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Usual cure
While you can not escape these pressures, there
are ways of handling the stresses they cause. This is important,
because too much stress can disrupt your family and do serious
damage to your health. If it gets out of control, stress can make
it hard to face day-to-day life, let alone the bigger problems.
During peak activity periods, you need to:
· Have adequate rest
· Eat well-balanced meals
· Take breaks
· Rebuild energy resources with time off
Look over the signs of stress you’ve checked
(see above) and circle those that occur frequently or regularly.
Study your list.
· Which symptoms cause you the most concern?
· Are you always aware when they are happening to you?
· Can you stop them from happening?
· Do you see a pattern in your symptoms?
· Are they mostly physical or do they usually involve other
people?
This might give you a clue in directing how you
can mange stress. This exercise outlines several causes of stress
in our daily lives. Spend some time thinking about personal causes
of stress and ways to manage them.
Stress Management for the
Health of It
Psychological, because the cause of this stress is mental; the
person is afraid he/she may stutter, forget the words, etc. Problems
are anticipated, but they have not actually occurred. There is
no way to be completely rid of stress. Improving your life and
health provides the physical and emotional strength to cope with
the inevitable stresses of life.
· Three reasons for different reactions to stress are a
person’s:
1. Attitude
2. perception
3. skills for managing stress
If your attitude toward life is positive, then stress
may be seen as a challenge and not a problem. Past experiences
and the skills you feel you have to meet life’s demands
will affect the degree of stress you experience.
It is estimated that as many as 7 of the 10 leading causes of
death could be reduced through common sense changes in lifestyle.
Physical discomfort (headaches, insomnia, muscle
tics, digestive upsets), emotional discomfort (bad temper, mood
swings, crying spells, nervousness), mental confusion (forgetfulness,
boredom, poor concentration), and relationships (loneliness, nagging,
staying away from others).
Exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, sports), sensible
eating habits, recreation like dancing and even hobbies and relaxation.
Reach out to family and friends for support. Interaction
and sharing the cause or causes of your stress helps you to take
some of the load off your chest.
Decide what changes you want to make for improvement.
You might pick that aspect of your lifestyle where you feel you
have the best chance for success and tackle that one first. Once
you have improved your score there, go on to other areas.
If you have already tried to change your health
habits (to stop smoking or exercise regularly, for example), do
not be discouraged if you have not yet succeeded. The difficulty
you have encountered may be due to influences you have never really
thought about, such as lack of support and encouragement. Understanding
these influences is an important step toward changing the way
they affect you.
Once you understand how stress is affecting you,
you can begin to bring it under control. This will be a gradual
process because, for the most part, it involves learning good
habits and forgetting bad ones.
1 Talking about your
problems is one good way of relieving stress. Choose someone you
feel you can be open and honest with, and tell him or her about
your problem(s). If there is no one close you feel you can talk
to, consider someone like a clergyman or family doctor.
2 Learn to recognize
when you are coming under stress. Everyone has a definite physical
response, but it varies from person to person. In one, it might
be tightening of the neck or shoulder muscles; in another, queasiness;
in yet another, frowning.
When you learn what your own stress signals are, try to respond
to them by telling yourself to relax. Concentrating on something
other than the problem -- for example, taking a deep breath or
deliberately relaxing your muscles -- will often help.
3 Look at the list
of things that cause you stress and think about how serious each
of them really is. Also, pick out things that are basically beyond
your control, such as prices and the weather. Then, when you feel
under stress, evaluate the cause. Is it something minor, or something
you have no ability to control? If so, is the stress actually
causing you more harm than the problem itself?
4 When dealing with
a major problem, try to break it down into smaller parts. For
example, if you have a barn that needs a lot of repairs, pick
out one job and concentrate on getting it done. Once that task
is completed, pick out another, and so on. Gradually, the problem
as a whole will begin to seem more manageable.
5 Schedule your time
realistically. Don't try to squeeze more work into a day than
you can actually complete. Also, leave room for the unexpected.
Usually, there will be something (for example, an unexpected visitor)
that will hold up your work.
6 Take occasional
short breaks from your work. A person who works without breaks
becomes steadily less effective during the course of the day.
By contrast, a few minutes off will refresh you and give you a
new start at the job.
7 Learn how to relax.
One way is to practice doing certain things slowly (eating or
walking, for example). Another is to just sit back in a chair
and concentrate on relaxing your muscles. If you find this difficult,
try alternately tensing and relaxing, until you become familiar
with the difference.
8 Develop other interests
that will help you forget about your problems for a while. Sports
work for some people, reading, exercising or socializing for others.
9 Consider outside help, such as
counselling or group 'clinics'. While this is a more public approach
to your problems, it has the advantage of input from other people.
Often, they can point out things you might never see for yourself.
10 You can also try
ways of relaxation to lower your stress levels and help you to
relax. Using aromatherapy essential oils like lavender can help
you relax and chamomile tea have a calming effect. Treat yourself
to a bubble bath or manicure and pedicure, even a massage at the
spa can do wonders for your body and help you de-stress.
The focus is control: Whatever you do, there is no way to completely
eliminate stress. Instead, your goal should be to limit the amount
of stress and to keep it under control. This requires a definite
personal commitment, but the rewards should prove well worthwhile!
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