Stress Management...

Hello and Welcome back..!!

I'm back with my new write up.. And it's gonna be a helpful one.. Why!? Because it's about Stress Management.. 

We all are very stressed nowadays, especially 2020 made us to literally experience what stress is.. Speaking of that, I hope you have already read my blog on "What stress actually is?", If not then click the link and read (https://psychedbloggers.blogspot.com/2020/11/stress-what-actually-is-it.html)..

So, now we know, what is stress..! But do we know how to manage that stress in our daily life?

Here, I'm telling you how to do that..

So, welcome onboard..😃

HOW TO MANAGE STRESS?

Stress occurs once you perceive that demands placed on you, like; work, school or relationships - exceed your ability to cope. Some stress are often beneficial sometimes, producing a surge inside our brain and body that provides the drive and energy to help people get through situations like exams or work deadlines. However, an extreme amount of stress can have health consequences, affecting the immune, cardiovascular and neuroendocrine and central nervous systems, and take a severe emotional toll.

Untreated chronic stress may result in serious health conditions including anxiety, insomnia, muscle pain, high blood pressure and a weakened immune system. Research shows that stress can contribute to the event of major illnesses, such as heart conditions, depression and obesity. But by finding positive, healthy ways to manage stress as it occurs, many of these negative health consequences are often reduced. Some people prefer pursuing hobbies like; gardening, playing music, singing and creating art, while others find relief in more solitary activities like; meditation, yoga, mindfulness and walking.

Let's see the techniques to reduce stress,

Take a break from the stressor: It can be difficult to get away from an enormous work project, a crying baby or a growing bill with good amount on it. But when you give yourself permission to step away from it, then you also let yourself have time to do something else. That something else can literally help you have a new perspective or practice techniques to feel less overwhelmed with life. It's important to not avoid your stress (you have to face them at some point, tbh), but even just 20-minutes to take care of your mental and physical health is always helpful.

Exercise: The research keeps growing - exercise benefits your mind even as well as your body. There's a lot of long-term benefits of a regular exercise routine, that we know. In spite of knowing so much about it we don't actually do any of that. But even 20-minute walk, run, swim or dance session can give an immediate effect that can last for several hours. Our brains are interconnected with our emotions and facial expressions, so laughing can actually help you reduce stress.

Get social support: Nowadays, in these busy lives we have forgotten to connect with people, by that I mean connecting with real people and not over social media. Call a friend, if you feel like, talk for hours, laugh about your naïve times or your college days, trust me that helps. When you share your concerns or feelings with another person, it does help relieve stress inside you as well as that person's too. But it's important that the person whom you talk to is someone whom you trust and whom you feel can understand and validate you.

Yoga: Yoga is an ancient group of physical, mental and spiritual practices, which mainly originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Astika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. Yoga has been highly acclaimed worldwide. In the current times, yoga has been used in various ways for psychological disorders. Yoga helps preventing stress and related disorders. It relaxes the body and also helps increasing the vital energy of the body. It increases positive energy inside our body and removes toxins, which in a way helps our body to cope with all the stressors around us.

Meditate: Meditation and mindfulness practice help the mind and body relax and focus. Mindfulness can help people see new perspectives, develop self-compassion and forgiveness. When practicing any form of mindfulness, people can release emotions that may have been causing the body physical stress. Much like exercise, research has shown that even meditating briefly can show immediate benefits in reducing stress.

Relaxation Techniques: Relaxation techniques are very useful ways of controlling stress. These techniques are also used in therapy sessions. There are mainly 2 types of relaxation techniques- Jacobson Progressive Muscle Relaxation Technique (JPMR) & Deep breathing relaxation. Jacobson Progressive Muscle Relaxation is a technique that reduces muscle tension through a series of testing and relaxing exercise involving the major muscles in our body. Deep breathing relaxation is a technique uses deep breathing (inhale & exhale) through nose. By pulling and pushing of first abdomen and then chest the deep breathing is done. After inhaling one needs to hold the breath for a few seconds and then exhale slowly.

