How to Manage Stress

But contrary to popular belief, stress is not the pressure from the outside: the party, going on vacation or the traffic jam. Those are stressors. Your response to those constitutes stress. The distinction is important, stressors are the multitude of daily occurrences that call upon you to adapt. Stress is your response as you attempt to make adjustment.


Is stress good or bad for me?
Everyone needs stress sometimes. Meeting a deadline, preparing for holidays/vacations, cramming for an exam, making a good impression during an interview, walking into a room full of strangers at a party, all demand the stimulation of positive stress. Stress can be a turn-on. It can pump you up, give you energy, supply that zest for living. But stress can also become destructive. It can turn into distress. It can sap your energy over the months and years.


Perception and stress

How do you stress yourself?
Any event can be viewed as potentially harmful. If the meaning you assign to an incident is threatening, you trigger your stress reaction. You feel most threatened, and so will experience the most stress when something endangers the people, places, possessions you consider valuable to you.

Stress Management Skills
We all need to learn and practice skills to both avoid and cope with stress.

Time Management Skills
Time management or organization skills are particularly good when:

• You feel as though your life is out of control
• There is too much to do and not enough time to do it
• You are spending too much time on non-essentials
• You feel out of step with yourself or you are not sure what you want

Effective use of time maximizes efficiency and productivity. To ensure that you maximize the use of your time do the following:

• Set and prioritize short and long term goals
• Regularly review and revise goals
• Make “to do “ lists
• Set realistic time lines and deadlines
• Subdivide major tasks and do one part at a time
• Utilize 4 D’s: dump, do, delegate, delay
• Maximize your “prime” working time
• Avoid procrastination
• Minimize schedule interruptions
• Handle paper and materials once
• Maximize commuting and waiting time by reading, writing, returning phone calls, etc.


Physical Fitness
Keeping your body in shape with regular aerobic exercise helps you deal with stress more effectively.

• Maintain a healthy body weight
• Schedule regular exercise sessions
• Have a routine medical checkup
• Get enough sleep
• Always warm up five to ten minutes before you exercise
• Finish workouts with a five to ten minute cool down
• Exercise twenty to sixty minutes aerobically a week
• Exercise with weights at least two times per week
• Wear appropriate shoes and workout clothing
• Work out at your own pace so you will not strain your muscles or commitment
• Exercise with a friend


Nutrition
Balance, moderation, and variety are the keys to eating well to maintain a sound mind and body.

• Eliminate or restrict the amount of caffeine or sugar in your diet
• Eat regular meals, including breakfast
• Take a lunch break away from your desk
• Avoid crash diets
• Eat from each of the four food groups: meat or other protein foods; dairy products or other calcium sources; fruits and vegetables; cereal and grains
• Limit fats: the recommended daily fat intake is no more than 30 % of your total calories. No more than 10% of your total calories should come from saturated fat
• Keep cholesterol below 300 milligrams a day
• Remove all visible fat from meat
• Substitute skim milk and low-fat dairy products for the regular variety
• Avoid fast foods
• Multiply grams of fat by nine to get the number of calories of fat
• Request sauces or dressings on the side
• Quit smoking if you are a smoker

Relaxation Techniques
Incorporate relaxation strategies into your schedule to keep stress levels low and increase productivity.

• Learn and practice self-relaxation techniques regularly, examples are meditation, yoga, or tense and relax muscle progression
• Take deep, slow breaths to calm down
• Use visualization to practice succeeding in anxiety producing situations
• Listen to music to facilitate relaxation
• Create an environment conducive to relaxation
• Seek out variety and changes in your daily pace of life
• Use journal writing to express your thoughts and feelings
• Maintain and nurture your sense of humor
• Schedule in fun, relaxation, and recreation


Cognitive Restructuring
Transform negative self-thoughts to increase self-esteem, successful achievements, and productivity.

• Transform negative self-thoughts and distortions
• Practice changing negative thoughts and feelings to positive ones and develop new thinking patterns
• Maintain an optimistic attitude
• Transform black and white thinking so you will stop predicting something will inevitability happen in a given situation
• Give up negative fantasies, example believing you can not do something because that is the way you are
• Strive for realism, not perfectionism
• Eliminate stretch-or-shrink thinking, example exaggerating your inadequacies and shrinking down the positive things about yourself
• Accept and embrace the positives and avoid being the victim


Assertiveness Skills
Honest, direct, and appropriate expression of your feelings, beliefs, and opinions enables you to control the stress in interpersonal situations.

• Say ‘no” and do not offer excuses or justify your behavior
• Know that it is OK to make mistakes
• Be the judge of your own behavior
• Calmly repeat yourself like a broken record
• Keep your language clear and focused
• Practice assertiveness skills at work and home
• Seek closure on unfinished business
• Delegate responsibility to others

Support Network
Support helps reaffirm positive self-images and connection with a larger community, which helps alleviate stress.

• Receiving nurturance enhances your ability to give it, which creates a cycle of supply and demand
• Do not be afraid to ask directly for help
• Be receptive when support is given
• Establish good communication channels with members of your support networks, both professional and personal
• If you do not know, ask someone who does
• Participate in team activities
• Give up being a lone ranger; ask for support
• Seek optimistic people for your support system


Relationships skills
People may be the best and worst thing that ever happened to other people. They can be an incredible source of support for one another. They can also generate incredible stress. Places are a similar source of great pleasure and sometimes even greater pain. Home, office, school or any surrounding can be stressful.

Relationship skills help you reduce stress by changing the way you interact with those around you or by changing your surroundings.

Relationship skills are helpful when:
• You are not getting the support and friendship you want from others
• You feel confused and need someone to listen to and care for you
• You say “Yes” to too many demands because you do not know how to say “No” or
• Your physical surroundings cause you tension


Physical stamina skills

Build up your strength!
Sometimes you just can not make the stress you feel go away. You may have to live with it over a period of time. If so, there is much you can do to combat the effects of stress to prevent it from dragging you down and making you sick.

You would not take a long trip with worn tires or bad brakes. It is just as foolish to try to handle long term stress with your body in less than its prime physical shape. Improving your physical condition can help you resist disease and give you that extra energy boost when you need it most.

Physical stamina skills are especially useful when: