Tips for Reducing Stress

If you are one of the millions of stressed-out people, there’s good news. People can learn to manage stress.

Start with these stress management tips:

* Keep a positive attitude.
* Accept that there are events that you cannot control.
* Be assertive instead of aggressive. “Assert” your feelings, opinions, or beliefs instead of becoming angry, defensive, or passive.
* Learn and practice relaxation techniques.
* Exercise regularly. Your body can fight stress better when it is fit.
* Eat healthy, well-balanced meals.
* Get enough rest and sleep. Your body needs time to recover from stressful events.
* Don’t rely on alcohol or drugs to reduce stress.
* Seek out social support.
* Learn to manage your time more effectively.

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Stress Management – Ways to Relieve Stress

The best way to manage your stress is to learn healthy coping strategies. You can start practicing these tips right away. Try one or two until you find a few that work for you. Practice these techniques until they become habits you turn to when you feel stress. You can also use this coping strategies form(What is a PDF document?) to see how you respond to stress.

Stress-relief techniques focus on relaxing your mind and your body.

Ways to relax your mind

* Write. It may help to write about things that are bothering you. Write for 10 to 15 minutes a day about stressful events and how they made you feel. Or think about starting a stress journal. This helps you find out what is causing your stress and how much stress you feel. After you know, you can find better ways to cope.

* Let your feelings out. Talk, laugh, cry, and express anger when you need to. Talking with friends, family, a counselor, or a member of the clergy about your feelings is a healthy way to relieve stress.

* Do something you enjoy. This can be:

o A hobby, such as gardening.
o A creative activity, such as writing, crafts, or art.
o Playing with and caring for pets.
o Volunteer work.

You may feel that you’re too busy to do these things. But making time to do something you enjoy can help you relax. It might also help you get more done in other areas of your life.

* Focus on the present. Meditation and guided imagery are two ways to focus and relax your mind.
o Meditate. When you meditate, you focus your attention on things that are happening right now. Paying attention to your breathing is one way to focus. For more information, see:

Stress management: Doing meditation.

o Use guided imagery.With guided imagery, you imagine yourself in any setting that helps you feel calm and relaxed. You can use audiotapes, books, or a teacher to guide you. To learn more, see:

Stress management: Doing guided imagery to relax.

Ways to relax your body

* Exercise. Regular exercise is one of the best ways to manage stress. Walking is a great way to get started. Even everyday activities such as housecleaning or yard work can reduce stress. Stretching can also relieve muscle tension. For more information about becoming more active, see the topic Fitness.

* Try techniques to relax. Breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, and yoga can help relieve stress.
o Breathing exercises. These include roll breathing, a type of deep breathing. For more information, see:

Stress management: Breathing exercises for relaxation.

o Progressive muscle relaxation. This technique reduces muscle tension. You do it by relaxing separate groups of muscles one by one. To learn more, see:

Stress management: Doing progressive muscle relaxation.

o Yoga, tai chi, and qi gong. These techniques combine exercise and meditation. You may need some training at first to learn them. Books and videos are also helpful. You can do all of these techniques at home. For more information on yoga, see:

Stress management: Practicing yoga to relax.

You might like to try a combination of these techniques. See:

Stress management: Relaxing your mind and body.

In addition to practicing these skills, you might also try other techniques to reduce stress.

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Stress Management – Effects of Stress

Stress causes changes in your body. It also affects your emotions.

How stress affects the body?

Common symptoms of stress include:

* A fast heartbeat.
* A headache.
* A stiff neck and/or tight shoulders.
* Back pain.
* Fast breathing.
* Sweating, and sweaty palms.
* An upset stomach, nausea, or diarrhea.

Over time, stress can affect your:

* Immune system. Constant stress can make you more likely to get sick more often. And if you have a chronic illness such as AIDS, stress can make your symptoms worse.

* Heart. Stress is linked to high blood pressure, abnormal heartbeat (arrhythmia), blood clots, and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis). It’s also linked to coronary artery disease, heart attack, and heart failure.

* Muscles. Constant tension from stress can lead to neck, shoulder, and low back pain. Stress may make rheumatoid arthritis worse.

* Stomach. If you have stomach problems, such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcer disease, irritable bowel syndrome, or ulcerative colitis, stress can make your symptoms worse.

* Reproductive organs. Stress is linked to low fertility, erection problems, problems during pregnancy, and painful menstrual periods.

* Lungs. Stress can make symptoms of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) worse.

* Skin. Skin problems such as acne and psoriasis are made worse by stress.

How stress affects your thoughts and emotions

You might notice signs of stress in the way you think, act, and feel. You may:

* Feel cranky and unable to deal with even small problems.
* Feel frustrated, lose your temper more often, and yell at others for no reason.
* Feel jumpy or tired all the time.
* Find it hard to focus on tasks.
* Worry too much about small things.
* Feel that you are missing out on things because you can’t act quickly.
* Imagine that bad things are happening or about to happen.

How stress affects you depends on many things, such as:

* Your personality.
* What you have learned from your family about responding to stress.
* How you think about and handle stress. See:

The type of stress matters

Stress can affect you both instantly (acute stress) and over time (chronic stress).

Acute (short-term) stress is the body’s instant response to any situation that seems demanding or dangerous. Your stress level depends on how intense the stress is, how long it lasts, and how you cope with the situation.

Most of the time, your body recovers quickly from acute stress. But stress can cause problems if it happens too often or if your body doesn’t have a chance to recover. In people with heart problems, acute stress can trigger an abnormal heartbeat (arrhythmia) or even a heart attack.

Chronic (long-term) stress is caused by stressful situations or events that last over a long period of time. This could include having a difficult job or dealing with a chronic disease. If you already have a health problem, stress can make it worse.