Coping With Stress

[?] Subscribe To This Site

Coping with Stress

Coping with stress is about taking control of stress. There are many ways to relieve stress, and these coping skills and relaxation techniques will help you to deal with stress.

Unrelenting stress can sometimes feel like a storm is hitting you from all sides. You have a to do list as long as your arm, the bills need to be paid, you feel pressured by a lack of time and your family responsibilities are demanding.

You may feel that there is little that you can do in the face of stress, however these skills for coping with stress can give you the tools to deal with stress effectively.

You don't need to be passive to the effects of stress!

Coping with stress is about taking charge!

Its about taking responsibility for your thoughts, emotions and behavior in response to stress. Coping with stress is also about managing your environment.

I don't want you to simply adapt to stress. These skills for coping with stress will help to build resilience to stress to live a balanced life and rise to your highest human potential.

I recommend that you try all the different skills for coping with stress. Each coping technique has it's own strength and you may find different techniques for dealing with stress more suitable to your lifestyle needs.

Recognize your stress causes of stress

There are many causes of stress and often one of the first stress management goals is to get objective data on what causes you stress.

While this may sound simple, sometimes chronic stress can be deceptive.

You may not be aware of how much stress - relationship stress, financial stress or work stress - that you are living with.

Main Causes of Stress

One way that you can get objective data on how you react to the different causes of stress is to carry around a notebook and record those things that stressed you out and how you felt - on a rating of 1-10.

Download a stress diary today and start monitoring your stress levels.

You may start to notice after a few days that there are patterns that begin to emerge in your stress diary - perhaps your ratings are higher when stuck in traffic or when you feel pressured by a deadline, or when you deal with your boss or an aggravating person.

Once you have knowledge of these causes of stress and how you react to them - you can now build a plan for coping with stress.

You have the power to live with less stress

Now you may blame the stress that you are feeling on your personality (I just feel anxious today) or on the situation (work is always pretty hectic) or on something that you just have to live with.

However, one of the first goals for coping with stress is to accept that you have the power to live with less stress. You can choose how to react to stress by taking responsibility for your own thoughts, emotions or behavior.

How do you currently cope with stress?

Whenever we encounter stress we usually use some coping strategy to help deal with stress.

Positive or healthy skills for coping with stress are useful but sometimes we may use negative or unhealthy coping strategies.

These negative coping strategies don't satisfactorily deal with stress and may even create a cycle of increasing stress for you.

How do you cope with stress?

Each of us experience stress in different ways but some of the effects of stress include:

Some unhealthy ways to relieve stress are:
Self destructive behaviours e.g. drinking too much or smoking Overeating or not eating enough Angry outbursts Withdrawing from family, friends or activities you once enjoyed	Procrastinating in front of the TV or Internet Constant worrying and not moving forward Sleeping too much Doing too much - so that you can avoid the causes of stress

Typically these unhealthy or negative coping strategies don't deal with stress adequately and in some cases may increase stress.

Here are a number of positive coping strategies that can help you to not only live with stress but to thrive in the face of it.

We recommend that you try a number of different coping strategies, as each of them has their strengths and may be more suitable for your lifestyle.

But...just remember that like riding a bicycle, learning a language, or learning an other type of skill - these coping skills require practice.

Strategies for coping with stress

There are many different ways to cope with stress and coping strategies tend to fall into one of two strategies:

change your reaction to the situation that is causing you stress, or

change the situation that is causing you stress.

Changing your reaction to the situation causing stress

Positive mental attitude. Adopting a positive mental attitude builds your resilience in the face of stress. By adopting a positive outlook on life you are more likely to take a problem solving approach to stress and deal with stress effectively. Here are a number of ways that you can adopt a positive mental attitude.

laughter therapy Humor therapy. What is more contagious that a cold and is a medicine for many things? If you have ever laughed until you have cried then you will know that laughter can be like an internal jog that not only gets your muscles moving but helps to reframe problems. Laughter can be a good medicine for stress relief for many reasons. Read more about the effect of laughter on stress.

