Stress Management

By: Richard Reid

We relate stress as those moments where you feel like everything has become too much to handle and everything seems to crumble at the slightest provocation.

Even though we all know what stress is do you know how best to control and manage your stress levels?

Stress can be explained as the feelings of inability to cope with a situation or circumstance. In many cases of stress the situation may seem trivial to an outside party but its detrimental to the person experiencing those feelings.

This difference in perception about the level of crisis had led researchers to believe that stress management is largely reliant on the individuals inner self-esteem and techniques for weathering through difficult situations.

There are several schools of thought regarding effective stress management. Because every persons reaction to different stress triggers is different, there is no right or wrong way to handle stress only the right way for you.

Understanding the reasons and triggers behind your stress can be a huge step forward in learning to control your levels of stress and handle them effectively.

Job Stress Management

A highly demanding job or career can lead to very high levels of stress for people working in them and yet rarely will those people do enough to control those stress levels.

In many cases, the trigger for stress in these situations can be feeling under too much pressure from management to continually perform well. Other people report feeling as though theres simply too much expected of them throughout the working day. Still others complain continually about needing an extra few hours in each day to get everything done. The common feeling among each of these situations is frustration.

Stress management for people in these kinds of situations can often be a matter of better time management and correct delegation. Constant interruptions by telephone or other colleagues can chew into precious time in which you could be getting things done.

If your workload is wearing you down, consider breaking your tasks down into prioritised lists and working through the most important issues first. Any less important tasks can either be done later or given to another staff member to assist. Leave the phone to the voice-mail if you can. Ignore emails until after you have completed the task you are working on. Explain to colleagues that standing around gossiping takes more time than you have available. Talk to them when your work load is lowered.

Be sure to take a walk when your work day is over. You do not need to jog or sprint. Just walk around the block or around the park. The simple act of walking can help to clear bottled up feelings of frustration, improve blood circulation and give you precious time to think things through without interruption.

Relationship Stress Management

Not everyone gets stressed at work. Many people feel stressed about their relationship or family life. A large number of women report feeling stressed about the demands of running a busy household and raising a family without enough support. Many feel their partners are unsympathetic and unhelpful and the pressures of day to day life begin to affect everything they do.

Stress management for people in this situation could be partially helped with time management and effective delegation to other family members, but in relationship stress the overlying emotion is not always frustration, as with job stress. It is often lack of self-esteem and low self-worth. Many women feel as though they lose themselves in order to care for the family first.

Learning to put your own needs first before those of your family is not considered selfish. It is actually beneficial to everyone. If your own needs are well looked after, then you have more energy and more love to spread around to your family.

By Garrett Coan

This subject could fill an entire book. In the limited space of this newsletter, let’s look at the key components of this stress-reducing strategy.

1. Identify the sources of stress in your relationships. Write about them in a journal. Make a list of people who cause you stress and explore what the issues are.

2. Resolve the underlying issues. For each of the situations identified in step 1, assess what needs to happen to resolve it. Make a list and design a plan to improve the situation.

3. Learn skills to improve relationships. Relationship skills are learned. We are not born knowing how to get along well with others, and most of us learned only limited skills from our parents. Identify the skills you need to develop, and make a plan for yourself. You can learn these skills by reading books, taking classes, or working with a therapist.

4. Avoid toxic people and situations. Some people have a toxic effect on you. If you can, limit the amount of time you spend with them. Look for opportunities to decline their invitations. When these people are family members, remind yourself that you don’t have to feel guilty about avoiding anyone who makes you feel bad about yourself. In work situations, look for ways to rearrange your schedule or your workspace to avoid interacting with such people.

5. Seek out positive people and situations. This step is the reverse of the previous step. Look for opportunities to spend more time with people and in situations that make you feel good. Think about people who make you feel good about yourself and look for ways to increase time with them.

6. Watch what you eat. Some substances amplify the stress response. These include:

• Caffeine stimulates the release of stress hormones. This increases heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen to the heart. Ongoing exposure to caffeine can harm the tissue of the heart.

• Refined sugar and processed flour are depleted of needed vitamins. In times of stress, certain vitamins help the body maintain the nervous and endocrine systems.

• Too much salt can lead to excessive fluid retention. This can lead to nervous tension and higher blood pressure. Stress often adds to the problem by causing increased blood pressure.

• Smoking not only causes disease and shortens life, it leads to increased heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration.

• Alcohol robs the body of nutrition that it might otherwise use for cell growth and repair. It also harms the liver and adds empty calories to the body.

During times of high stress, eat more complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, whole breads, cereals, and beans).

7. Get moving. The human body was designed to be physically active. However, in most jobs today, people are sitting down most of the time. They hardly move at all except when it is time for coffee break or lunch. When faced with stressors, we respond with our minds, not our bodies. It is no wonder that many of us have a difficult time responding to stressful events. Exercise is one of the simplest and most effective ways to respond to stress. Activity provides a natural release for the body during its fight-or-flight state of arousal. After exercising, the body returns to its normal state of equilibrium, and one feels relaxed and refreshed.

8. Look for ways to let go of tension and anxiety. Meditation and progressive relaxation are two valuable ways to regenerate and refresh yourself. You can purchase meditation and relaxation audiotapes or record your own. This is especially important because your health and long life depend on minimizing stress and achieving a sense of balance and well-being.

By Dale Collie

When Army leaders fail to control battlefield stress, they lose as many soldiers to combat stress as they do to enemy bullets. Even when they are well trained, these soldiers are more likely to collapse in the face of great stress.

Units with high morale and esprit de corps, however, lose only 10% as many troops to stress. The training and preparation are important, but the high sense of teamwork makes all the difference.

This same sense of teamwork and belonging is important in the corporate environment. Where teamwork, morale, and esprit are good, the companies find improved productivity and increased profits. Employees are willing to sacrifice personal gain for the sake of the team.

Some of the bonding is so great that employees brand themselves the same way as the elite soldiers, wearing, wearing visible ID tags, logos, and apparel wherever they go.

Where morale and esprit are weak, employees refuse to wear these identifying symbols — and productivity suffers as unmotivated employees pay more attention to personal gain than to the team effort.

If absenteeism, early departures, accidents and other problems make you think employees need a morale booster shot, you can try some of the following successful techniques.

1. Develop logo mugs, caps, shirts, or sweaters for everyone. You can do this annually to keep the items fresh, but you’ll defeat your purpose if you buy cheap stuff.

2. Recognize team accomplishments with graduation certificates, plaques, mugs, and other items to brand teams and compliment individuals.

3. Povide logo items to special task force or problem solving team members upon completion of the project.

4. Sponsor special team nights out, in recognition of achievement or as an annual affair to encourage team bonding and relationships. People don’t really have time for this type bonding on the job. Be sure to give corporate gifts at these events.

5. Establish athletic teams to compete with other departments. You pay the space expenses and equipment costs. Many corporate problems can be solved by getting team members to compete together.

6. Present special training for team members to enhance job performance and team relationships.

7. Send key team members for high-adventure training where physical excitement encourages bonding. Make sure everyone gets to participate in some way, even if they are in support of those taking part in the more adventurous outing.

8. Sponsor annual company picnics where teams compete in athletic events or participate in unique ways to provide food, entertainment for others in the organization.

9. Generate internal competition so departments compete for best overall improvement or fewest quality complaints. Be careful not to have internal teams competing for cash awards, e.g. annual bonuses, or you’ll create a lot of negative stress and distrust that is hard to repair.

10. Leadership participation is important in each of these morale building team efforts. Leaders need to be a part of the competition and the adventure. They also need to personally award the logo items and compliment those teams that achieve.

By Matt A. Peters

We are all exposed to stress at various stages of our lives these days. It’s become a fact of life. We talk about the reasons for our stress and we discuss various ways to alleviate it quite often, but how often do you talk about how it can upset the work life balance?

The pressure of deadlines to be met and decisions to be made, a lack of cooperation and problems with fellow colleagues, the children who have to be picked up from school, a tense relationship at home, plus a high consumption unhealthy food choices picked up in a rush on the way home from a busy day, all contribute to the reasons we can suffer from stress and stress related illnesses.

