Important Things to Know About Stress Relieving

About two decades ago, we hardly viewed stress as a major health disorder. Today, when we are living in the world of technological advancement and sedentary lifestyle, most of us find ourselves completely stressed out by the end of the day. Since our physical activities have declined drastically, we have become more accustomed to sitting jobs and this is why constant pressure on the mind causes excessive strain to the brain muscles. Moreover, working more than stipulated hours and not having adequate rest further adds to our mental health woes.

Also, this excessive pressure on mind creates stress and different people tackle stress differently. For some people, a given situation may cause stress while for other it may be just another normal situation. Your reaction to the situation determines how stressed you feel. Managing work, personal, financial and goal oriented issues can mount up stress. But when you get stressed, you focus more on the problems rather than finding solutions. Gradually, your overall working pattern may severely get affected due to stress.

How stress affects you?

It can largely impact your cognitive functioning and some of the common symptoms of stress are sleep disorders, excess sweating, loss of appetite, difficulty in concentrating and frequent headaches or pain in muscles. You may even witness behavioural changes such as irritability, low self confidence, anxiety and you may always find your mind thinking about negative events or circumstances. You tend to become worried quite soon. You may even lose your temper easily. Medical experts have also revealed that stress can create havoc in the production of hormones. Your hormonal activities become abnormal and more of stress hormone called cortisol increases causing you to have less control on your emotions.

People often opt for medications to keep stress under control but if you learn how to manage stress then it will become easier for you to control your reactions and even thought process. For this, you need to analyse how you get stressed or what factors stimulate the stress hormone within you.

How to recognise stress triggers?

You cannot make analysis and derive conclusions by observing one stressful day of yours. For a period of four weeks you must maintain a diary and include everything that stressed you during the day. After the completion of the aforesaid time period, you can have a look at the records and jot down your stress triggers.

While noting down the stressful circumstances, do mention these things:

• Date, time and place of the stressful event
• Who accompanied you at that time
• What task were you performing
• What were you thinking
• How the interaction made you feel
• What was your immediate action
• Note the changes you felt physically

And finally at the end of the stressful event, write down you ratings between 0 to 10, where 0 means least stressful and 10 means completely screwed up with stress. Not only maintaining this diary will enable you to find out your stress stimulator but also will let you find out the areas where you can learn to operate under pressure.

When it comes to handling stress, there is no single method to cure stress and rather than illness it is a disorder that is unique to every individual. It is however, important to identify the symptoms of stress early. Recognising the symptoms at an early stage will protect you from adopting unhealthy practises such as overeating, drinking and smoking, which can further cause depression, anxiety among other serious health ailments.

Some people have gradually learnt to deal with stress through proper time management, exercising regularly, relaxing and meditation techniques that not only reduces the production of stress hormone but also releases endorphins and other good mood hormones.

Isn’t it great if you have knowledge of some relaxation techniques that can help your mind get calm during a stressful situation? These techniques help you to deal with the event in a way that it aids in releasing the body tension while clearing the stressful thoughts from your mind. The relaxation techniques are universal since it combines deep breathing and muscle relaxation. Initially you may feel that these techniques are not providing the said relief but when you learn the skill to relax your senses, then coping with stress will become an easier task for you.

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Relaxed Breathing

When you feel stressed, you need to de-stress your mind first instead of continuing with work. Find a quiet place where you feel peaceful. Remove your shoes or tight clothings and relax providing support to your head. Sit properly keeping your arms on the sides. If you are lying, then stretch out your legs too. Now start breathing normally but instead of focusing on any thoughts, just observe your breathing.

• While inhaling, fill up your lungs with air and imagine that you are filling a bottle.
• Breath in with your nose and exhale through mouth.
• You must ensure that you are breathing in till the count of 5.
• Then slowly release the breath on the count of 5.
• Do this continuously till you feel the rush of blood settle down.
• Practice this activity for around 10 minutes twice or thrice a day.

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Deep Muscle Relaxation

This technique provides long lasting relaxation from stress and must be performed when you are at a comfortable place and not busy. This technique requires 20 minutes and involves stretching of muscles to release the muscle tension from the body and mind. Take a relaxing stance either by sitting or lying down in a peaceful ambience. Close your eyes and start observing your deep breathing as mentioned above.

This technique may require more practise to become an expert and therefore, keep yourself entertained by playing soft music. Start performing stretching exercises and hold the stretch for a few breaths and release. The stretching exercises must begin with your face, neck, arms, wrists, chest, belly and hands. After completing the exercises, lie down for sometime with your eyes closed.