September 8, 2011

Stress Management : Finding the Relaxation that Work for You

People who are emotionally healthy are in control of their emotions and their behaviour. They are able to handle life’s inevitable challenges, build strong relationships, and lead productive fulfilling lives. When bad things happen, they’re able to bounce back and move on.
One of the key factors in your emotional health is the ability to balance your emotions. The capacity to recognize your emotions and express them appropriately helps you avoid getting stuck in depression, anxiety, or other negative mood states.
Stress takes a heavy toll on emotional health, so it’s important to keep it under control. While not all stresses can be avoided, stress management strategies can help you bring things back into balance. Managing stress is all about taking charge: taking charge of your thoughts, your emotions, your schedule, your environment, and the way you deal with problems.

Dealing with Stressful Situations: The Four A’s Strategies

Think about the way you currently manage and cope with stress in your life. Are you coping strategies healthy or unhealthy, helpful or unproductive?
Unhealthy strategies of coping with stress include smoking; drinking alcohol; overeating; zoning out for hours in front of the TV or computer; withdrawing from friends, family , activities; using pills to relax; procrastinating; taking out your stress on others; filling up every minute of the day to avoid facing problems.
We highly recommend reading:
Stress Management Strategies ( four As)
There are many healthy ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require change. You can either change the situation or change your reaction.

When deciding which option to choose, it’s helpful to think of the four As: avoid, alter, adapt, or accept. Since everyone has a unique response to stress, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to managing it. No single method works for everyone or in every situation, so experiment with different techniques and strategies. Focus on what makes you feel calm and in control.
Change the situation:
Avoid the stressor – Stress management strategy #1 (Avoid unnecessary stress)
Alter the stressor – Stress management strategy #2 ( Alter the situation)
Change your reaction:
Adapt to the stressor – Stress management strategy #3 (Adapt to the stressor)
Accept the stressor – Stress management strategy #4 (Accept the things you can’t change).

Stress management strategy #5:

Find the relaxation that is working for you and make regular time for it
Beyond a take-charge approach and a positive attitude, you can reduce stress in your life by nurturing yourself. If you regularly make time for fun and relaxation, you will be in a better place to handle life’s stressors when they inevitable come.
Identify your body’s stress response:
Internally, we all respond to stress the same: our blood pressure rises, our heart pumps faster, and our muscles constrict. When stressed, our bodies work hard and drain our immune system.
Externally, however, people tend to respond to stress in three different ways: some become angry and agitated, others space out or withdraw, and still others freeze up.
How do you act when stressed?
Overexcited stress response – If you tend to become angry, agitated, or keyed up under stress, you will response best to stress relief activities that quiet you down such as meditation, deep breathing, or guided imagery.
Under excited stress response – If you tend to become depressed, withdrawn, or spaced out under stress, you will respond best to stress relief activities that are stimulating and that energize your nervous system, such as rhythmic exercise.
Frozen stress response (both overexcited and under excited) – If you tend to freeze: speeding up in some ways while slowing down in others, your challenge is to identify stress relief activities that provide both safety and stimulation to help you ‘reboot’ your system. Techniques such as mindfulness walking or power yoga might work well for you.
Making relaxation techniques a part of your life
The best way to start and maintain a relaxation practice is to incorporate it into your daily routine. Between work, family, school, and other commitments, though, it can be tough for many people to find the time.
If possible, schedule a set time to practice each day
Set aside one or two periods each day. Don’t allow other obligations to encroach. This is your time to take a break from all responsibilities and recharge your batteries.
Practice relaxation techniques while you are doing other things
Meditate while commuting to work on a bus or train, or waiting for a dentist appointment. Try deep breathing while you are doing housework or mowing the lawn. Mindfulness walking can be done while exercising your dog, walking to your car, or climbing the stairs at work instead of using the elevator.
If you exercise, improve the relaxation benefits by adopting mindfulness
Instead of zoning out or staring at a TV as you exercise, try focusing your attention on your body. If you are resistance training, for example, focus on coordinating your breathing with your movements and pay attention to how your body feels as you raise and lower the weights.