What is stress?

Stress is a mixture of psychological and physiological reactions of the human body. In many cases, stress is the emotional side effect of not feeling able to find enough time to do those things you know need to be done.

A good example of a stressful situation is spending more time than you should solving problems at work, while you spend less time with family and friends or less time finding ways to unwind from the pressures of your job.

When your work/life balance is unequal you risk putting excessive strain on yourself physically and emotionally.

How Can You Manage Stress?

Stress management is about developing new perspectives in our lives and learning time management techniques. When demands on your time from work absorb your entire focus to the exclusion of your family obligations, you’re creating stress.

To help manage some of the stress generated from an unbalanced work life, you may need to consider delegating some of your extra work activities. You might also think about addressing your work load with your employer and explaining the need for more assistance with some tasks.

Creating a Balance between Work and Home

When you willingly pour yourself into your work and exclude those people who love you, it’s a bit like admitting that their needs come a poor second-best to what your employer needs from you first. Most people instantly react to this statement by saying that they work so hard in order to provide for their families.

Unfortunately, children don’t see the distinction between you choosing to spend time away from them and needing to provide income. The sad fact is that many marriages also begin to suffer when your work-focus seems more important than the family you’re supposed to be going to work to provide for.

Make a promise to sit down to dinner with your family each night. Not only does this force you to break your work-focus, but it also means sitting down to a relaxed meal with the family who love and need you.

Balancing Christian Values

Returning to our Christian values can also have a profound effect on eliminating stress. It seems that over the years we have let our Christian values slide into the background in favor of the “work at all costs” syndrome. Getting back to our basic values can aid us in managing and eliminating stress.

By Dr. Tony Fiore

After a stressful day as a computer programmer, Jim pulled into his driveway. The children’s toys were scattered on the walkway to the house.

He immediately began noticing slight tension in his muscles and apprehension in his stomach. Entering his house, his wife ignored him while she talked with her sister on the telephone. His heart started beating a little faster.

Looking around, he noticed disarray; nothing was picked up, the house was a mess. Irritation and frustration started to settle in. Finally, as his feelings grew, he exploded and began yelling at his wife and children.

Stress may trigger anger:

Stress is often the trigger that takes us from feeling peaceful to experiencing uncomfortable angry feelings in many common situations such as the one described above.

Stress is most easily defined as a series of bodily responses to demands made upon us called stressors.

These “demands” or stressors can be negative (such as coping with a driver who cuts in front of you on the freeway) or positive (such as keeping on a tour schedule while on vacation).

Stressors may be external to you (like work pressure) or internal (like expectations you have of yourself or feeling guilty about something you did or want to do).

Whether the stressor is external or internal, scientists have discovered that the major systems of the body work together to provide one of the human organism’s most powerful and sophisticated defenses; the stress response which you may know better as “fight-or-flight.”

This response helps you to cope with stressors in your life. To do so, it activates and coordinates the brain, glands, hormones, immune system, heart, blood and lungs.

Avoid Jim’s destructive behavior toward his loved ones. Before your stress response turns into anger or aggression, use these strategies to get it under control:

Read your personal warning lights: Becoming aware of your stress response is the first step to managing it. This means listening to your body, being aware of your negative emotions, and observing your own behavior when under stress.

For instance, notice muscle tension, pounding heart, raising voice, irritation, dry mouth, or erratic movements.

What you see is what you get: For a potential stressor to affect us -stress us out - we have to first perceive it or experience it as a stressor.

Gaining a new perspective on the stressing situation can often drastically change the effect it has on us. Our stress response can indeed be a response (something we can control) instead of a knee-jerk reaction (which is automatic).

By Jeff Brendan

Stress is a condition in human body in which the body responds certain internal stimulus. Endocrinologist Hans Selye first described stress in 1930 as a hormone response to the stimulus both internal and external factors.

The most common hormone in stress and stress factors interplay is the adrenaline. This is a hormone that is released by the body to enhance glucose uptake and muscle cells function in readiness to response to the stimuli, also called a stressor. Because of this increased activity of body cells, some organs may end up being placed on permanent high gear of functions.

