Practical Tips for Stress Management

Let's start with the four 'A's mentioned in the previous entry about healthy coping strategies for stress management: avoid, alter, adapt, and accept.

Avoid unnecessary stress

When doing this remember that not all stress can be avoided and it’s not healthy to avoid a situation that needs to be addressed.

Manage your time and personal limits.

• Set your priorities and move the tasks that aren’t truly necessary to the bottom of your to-do list, or eliminate them when possible. 
• Don't spend too much time with people who stress you out or if possible, avoid them entirely. This is not the same as social withdrawal where you avoid friends and people who are not causing you stress as well.
• Set your personal limits and stick to them. Learn how to say no when you think people are demanding more than you can handle.
• Take control of your environment. If the evening news makes you anxious, turn the TV off. If traffic’s got you tense, take a longer but less-traveled route.
• Avoid conversation topics that have the tendency to develop into heated arguments, like religion or politics.

Alter the situation

If you can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it and figure out what you can do to prevent the problem from presenting itself in the future.

• Plan ahead and make sure you have enough time to do important tasks, but still have time to get enough rest.
• Communicate your needs and feelings. If you have an exam tomorrow and a friend plan to drop by, tell him or her you need to study. If something or someone is bothering you, voice your feelings openly in a respectful way. Holding everything inside will likely to build up resentment while the situation remains the same.
• Be willing to compromise. If you ask someone to change their behavior, be prepared to do the same. If you both are willing to bend at least a little, you’ll have a good chance of finding a happy middle ground. 

Communicate your needs and feelings.

Adapt to the stressor

If you can’t change the stressor, change yourself.

• Change your point of view and look at stressful situations from a more positive perspective. If you fail at something, look at it as a chance to learn from your mistakes and do better in the future. Look at the big picture and ask yourself how important it will be in the long run. Don't sweat the little things.
• Set reasonable standards for yourself and others. Try not to demand everything to be perfect, learn to accept things that are good enough.
• Focus on the positive things in your life: your family and friends, your own achievements and talents, including physical properties like your home. Learn to appreciate and be grateful for them.
• Avoid thinking negative thoughts, especially about yourself. Eliminate words such as 'always', 'never', 'should', and 'must' when you talk to yourself.

Accept the things you can’t change

There are things in life in which you have no power to do anything about, such as the death of a loved one, a natural disaster, or a war. Acceptance may be difficult, but it’s easier than ramming yourself against a situation you can’t change. Learn to forgive yourself and others for the mistakes they made.

Other strategies to reduce stress

Besides the four 'A's, listed below are other ways to manage stress:

• Spare some time to relax and have fun. Try to do at least one thing you enjoy doing every day.
• Maintain a good sense of humor, including the ability to laugh at yourself
• Eat a healthy diet. Avoid too much caffeine, alcohol, and sugar.
• Exercise regularly
• Get enough sleep

Stress Management: Coping The Inevitable

Human is equipped with a fight or flight response when faced with any challenges, physical or mental.

An adult who tells you he or she had never felt stressful in his or her life is either a saint or a liar. Let's face it, stress in inevitable. In fact, stress is part of a normal psychological and physical reaction to the ever increasing demands of life. There will never be more hours in a day, there will always be bills to pay, and there will always be occupational and social responsibility for you to deal with. Even with great coping strategies, stress won't disappear entirely from your life.

The human body is equipped with a fight or flight response when faced with any challenges, be it physical or mental. When facing a threat, our brain reacts by telling the body to increase the production of hormones, charging it up so it will be ready to respond. Once the threat is gone, our body is meant to return to a normal relaxed state. Unfortunately, the nonstop stress of modern life places a demand so that our body has to be constantly on alerted state.

Overworking is an unhealthy coping strategy.

Realizing that you are not powerless against life's challenges is the foundation of stress management. Managing stress is all about taking control. It may be hard to change the conditions of your environment, but your thoughts, emotions, and choices are your own. With practice, you can increase your coping ability and switch from unhealthy strategies to healthier ones.

"Healthy coping strategies require change."

Unhealthy ways to cope with stress include smoking, drugs and alcohol abuse, overeating or undereating, social withdrawal, sleeping too much, procrastinating, overworking, and taking out your stress on others by lashing out or physical violence. 

Generally, healthy coping strategies require change. That's why they are more difficult to implement than the easier, unhealthy ones. The change can be applied either to the situation or to your reaction. When deciding which option to choose, it’s helpful to think of the four As: avoid, alter, adapt, or accept.

Since everyone has a unique response to stress, no single method works for everyone or in every situation. Experiment with different techniques and focus on the ones that makes you feel calm and in control.

Positive Thinking v.s Positive Action

Is positive thinking going to make any difference?

Positive thinking has long been discovered as an important step in achieving healthier life. Have anyone ever asked you the classic question whether your glass is half-empty or half-full? The answer to this question reflects your general outlook in life, whether you have an optimistic or pessimistic point of view.

turn positive thinking into action

A lot of studies had shown show that your mind affects your general health and well-being. Positive thinking plays an important role, especially in stress management. It translates into a state of mental well-being, which in turn is associated with a lot of health benefits, especially in reducing the risks of cardiovascular diseases. However, positive thinking may also have a negative effect in a way that all we do is think with no actual effort taken to change things in reality.

In one study conducted at the University of California, students were asked to spend a few moments each day visualizing themselves getting good marks in an upcoming exam. The daydreaming, even though it lasted only for a few minutes, caused the students to study less, and consequently scored lower marks. Because they set up higher expectations, some of those who failed the exam were placed under heavier burden of guilt and regret.

So, what do you do? Turn your positive thinking into positive action.

Let's face it, no action yields no results. In fact, too much positive thinking will backfired at you if the results turn out to be far from your expectations. Positive thinking does not change the reality you face, but it changes the way you approach your everyday problems. It gives you the edge to anticipate things and that boost of can-do attitude you'll need to get things done.

Here's a little exercise of turning positive thinking into positive action. First of all, do a self-talk using affirmative sentences in present tense. In this example, we'll use: "I can get up early in the morning everyday to exercise." Repeat this a few times before you go to sleep. Don't forget to set up your alarm clock. When it rings tomorrow, make sure you don't turn it off and go back to sleep!

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Other articles in stress management and mental health:

• Stress is part of a normal psychological and physical reaction to the ever increasing demands of life. It's a way to prepare our body with fight or flight response against challenges. Read more about stress management and healthy coping strategies
• A well known concept in stress management is the four 'A's: avoid, alter, adapt, and accept. Read more about practical tips to manage stress
• Normal grief or sadness last only for a short while and rarely interferes with your daily functions. Depression, however, is a serious condition. Read more about the difference between normal sadness and depression