Learning stress management will not happen overnight. Like any skill, it takes time, self-exploration and above all, practice. But think of it as an education with a huge payoff.
Resources: http://www.helpguide.org/toolkit/emotional_health.htm

Related articles:

Mindfulness Meditation

Guided Self Empowerment Meditation
Are You Ready for Change?






15 comments:

  1. That's so useful specially to those who have jobs that really stressful. Stress management can help us to reduced stress and also to manage our time.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is extremely healthy and important to be emotionally and healthy and not deal with stress. The addition of Timeshare into these relaxing techniques is one that can as beneficial to coping with stress as anything else. The use and importance of timeshare relief will help people deal with their stress.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stress is a permanent feature of our lives, but it really seems to explode at work. More than two-thirds of American workers report that there work stress is a problem in there lives.http://stressreducers-bar312.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stress is not healthy for individuals. Another great source to avoid stress is the use of timeshare relief

    ReplyDelete
  5. Look at flexible lighting track as enhancements. It's creations like pewter with frosted glass or oil rubbed bronze with light amber glass compare with designer tracks to highlight d??cor centerpieces or architectural detailing. Finishes like chrome, brass, bronze, brushed nickel and brushed steel bring out different palettes.

    Stress at work

    ReplyDelete
  6. Think of flexible light tracks as solutions, such as for adding dimension to a tiny, cramped or drab-looking room. Hampton Bay flexible track lighting comes in a wide range to work around different imperfections, from linear to wave bar and low voltage cable tracks for varying layouts, from accent and pendant to white halogen tracks for varying brightness.

    Stress at work

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hello
    Great post, thank you for practical tips that are worth adapting to everyday life. I think one of the most important things that people should do to live a stress free and healthy life is spending some time outside. A breath of fresh air is great to reduce stress and improve health.
    Taking small breaks is extra important for people stuck in the office all day. A great way to manage office stress is to take some breaks, step outside for a minute or two. It helps to clear the mind and you feel much fresher afterwards.
    Wishing you lots of good posts in the future
    Emilia

    ReplyDelete
  8. Richly Middle Class

    http://www.richlymiddleclass.com/stress-management

    stress-management, Forum, Community, Careers & Jobs,Finances,Health and Beauty,Just Us Men, Just Us Women,life style,
    Parenthood,Real Issues,Romance,The Recipe box etc know available here.

    Relationships and Politics,
    Small Ways to Take Control of Your Finances,
    Don’t Mistake Silence for Strength,
    Career verses Motherhood,
    A little time for me,
    Richly Middle Class

    SO visit our website.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I found it very useful in managing the stress at work place, it is not so theoretical. All the steps are practicable. I found some interesting article at goinghappier as well.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi,
    Thanks for a very nice content
    It is essential to have effective stress management in an organization so that the effect of stress on the employees as well as their performance can be reduced and controlled. Managing stress at work is difficult and since today jobs are seen as a measure of employee self-esteem and identity, being at your mental, emotional and physical best is essential if you want to keep stress at bay.
    Please keep posting and share your views with us on similar issues by visiting our Blogs.
    http://goo.gl/3ye0F
    Thanks,
    Ruhi Desai

    ReplyDelete
  11. Stress management is an issue that seems to go on even after many programs and methods have come out to help solve the problem. I was looking for new ways to help relieve stress when I stumbled over your blog. I love this information you’ve shared and how they affect daily response. Thanks a lot for posting.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Stress disturbs your wellness and can damage your life. It affects your family, friends...
    I know coz my wife was so stressed, about work, home, even me. Every single day we were fighting and negative atmosphere was in our bedroom too. To be honest 'the bad time' is in the past now. Finally we live in harmony. I just want to share with you guys what i have researched: http://stressmanagement.danielgreat.com
    My wife Joanna had to look at things from different angle.
    Good luck

    ReplyDelete
  13. This is a very informative article.I was looking for these things and here I found it, this information is very useful me

    ReplyDelete
  14. Usually my stress at work is caused by an uncooperative or provoking co-worker. The way I react when stressed about this is to try to get others to share whatever is bugging me. I am realizing that this just makes the whole office atmosphere a hostile environment and we all start to blame management. This can get out of control quickly. I am resolving to try some to either avoid, alter, adapt, or accept...then try some relaxation techniques. It has to be better for my health than what I've been doing.

    ReplyDelete