Stress is actually a good condition for human body because it warns it of the environmental condition and prepares it to respond appropriately. Therefore every human being will experience stressful situation, the stress levels and its effect on the body will vary depending on the coping mechanisms and the severity of the stressor or stimulant.

The heart for example, may be forced to pump the blood faster and this may be sustained to and therefore lead to high blood pressure. The gut may be forced to work faster and thereby lead to higher production of bile acid in readiness for increased digestion. Because the production of the bile acid is not provoked by the food presence, the acid ends up eroding the mucosal cells leading into ulcers.

Therefore some of the common symptoms of stress include faster breathing, persistent headache, stomach ulcers, weight gain or loss depending on the personality, chronic exhaustion, and high blood pressure among others.

Today, there are a number of people who are stressed. In developed countries such as USA, more than 75% of the illnesses reported to physicians are stress related. Stress and stress related illnesses are also increasing in the developing countries as the people adopt the western way of living.

As it has been pointed out in the study of stress and stress related illnesses have their genesis from perception of the mind and the eventual trigger of hormones such as adrenaline. Brain education provides opportunity for control of the negative energy and the brain. The education provides skills for control of human body through providing information on how to control motor and cognitive parts of the body through simple exercises.

By Roberto Sedycias

Stress is a situation when things go beyond control and have a detrimental effect on people`s lives. The reason for stress and its effects vary from person to person, and hence learning certain techniques and understanding the value of self help on stress management makes a person happy without allowing stress to override. Stress should not be considered a disease, yet it should be a contributing factor triggering diseases such as skin disease, asthma, migraine, allergies and many more. If left neglected, it leads to awful and harmful conditions, and hence it is mandatory to look for self help on stress management ideas.

Headache, muscle pain, sweating, dizziness and thudding heart are some of the symptoms related to stress that makes a person feel tense resulting in becoming an introvert. The ultimate result is that their memory fails; they may get addicted to smoking and drinking, and enhance other problems of heart. Self help on stress management may be the right path, as it begins with finding the reasons that triggers stress and on recognizing them.

Self help on stress management deals with firstly accepting the problem and finding a solution. If you are able to control the situation, best, or else, take the support of relatives or good friends. On identifying the reasons for stress, avoid it and stay far away from them so that you are less stressed. This is one of the best self help on stress management. Talk to someone who understands the problem, mostly a friend and let the feeling go and take charge of it such that the control is in your hands. Self help is by inspiring yourself by reassuring that it is a passing phase and gradually diverting your mind from the problems is an appropriate way of stress management.

Eating and exercising is essential for the system, besides meditation gives the desired relief. As a result, when mind and body is at rest, getting stressed is highly unlikely and is the main self help to stress management. View optimistically and defeat stress by taking a balanced diet, rest for at least 6 hours, as a rested body is never irritable and also recovers fast. Similarly, relaxing lowers blood pressure and maintains the equilibrium of your body to the extent of just closing your eyes. Breathing slowly also releases tension. Meditation is a wonderful technique that offers relaxation to mind and body as it brings mental awareness and assists in deep relaxation.

Practicing yoga and exercising is also a right way to self help on stress management, as exercise chases away the stress hormones from the bloodstream and gives a well-being feeling. Aromatic oils such as geranium, rose, basils and lavender massaged on the forehead and scalp gives the desired relief from stress and activates energy. Similarly, drinking lots of water and herbal tea also helps in fighting stress, provided the intake of caffeine is reduced as it may stimulate the stress hormones.

By Pam Woods

Do you feel tense and anxious at work? Do your co-workers and/or boss make you crazy? Is your personal life less than blissful? If so, you’ve got stress. If you’re like most people you’ve sought refuge from this situation by trying a quick fix or two like calling a friend, walking the dog, or going away for the weekend in an attempt to escape it all. While these strategies may serve as temporary diversions, nothing in your life changes when you return to your routine.