Coping Strategies: Coping strategies are the ways people deal with stressful situation. Coping strategies are intended to moderate or buffer, the effect of stressor on emotional & physical well-being (Ingledew, Hardy & Cooper, 1997). There are two types of coping strategy mainly- Emotion focused coping & Problem focused coping.

Emotional Focused Coping: In this coping strategy people use behavioral & cognitive strategies to manage their emotional reaction to stress. Behavioral strategies are like, seeking out others who offer social support, using alcohol or psychoactive drugs or keeping themselves busy to distract attention from problem. Not all mechanisms are positive in their way. Cognitive strategies are like changing how stressor is appraised or denying unpleasant information. 3 types of emotion focused coping can be distinguished- Escape/Avoidance, Distancing, Positive reappraisal.

Problem Focused Coping: It’s a coping strategy for dealing directly with a stressor in which the person either reduces the stressor’s demand, or increases his/her resources for meeting its demands (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). There are 2 types of problem focused coping- Proactive/Preventive, in which people attempt to anticipate or detect potential stressor and act in advance to prevent them or to mute their impact. They do this by applying different mechanisms. As example, A student who tackles an overwhelming course led by taking her assignments into a use of smaller manageable tasks. Another is Comparative, in which people react to or attempt to escape from a stressor that cannot be avoided. As example, A person who suffers from hypertension because of a stressful job may adopt a more nutritious diet.

#Additional knowledge for our readers:

What is biofeedback?

Biofeedback is a treatment technique during which people are trained to enhance their health by using signals from their own bodies. Physical therapists use biofeedback to help stroke victims regain movement in paralyzed muscles. Psychologists use it to assist tense and anxious clients learn to relax. Specialists in many various fields use biofeedback to assist their patients deal with pain.

It can be explained with a very common example, we all have used it if you have ever taken your temperature. The thermometer tells us whether we're running a fever. The device (here the thermometer), "feedback" information about your body's condition. Armed with this information, we can take steps we've learned to improve the condition. When we're running a fever, we take rest and drink plenty of fluids, eat properly and also take medicine as needed. So here the thermometer works as a feedback giving tool and we use this information for our next step.

The machines used for biofeedback can detect an individual's internal bodily functions with far greater sensitivity and precision than an individual can alone. This information can be valuable as both patients and therapists use it to measure it and direct progress of treatment. For patients, the biofeedback machine acts as a sort of insight which allows them to "see" or "hear" activity inside their bodies. One commonly used sort of machine, for instance, picks up electrical signals within the muscles. It translates these signals into a form that patients can detect.

These were the strategies for coping stress in our daily life. But as a mental health professional I understand that, we always can't follow the rules or techniques given by the books. So, hear comes some other tips which can help you,

1. Eat good food. Good food can always lift up our mood and help reduce the stress you're currently experiencing.
2. Listen to music if you like music or sing if you can.. Music is a very good way of reducing stress.
3. Pick up some hobby.. It can be anything, from baking cakes to knitting sweaters, literally anything that gives you some peace in your mind.
4. You can always Netflix and chill.. Trust me, watching a good movie/series won't harm your life rather you can escape the stressful situation for some time.
5. It's said that, 'Books are our best friends'.. So we can always read up some good books or we can read blogs online.
6. If you are feeling low, give a call to your friend who is ready to listen about your bad day. Or spend time with your loved ones. Grab a drink or just talk about good-old days.
7. You can always spend some time over social media (but not much, because that can turn into an addiction).. You wanna scroll Instagram? Do that.! Just remember, this should be for a limited time.
8. Get out of your office cubicle or room as it's now WFH, and get some fresh air, or maybe a cup of coffee/chai.
9. Last but not the least, You can always take help from a mental health professional, we are always there to help.

Remember that, all the little things in life help us grow and live a meaningful life which is not that stressful.. 😄 We shouldn't be thinking about people's judgement and do whatever we like to do without harming ourselves, the environment and our loved ones..

Thank You for reading..

See you in the next post..

~ Angira Gupta