5 Tips for Coping During Stress
What is stress?
Stress is a feeling of being under abnormal pressure. This pressure can come from different aspects of your day to day life. Such as an increased workload, a transitional period, an argument you have with your family or new and existing financial worries. You may find that it has a cumulative effect, with each stressor building on top of one another.
During these situations you may feel threatened or upset and your body might create a stress response. This can cause a variety of physical symptoms, change the way you behave, and lead you to experience more intense emotions.
Stress affects us in a number of ways, both physically and emotionally and in varying intensities.
What are signs of stress?
Everyone experiences stress. However, when it is affecting your life, health and wellbeing, it is important to acknowledge it as soon as possible and start to correct the situation. While stress affects everyone differently, there are common signs and symptoms you can look out for:
feelings of constant worry or anxiety
feelings of being overwhelmed
difficulty concentrating
mood swings or changes in your mood
irritability or having a short temper
difficulty relaxing
depression
low self-esteem
eating more or less than usual
changes in your sleeping habits
using various ‘substances’ to relax
aches and pains, particularly muscle tension
diarrhoea and constipation
feelings of nausea or dizziness
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms for a prolonged period, and feel they are affecting your everyday life or are making you feel unwell, you should speak to your GP.
Tip #1: Realise when it is causing you a problem.
Try to make the connection between feeling tired or ill and the pressures you are faced with
Look out for physical warnings such as tense muscles, over-tiredness, headaches or migraines
Tip #2: Identify the causes.
Try to identify the underlying causes
Sort the possible reasons for your stress into three categories 1) those with a practical solution 2) those that will get better given time and 3) those you can’t do anything about
Try to release the worry of those in the second and third groups and let them go
Tip #3: Review your lifestyle.
Could you be taking on too much?
Are there things you are doing which could be handed over to someone else?
Can you do things in a more leisurely way?
To act on the answer to these questions, you may need to prioritise things you are trying to achieve and re-organise your life
This will help to release pressure that can come from trying to do everything at once
Tip #4: Exercise (even for a minute).
Exercise doesn’t necessarily mean power lifting at the gym or training for a marathon. A short walk around the office or simply standing up to stretch during a break at work can offer immediate relief in a stressful situation.
Getting your blood moving releases endorphins and can improve your mood almost instantaneously.
Tip #5: Breath Easy.
The advice “take a deep breath” may seem like a cliché, but it holds true when it comes to stress. For centuries, Buddhist monks have been conscious of deliberate breathing during meditation.
For an easy three- to five-minute exercise, sit up in your chair with your feet flat on the floor and hands on top of your knees. Breathe in and out slowly and deeply, concentrating on your lungs as they expand fully in your chest.
While shallow breathing causes stress, deep breathing oxygenates your blood, helps center your body, and clears your mind.