Stress is internal, which explains why it can wreak havoc on your health. It feels awful…it’s the sense that you’re not in control. The easiest way to mitigate its effect is to take charge of the one and only thing you have the power to control…YOU, and let go of what you can’t control. The beauty of this recipe is that by taking control of your life, external or outside things will change in response to your internal changes. Here are 10 steps to destress for your present and future:

1. Heal yourself.

Dr. Bruce McEwen, who wrote The End of Stress As We Know It, suggests that eliminating stress comes right from your grandmother’s journal. He says the most effective steps you can take are the simplest: exercise, a healthy diet, regular sleep, moderate to minimal alcohol intake, and no smoking. This, he notes, is the most sophisticated, up to the minute, cutting edge science available!

2. Get organized.

Physical clutter reminds us of things that need to be done and that’s stressful. Remove your physical clutter and you’ll eradicate your mental clutter, plus you’ll feel energized.

3. Set boundaries.

Boundaries act as a filter to keep you safe from the hurtful behavior of others while allowing in the love, support and nurturing actions we all need. Set your boundaries by: (a) determining what others cannot do to you or in your presence and (b) sharing this information respectfully with anyone who is stepping over one of your boundaries.

4. Take time for yourself.

Put together a list of all the things you love to do but haven’t regularly made time to do. Put your list in priority order and enter the top five to seven items into your daily calendar. Your list may include things as simple as journaling, reading a great book, taking a bubble bath, yoga, etc. You’ll be more successful getting to these activities when you give them a time and place on your calendar.

5. Be positive.

William James, the father of modern psychology said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that man can alter his life simply by altering his attitude of mind.” In other words, what you say and what you tell yourself impact the present and create your future. Love yourself and use the power of positive words, pleasing thoughts and affirming beliefs to live the life you want to live.

6. Work in a career you love.

If you’re like most people, you spend the majority of your waking hours at work. You’ll know you’re in the right profession when: you wake up anxious to go to work, you want to do your best daily, and you know your work is important.

7. Surround yourself with a supportive community.

You are who you spend time with. Hang out with people who love and accept you just the way you are, are interested in you (not what you can do for them), lift you up (not wear you down), solve problems quickly, don’t gossip or complain, and know how to have fun. Anything is possible with the right support.

8. Learn to say, “No.”

We’ve all been influenced by people in our life who tell us we should do this or we ought to do that. As a result, we may end up living a life that others have decided for us versus living the life we want. So, the next time you think of something you ought to do or someone else suggests you should do, take a breath and ask yourself if it’s something you want to do. If not, just say, “no” or “no thank you.” When you say no to things you don’t care to do, you are saying yes to you and this will free up your time and energy for the things you choose to do. Bottom line - you’ll be happier.

9. Zap tolerations.

A toleration is something that irritates you and drains your energy because it needs to be done, fixed, removed, or changed. If you’re like most people you may be tolerating 100 or more things! Put together a list of all the things that bug you, e.g. a dripping faucet, money concerns, your weight, shopping and running errands, not enough time, computer files out of control, your hair, a room that needs to be painted, etc. When your list is complete, group like items and see if one solution will eliminate multiple tolerations. For example, if you have piles of clothing in each bedroom, dirty windows and dust bunnies on your floor, hiring a housekeeper will zap all three tolerations. Line up a housekeeper, today. Then, commit to spending a chunk of time each week to zap your other tolerations. If you have a toleration that you don’t have the skill or know-how to fix, consider calling an expert or seek out a skilled professional to trade services with.

10. Get your needs met.

A “need” is not an option, it is something you must have to function fully. It is differentiated from a “want” in that a want is optional. Unmet needs can drive you to distraction and worse. Determine what needs you have that aren’t being met, if any, and then take the appropriate action to get them fulfilled. Example: If you’ve taken a big hit and are going through a career transition, ask a good friend to call you two or three times a week to check in with you and give you support. Other options include calling your own voice mail and leaving supportive messages or hiring a coach who specializes in career transitions. When you acknowledge and satisfy your needs, you will be free to focus on other areas of your life.

By Indra Books

Let’s face it. If you are stressed, agitated and flitting about, your guests will be uncomfortable and won’t be able to relax. Here is an easy test of how well you are doing. How many times do your guests ask if there is anything they can do to help? It is reasonable that guests may ask when they first arrive but if you hear the question over and over again, you are doing something wrong.

