How do I Stop Stress?
What are the warning signs of stress?
Life is full of stress, both good and bad. Stress is the way we respond to the demand and pressure that we feel when the situations occurring around us become too much. This can cause us to become overwhelmed and feel unable to cope. We all react to stress differently, and what is stressful for you may not be stressful for me, and visa-versa. However, no matter what your levels of stress are, the effect can be debilitating. Some common warning signs of stress can help us to determine the level of stress that we are under, and the amount of attention we should pay to it. Stress manifests itself mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Are you having mood swings? Feeling irritable or have a short fuse? Are you overly emotional at times? feeling depressed or unusually anxious? How are your eating habits, have they increased or decreased? Are you sleeping well, oversleeping, or under-sleeping? If you answered yes to any of these questions you may find that you are suffering from stress.
Not all stress is bad, an athlete who is preparing for a race or event learns to use stress to help them perform better, to focus, and assist them to achieve their desired outcome. All that nervous energy is channeled into the task at hand. Once the task is completed the stress usually fades away, until the next task presents itself. Bad stress however often goes unrecognized, and continues to build up slowly at first but picks up momentum with each stressful event or situation. This type of stress can lead to physical, mental, and emotional overload. It also can cause and facilitate major health conditions such as heart attack, breakdown, and various other diseases.
What are the main causes?
There are so many and various circumstances that happen to us daily, that contribute to the changing levels of our stress. Some are insignificant and others are life-changing events that shape and determine our future. The large life-changing events usually impact us in a way that reaches to our very core. Think illness, death, relationship break-ups, divorce, loss of income, family dysfunction, etc. These events are usually beyond our control. Alternatively, the smaller, stress-triggering circumstances are usually lifestyle orientated. Think scheduling, family and job responsibilities, The numerous demands on our time, and our resources. Overworked, overcommitted, and pretty much, well, Over it!
The life-changing types of stress, the big events, the trauma-producing situations that occur that are usually beyond our control, can trigger our fight, flight, or freeze reactions. These are neurological responses that help us to survive when under threat. When we experience a series of these events, if left unprocessed they can compound, building one on top of the other. This in turn can lead to our lymphatic system (fight, flight, or freeze) never turning off and remaining on “high alert” continually, keeping us in a state of heightened stress. Processing these life-changing stresses helps to “take the pressure off” much like a pressure cooker. Letting small controllable bursts of pressure out helps to diffuse the built-up pressure and gives the ability to open the lid.
The everyday stresses the ones that creep up, build up, can sometimes be the ticking bomb that can cause us to blow up. They are usually long-term, under the surface, and disguise themselves as “life”. When we are not stressed, we can usually navigate these everyday necessities without too much trouble. It’s when they accumulate and become overwhelming that they start to wear us out and slowly but surely grind us down.
Stress effects us all differently
What does stress do to the body?
The effects of stress on our physical, emotional, and mental state manifests in various and different ways, remember there is no one-size-fits-all here. We are all unique beings. Some symptoms of stress that may be experienced at numerous levels and degrees are :
No energy- this symptom can range from being slightly fatigued to being unable to function
Trouble sleeping- restlessness, tossing, turning, waking up, and being unable to return to sleep
Stomach ache- indigestion, heartburn, cramps, or severe pain
Chest pains or tightness in your chest- this symptom can be a little niggle to full-blown pain
Headaches- tension headaches, migraines, as well as just a constant pressure around the head
Diarrhoea and constipation- inconsistent bowel movements
Nausea- before or after eating
Muscle tension- aches and pains, stiffness, clenching
Hyperventilating- breathless, wheezy,
Sexual disfunction- non-performance
As you can see from the above list, stress can and does manifest physically, it can be the silent killer lurking in the background. We all experience some levels of stress daily. It’s when those levels begin to climb and begin to impact our everyday ability to function, that we are in danger. Learning to process stress and deal with overloaded lifestyle demands is a key to the reduction of stress and the recovery of good health and wellbeing.
Stop the clock……..
How can you reduce or avoid stress?
To reduce or avoid stress takes stepping back and reassessing everything. It takes courage and a willingness to put in the effort and time needed to invest in your most valuable asset YOU!
I can hear your desperation as you shout “I DON’T HAVE TIME!”
Let me challenge you, if you don’t take time to look at your levels of stress, and learn to manage that stress better, you are putting at risk your ability to enjoy and engage in the time you do have. No one wants to live under overwhelming amounts of stress. There are plenty of online stress tests that you can do to give you insight into where your stress levels are at. Beyond blue, headspace, etc all have online tests that are free and easy to use. Therapy helps you to walk through stress and put it all into perspective. It helps you to understand where your stress is coming from and what strategies you can use to overcome it.
Stress can be managed, and the ways of reducing it are usually very simple, exercise, eating well, sleeping well, etc. More importantly, is uncovering the reasons for the stress and dealing with the issues. Underneath stress, can lie an inability to say no, a desire to please others, or self-neglect. Therapy can help identify these areas. Wherever your stress is coming from don’t you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to do something about it?
Your most valuable asset is YOU!
Stress and Anxiety, are they the same thing?
The short answer is No.
Stress comes from the situations and demands put upon us by the external forces and situations around us, It comes from the outside. Anxiety however is the internal thoughts and excessive worrying that come from the inside, Stress is relieved when the situation ceases or the lifestyle changes we make, cause the stress to reduce, even just a little.
Anxiety remains even when the stress triggers are removed and life is going smoothly.
Stress pressures us, rides us, and pushes us to respond and react. Anxiety belittles us, reprimands us, and stirs up all our fears and insecurities. Stress wears us down and overtime wears us out. Anxiety, on the other hand, affects us immediately causing overwhelming physical discomfort and mental anguish (panic attacks).
Stress when left to build can trigger anxiety, that is why it is so important to deal with stress and learn strategies and lifestyle tools to reduce its effect. These strategies and tools can become the circuit breakers in an ever-demanding society that operates and is driven by high levels of pressure and expectation. Taking back control over stress need not be a huge overhaul of our lives, it’s in the small, everyday choices that we find a sense of rhythm returning and become in charge once again.
IN THE MOMENT STRATEGIES
Breathe- Learning to do breathing exercises and practicing them, can help in times of pressure or anxiety, and alleviate stress. You can find some simple-to-use breathing exercises on the blog titled Breathe by clicking the link below.
Recognize- Start to recognize the things that trigger stress. Recognizing the triggers gives you the power to avoid or address those triggers.
Strategize beforehand- Once you understand how stress works for you, You can use strategies that you have predetermined that give you the ability to manage your stress.
Pause and reassess- Take time out, excuse yourself and get some space, take some time to think about how you can respond to the situation.