It’s the 2nd November 2016 and today is National Stress Awareness Day (#NationalStressAwarenessDay). This seems the appropriate time to reflect on posts I’ve written in the past on the subject of stress which provide many top tips as well as many tools to help address and keep stress levels at bay, whilst helping you better to deal with stressful events.
We all have daily sets of pressures, obligations and requests to juggle and for all too many of us, we find ourselves feeling overwhelmed. The pressures we face in regards to the expectation of ourselves, family, work, health and wellbeing can often seem too much and it is only when we feel like we want to run off, or simply feel stuck that we are stressed. The flight, fight or freeze syndrome.
There are so many different symptoms of stress in the world today, and these symptoms can show in so many different ways. Until you learn to spot the symptoms of stress, you have no hope of combating stress itself, because you won’t even recognise you have it. We’re all stressed! It’s a consequence of modern-day life. No one lives without stress.
What are your symptoms? Take a look at the following article and go through the symptoms and recognise how many of those commonly associated with stress are impacting your life right now.
Article: Symptoms of Stress
It’s important for you to learn to not just come to terms with the stress in your life but manage it. Today is surely the best day to get started with it being National Stress Awareness Day.
If your life is filled with stress, and you feel at the end of your tether both emotionally and physically, it’s time you learnt to deal with it better. There are a wide number of ways to manage and cope with stress, but they all require change. You can either change the situation or change your reaction. When deciding which option to choose, it’s helpful to think of the four As: avoid, alter, adapt, or accept. Go through this article to find out how to implement a strategy to manage the stress in your life.
Article: Stress Management Strategies
As your starting point you need to begin to make some simple changes in your life to reduce stress. One is to begin spending time relaxing.
Learning to relax is an essential skill because our natural responses to stress are often more harmful than the stress itself. When things are not going as planned and we begin to feel the worry building up we have a propensity to react excessively to some of the most trivial situations. Think about the times you have endured stress just by thinking about something that might happen.
Often you need to go deeper. Relaxation is essential. Here are some ideas for you.
Article: 8 Relaxation Techniques That You Can Use Daily
Relaxation techniques can help you activate the body’s natural relaxation response immediately, a powerful antidote to stress. When used regularly, these techniques lead to you experiencing a reduction in your everyday stress levels and a boost in your feelings of joy and calmness.
Here are some of the best:
Article: Relaxation Technique One: Deep Breathing
The ‘relaxation response’ from deepening your breathing which helps in decreasing stress hormones, slows down your heart rate and blood pressure, and relaxes your muscles.
Article: Relaxation Technique Two: Progressive Muscular Relaxation
This is the combination of deep breathing with the intentional contraction and relaxation of muscles to bring about relaxation. It’s a very simple technique, where you first tense a muscle, tightly contracting it, keeping it under intense tension for a short time. Then you relax your muscle normally, and then consciously relax the muscle even further.
Article: Relaxation Technique Three: Meditation
At its simplest, meditation can be described as the focus of the mind on one thing. It is a great way of calming my mind. It can bring a source of tranquillity to your busy life.
Article: Relaxation Technique Four: Visualisation
Visualisation is a technique where you use your imagination to deliberately create a picture or movie in your mind of your own making. By thinking of the positive things you want to happen on a regular basis, you’re creating a positive energy.
Article: Relaxation Technique Five: Get into Centre
This technique will enable you to tap into the power that’s inside you. I refer to this as “the centre”. This power within you, your peak state, can dramatically change anything in your life – literally in a moment.
Article: Relaxation Technique Six: Mental Imagery
When you picture soothing mental images in your mind, your body will benefit through being physically relaxed. To make this relaxation most effective, you need to bring all the five senses into your image: touch, sight, smell, taste and sound.
Finally, one place where stress can strike at any time is work. so here are some specific work related Top Tips for National Stress Awareness Day.
Article: 10 Tips to Reduce Stress at Work
In today’s world, it’s becoming ever harder to escape the effects of stress. So, use these articles to learn the techniques that can help you cope with stress. Enjoy the relaxing benefits and get started today on National Stress Awareness Day.
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