The Dinner Party:

Do you become a shrinking violet at the mere thought of hosting a dinner party? Here are some quick and easy tips on how to host a successful party and not be too wiped out to enjoy the effort.

1. Plan it out on paper. Use the basic Who? What? Where? When? How?
2. Don’t over compensate. Your guests will not be impressed by 10 appetizers, 3 entrees and a dessert cart for a sit down dinner party. If you are doing a buffet that is a different situation.
3. Balance Colors. Bad move: all of the food in a neutral color. This not only indicates that your food choices are boring but are also lacking in nutrition. Good move: Lots of color!
4. Use the foods of the season. For example: Do not plan a menu using strawberries in the middle of winter as it may be difficult to find any that are top quality. Do use apples, pumpkin, and squash in your fall dinner menus.
5. Dress to impress…the food that is. Plan a menu that looks elegant, but doesn’t consume three days to prepare. It is all in the presentation. The simplest dish can look exquisite.
6. Have everything staged and ready to go in advance. Your guests will be uncomfortable if you are flitting in and out of the kitchen.
7. Practice, practice, practice. Use your family for regular practice runs. Always set the table with matching cutlery and dishes and put food in serving dishes. This way you know what you have and are not floundering to figure out how to present your meals to guests.

By Rene Godefroy

Life would be so wonderful if it weren’t for other people. Let’s face it, people will upset you. They will say things that will hurt your feeling.

And no matter how well you plan, problems and challenges will pop up. You will be stressed out. But it’s your responsibility to do something to feel better.

Here are 7 tips that can help you right away:

1) Don’t just sit there. Move! According to many psychologists, motion creates emotion. You might notice that when you are idle, it’s easier to become depressed. Your heart rate slows down, less oxygen travels to your brain, and you are slumped somewhere in a chair blocking air from reaching your lungs.

I challenge you right now, regardless of how you are feeling, to get up and walk around at a fast tempo. Maybe you might want to go to an empty room and jump up and down a little bit. It may sound silly but the results speak for themselves. Try it now for a few minutes. It works like magic.

2) Smell the roses. How do you smell the roses? How about investing some money to go on that one trip you’ve been dreaming about? Visit a country with lots of exotic places to jolt your imagination and spur your creativity. You need to detach from your daily activities and venture a little bit.

3) Get some company. If you’re like me, you have many acquaintances, but you only have a few true friends. This isn’t because I’m introverted. It is because I’m very selective about who I let enter my territory. I have worked too hard to build my house—my dream—and I won’t let anyone destroy it for me in the blink of an eye.

When you’re feeling down, call your true friends and share what it is that you’re going through. Ask for their advice or input. While their advice or suggestions may be helpful, often you’ll find that simply verbalizing your problems will help you feel better.

4) Help others cope with their problems. It is very therapeutic when you engross yourself in helping others. You will be surprised how many people’s problems are worse than those you may be facing. You can offer others assistance in countless ways. Don’t curl up in your bed and let depression and stress take hold of you.

Get out and help somebody. There are many charitable organizations that can use your help right now. My dear cousin Barbara reads to the blind. Call the National Federation of the Blind so that they can tell you how to get involved.

5) Laugh a little. By now you’ve heard that laughter is a good internal medicine. It relieves tension and loosens the muscles. It causes blood to flow to the heart and brain. More importantly, laughter releases a chemical that rids the body of pains.

Every day, researchers discover new benefits of laughter. Let me ask you this question: “Can you use a good dose of belly-shaking laughter every now and then?” Of course you can. What you are waiting for? Go a comedy club or rent some funny movies.

6) Visit third world countries. Nothing is more humbling than to visit a poor country and see first hand what other human beings go through just to survive. Most people who have taken such trips come back with a deep and profound sense of gratitude and appreciation.

They realize how much they’ve taken for granted without ever realizing it. I encourage you to travel whenever you can afford to do so. You’re not too busy. Do it for you. Your life will never be the same.

7) Wear your knees uut. If there were one sustainable remedy I could offer you when the going gets tough, it would be prayer. Many people, depending on their faith, might call it meditation. It doesn’t matter to me what you call it, as long as you have a place to run to.