Cognitive therapy. What you say to yourself can greatly influence the amount of stress that you feel. If you often say to yourself “I should” or “I always” or “I must” then this may be increasing your stress levels. Cognitive therapy for stress can help you to gain knowledge on how your inner dialogue is influencing your stress levels.

Using Positive Thoughts for Stress Relief

How you perceive the cause of stress determines whether the stress response is activated. Each time that a negative thought or image about yourself occurs - your body acts as though threatened. Similarly feelings of happiness and wellbeing are more likely to occur when you have more positive thoughts. Your thoughts influence your stress levels - here are some tips to adopting positive thoughts as a means to cope with stress.

Changing the situation that is causing stress

Learn to say no. If you are over-scheduled and stressed to the eyeballs then learning to say "No" can be beneficial. I think when saying "No" it is important to be firm and not apologetic. It can be hard to say No and if you are uncomfortable then try saying "I will think about it and let you know" - this at least gives you time to review goals and schedule - and takes the pressure off you to commit immediately. It is important here not to let them think you are going to say "Yes". If you want to actually do the task - review your goals and possibly say "I can't commit to this much, but I am prepared to ...."

Time management. One of the major causes of stress that I see is the feeling of being pressured with too many things to do in the day. With many of us connected 24/7 and the demands for shorter response times, it is no wonder this is a major cause of stress. If you feel that you are on a treadmill of putting out fires and not really getting the important things done then these time management strategies could be beneficial for you.

Communication skills. Conflicts, whether they are in personal relationships or relationships at work are inevitable and can cause much stress. Conflict is generally not the problem - as each of us has our own ideas and viewpoints that make us who we are - the problem is how the conflict is handled. Good communication skills can greatly reduce stress and anger - potentially leading to positive outcomes for all involved.

Make time for relaxation and fun

Because of the intimate connection between mind and body, many coping skills can also benefit from relaxation.

Taking time in your busy day to rest and rejuvenate can recharge your batteries and help you to cope with stress.

There are a number of strategies that I and my clients use to bring relaxation into their life. Some of these include:

Make relaxation part of your daily schedule. Make relaxation a daily habit for you. Often people tell me that they are "too busy to take time out". Often by relaxing, even if it is for 5 minutes you give your body and mind the rejuvenation it needs – not to mention adopting a habit that can help you to cope with stress and improve your overall effectiveness.

Connect with positive others. By connecting with people who have a positive outlook you can enhance your own life. A positive social support system can be a very good buffer from the effects of stress.

Remember your highlights. I like this technique because it reminds me of the good things in the day. Spend time each evening writing down or talking to someone who is close to you about your 3 highlights for today.

Make time for fun things. Take time out and do things that you enjoy. Take up a hobby, learn a language or play a sport – the important thing is to enjoy what you are doing. Bring more laughter and joy into your life.

Practice relaxation techniques. Relaxation techniques can help to quite the mind and relax the body. They can turn on the relaxation response which counters the effects of stress. Here are a number of relaxation techniques that you can use to cope with stress.

Healthy habits for coping with stress

Adopting healthy habits can also boost your skills for coping with stress. Here are a number of healthy habits that you can use for stress relief.

Exercise regularly. One of the symptoms of stress is muscle tension. Exercise uses up the products of the fight flight response and relaxes muscles. While exercise reduces stress there are also a number of other benefits to exercise that include reduced heart disease and obesity and increased longevity.

Eat a balanced diet. Your diet and nutrition can influence your stress levels. The right stress nutrition can buffer you against the effects of stress.

Ensure enough vitamins for stress. Vitamins B complex and Vitamin C can be depleted when stressed - which are the very vitamins that can help you to cope with stress. Similarly it can be difficult to absorb calcium – this can be a particular issue for chronically stressed people who may suffer from osteoporosis. I talk more about the role of vitamins for stress here.

Avoid certain foods. It is not unusual for me to reach for a cream bun and drain a cup of coffee when I feel stressed. Typically some of the foods that we may turn to when stressed can perpetuate the stress cycle. Here I talk about some of the foods to avoid and what you should eat – in order to increase your skills for coping with stress.