to burnout and other serious health problems. It is important to learn how to manage stress in your life so that you don’t end up with these side effects.
What is stress management?
High stress levels are common in today’s society. Stress is a normal reaction to change, unexpected events and high demands. It is a biological process that developed to help us cope with an immediate danger or threat.
When we’re under stress, our bodies release hormones into our bloodstreams that are designed to help us focus on the problem at hand and deal with it effectively.
Not all stress is bad, and even normal everyday stress can be beneficial in certain situations. However, over time these responses can become habitual and take over our lives—and they can be harmful if they persist too long!
Heightened and prolonged stress without effective coping mechanisms can lead to mental health difficulties such as anxiety or depression. It can also affect physical health, such as impacting proper functioning of our digestive and immune systems. Sometimes, these adverse effects of stress can build up without us even noticing!
Stress management is the process of reducing negative feelings caused by stressors (such as pressure) while maintaining a healthy mind/body balance. There are many ways you can manage stress levels by making small adjustments to your lifestyle.
How to manage stress in life
Effective and sustainable stress management is more than a quick fix, it’s a way of life. While there are some standard tips that are generally beneficial for everyone, such as getting enough sleep and having a healthy diet, broader ways to manage stress looks different for everyone depending on their preferred forms of self-care. Here are some ideas that you could try:
Journaling. Many people find it helpful to keep a journal to record their thoughts and feelings on a daily basis. This can help to notice patterns in your feelings and responses. Putting your thoughts on a page can also help you to look at them more objectively and better process your feelings, as well as being a form of release.
Mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness or meditation can help you find calmness amongst the chaos. You can try spending at least a few minutes each day focusing your attention on one thing, such as your breath, your senses, or a visualisation. The more you practice mindfulness, the easier it becomes to focus your mind on the things you want to pay attention to, rather than being lost in stressful thoughts.
Talk it out. Talking to loved ones can help to relieve some of the burdens of stress and help you feel supported. It can sometimes be hard to open up, but by sharing a little bit at a time it should get easier, and it will likely bring you closer together to loved ones. If you’re not sure who you can talk to, doctors or mental health support call lines can be a good place to start.
Talk to yourself! Sounds strange, but self-talk can be powerful. Often, when we are very stressed, our self-talk can be automatically negative, which compounds our difficult feelings. Try intentionally changing the messages you are giving yourself to be more helpful and compassionate. For example, things like “I’m going through rough times right now, but this will pass soon enough” versus saying “this sucks!”
Set Boundaries. Reflect on what your limits and boundaries are, and then take action to enforce those boundaries—whether it’s communicating your limits to others, or putting rules in place for yourself to ensure that you don’t overcommit to things. Be realistic about what you can accomplish in a day (or even an hour). Learn to be assertive about your preferences, and to say “no” when you need to.
Managing stress: Prevention is key
Often we don’t recognize that we’re stressed until it’s really bad. But the sooner we can use our stress management strategies, the easier it is.
Effective stress management often starts with understanding the source of stress. What are your main triggers of stress or situations that you find consistently cause you to feel overwhelmed?
Once you can identify your main sources of stress, you can find ways to either minimize those situations in your life or put other strategies in place to help you cope with them from the beginning.
It can also be helpful to learn to recognize your body’s responses to stress. When we’re stressed, our bodies respond in certain ways. For instance, you might notice a tight feeling in your chest, tension in your shoulders, a racing mind, difficulty sleeping, appetite changes, or other physical symptoms—it’s different for everyone.
By becoming more attuned to your body, you can better understand your unique experience of stress and start to detect it earlier and earlier, which will allow you to make changes before things get out of hand!
Benefits of learning to manage stress
Learning to effectively manage stress can have a whole range of benefits to our health and wellbeing. Some of these include:
- Improved mindset and mental health
- Increases in physical energy and better physical health
- Being more productive—a big source of stress can be our workload. Ironically, taking more breaks and looking after ourselves mentally can make us work more productively!
- Helps us balance the ideal amount of stress—small manageable levels of stress are beneficial to our performance
- Improved relationships and connections with others
- Generally, greater enjoyment of life!
Stress Management FAQ’s: What other people say about managing stress
Stress management is a skill that you can learn. You don’t have to be born with it or have an inherent talent for it. It’s just a matter of practice, and sometimes you might even need some help from others who are also trying their best to manage stress in their lives.
Here are some common questions about stress management that we’ve heard, and responses from our mental health experts:
What if I don’t have time for stress relieving activities (lack of time is the reason I am stressed!)?
We hear you. There are rarely enough hours in a day to take care of the essential tasks, let alone finding time for self-care. First, as we mentioned, taking care of our mental wellbeing usually makes us more productive overall. This is why it can be good to think of self-care as an essential, non-negotiable part of your routine.
Also, it can be helpful to reflect on how “hard” your deadlines really are—often these are self-imposed, and we can put pressure on ourselves unnecessarily. See if you can allow yourself more flexibility or let others know that you need more time.
You can also incorporate very small moments of mindfulness or relaxation throughout your day during idle times—like when you’re walking somewhere or waiting in line. Even these small moments can make a big difference!
What if I don’t like meditation?
That’s fine! It’s definitely not for everyone, and there are many ways to find calm in your life that don’t involve meditation. The Mind Ease app has a wide range of calming exercises for you to choose from, depending on what suits you best!
What if the stress is out of my control?
Often it feels like there is nothing we can do about our stress levels because it’s a product of our life circumstances. That’s totally legit! However, even when we can’t control a situation, we can control how we respond to it. It may take some time to learn about what works best for you, but ultimately our ability to manage stress is within our control, regardless of the circumstances.
I’m stressed and exhausted because I can’t sleep. What do I do?
Sleep difficulties are a very common cause and consequence of stress. There are many ways to build more healthy sleep habits. In the Mind Ease app, we have dedicated activities focused on understanding and improving your sleep. You might also benefit from seeing a doctor about prolonged sleep difficulties.
Is it ok to have a drink or two of alcohol in the evenings to wind down?
Occasionally having alcohol to enhance positive experiences and enjoyment can be fine! However, when alcohol is used as a coping mechanism, it can quickly become an unhealthy habit. While it might feel useful in the moment, ultimately alcohol is not a helpful way to manage stress—there are more effective techniques to help you relax!
A final word on stress…
We hope this post has given you a better understanding of how to manage stress, and how it can help you achieve your goals. Remember that there are many different ways to manage stress in life—you don’t have to follow just one method! Explore what works best for you and try out different techniques until you find something that works for your lifestyle.
In the end, it all comes down to finding the easiest ways of juggling your life commitments. Keep in mind that not all the juggling balls are made of the same thing—the work ball is rubber and it will always bounce back, but the health ball is glass and it might crack if you drop it!
Download Mind Ease to start taking more care of your mental health.
