Overcoming Stress

This will be our first salvo for this month... If I may ask, are you feeling stress on your everyday work and activities? What are the factors that cause someone to be stressed? How can you say that you are already stressed?

Stress they say is the harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources, or needs of the person. It could be psychological, social or even physiological in nature. It could arise from personal, financial, and the activities that we are doing everyday. It can lead to poor performance, injury, diseases or even death. Stress is categorized in four types:

Eustress is a type of short-term stress that provides immediate strength. Eustress arises at points of increased physical activity, enthusiasm, and creativity. Eustress is a positive stress that arises when motivation and inspiration are needed.

Distress is a negative stress brought about by constant readjustments or alterations in a routine. Distress creates feelings of discomfort and unfamiliarity. There are two types of distress. Acute stress is an intense stress that arrives and disappears quickly. Chronic stress is a prolonged stress that exists for weeks, months, or even years.

Hyperstress occurs when an individual is pushed beyond what he or she can handle. Hyperstress results from being overloaded or overworked. When someone is hyperstressed, even little things can trigger a strong emotional response.

Hypostress is the opposite of hyperstress. Hypostress occurs when an individual is bored or unchallenged. People who experience hypostress are often restless and uninspired.

Now that we have identified what are factors contributing to stress, we have to find ways on how to cope with it. Listed are the ways you can do to overcome stress:

Make changes in your surroundings. If you have a headache because you've been reading with poor light, move to another room where the lighting is better. Changing your surroundings can mean turning on lights, turning off loud music or raising or lowering your computer chair. Make a careful survey of the places where you spend a good deal of your time, your study place at home or your workplace for example.

Caringly and Carefully Communicate You need to learn to communicate with those with whom you are having problems. Sometimes your situational stress is caused by people. This is a more complicated potential source of stress. Whenever there are problems, you owe it to yourself and to the other person to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the problem. This involves communication in a caring and careful way.

Learn how and when to say "NO" Sometimes your stress is caused by taking on too many responsibilities. Some people have a habit of always saying "yes" to requests for help by others. Pretty soon they not only have all their own problems and responsibilities to attend to-they have everyone else's too! You need to become more aware of your limits and learn when you have reached them. The next step is to practice saying "no". Remember, your first responsibility is to your own health. You are of little use to others if you are not healthy.

Learn techniques for time management. Situational stress often results from feeling like we don't have enough time to accomplish all we need to in a given day. In many cases it is not a lack of time that is the problem, but rather it is poor time management skills that lead us to this dilemma. Time management means different things to different people. For some, it will be something as simple as making lists of "things to do". For others, learning to use daily planners and organizers will help them to better manage their time.

Delegate responsibilities People with perfectionist tendencies have trouble delegating work. They have the attitude that, "If I want it done right, I have to do it myself". They fear that by letting someone else help them with a given task, that they are losing control and that something will probably go wrong. We need to learn that there is more than just, "my way" of doing things. Learning to delegate responsibilities when they become overwhelming, will help you build more trusting relationships and will relieve your burden.

Practice relaxation training Relaxation equals energy. Because a relaxed body conserves energy, there remains more stored energy to be used on demand. Do you balance periods of activity with times of relaxation? It isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. Inner relaxation means being comfortable with 'who you are'. By becoming more aware of your patterns of behavior and learning your reactions to stress, you may be able to learn how to approach pressure situations with a more relaxed attitude. The next time you encounter a stressful situation, be mindful of your reactions. As you relax, more choices open up to you, so you needn't react automatically in negative, habitual ways.
Dealing with body stress often simply means dealing with the evident symptoms that are seen in the body. For example, when you see rapid, shallow chest breathing, you can counter that with the practice of more relaxed breathing technique. Or when you notice tense muscles in various parts of the body, you can practice systematically relaxing the muscles by consciously loosening the muscles that seem to be tense.

Avoid common stress-inducing substances. Watch your diet. Eat regularly and healthy. It is advisable to eat less, more often.

Exercise regularly It cannot be stated emphatically enough that exercise is an important way to reduce stress levels. Both physically and mentally, exercise can function to alleviate distress, and help lessen a person's susceptibility to stressors

Practice stretching and/or yoga Both of these activities provide a physical means for counterbalancing the physical stresses you are experiencing.

Most important of all, have a positive outlook in life.

Hope that these tips will help you to overcome stress especially for those people who are working in night shift. Just follow these recommended steps and surely, you'll overcome stress and you will also have a healthy lifestyle.