Stress Management: A How To
I’m writing this post for both my readers and me. I say that because I have yet to feel like I’ve mastered how to handle stress consistently. But isn’t that the thing about stress? Isn’t it typically tumultuous by nature? Isn’t it a characteristic of stress that we feel like we have a loss of control? Because if we could control our lives then wouldn’t we kick stress out of our lives and never look back?
But we all know that that’s unrealistic and that stress is a part of our lives as humans whether we like it or not. There are different types of stress but, no matter what, we will always feel some stress or variations of stress.
If stress comes in and sits in the driver’s seat of our emotions, then what can we do? What techniques are there to manage how we handle stress? How can we allow some space for stress in our lives without letting it take over?
These are questions I hope to answer in this post! I’m going to introduce some techniques that help us find some peace amid the chaos that is feeling stress, and helplessness, and discouragement.
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Some Education First...
First let me type out an educational paragraph in different types of stress and what those types can do to us mentally and physically. Hopefully after reading this portion of the post, you can identify which type of stress is happening in your life. And with that insight you’ll feel like you have some more control and knowledge to help you move forward.
Different Types of Stress
Emotional Stress is the stress we’re most familiar with and the only stress that most people think about. But to label it simply “emotional stress” is a little misguiding because this kind of stress affects you physically and mentally both short and long term. Emotional stress is the kind of stress I’d like to focus on in this post. But before I start expanding on what emotional stress can do to us, I’d like to introduce some other types of stress that we may not even be aware of. If we’re not aware of them then we can’t address them, right? So, here they are!
Nutritional Stress is a new term to me. But it makes sense that the overly processed foods that we are consuming lead to imbalances in our body that can affect our moods (a book on that that I HAVEN’T read but want to is The Food Mood Connection, by Uma Naidoo, MD), our energy levels, and our ability to think clearly. Have you ever had a carb heavy lunch and then not been able to keep your eyes open I that afternoon meeting? What we eat and drink (or don’t drink) can affect how efficiently we can get through our day and that, my friends, can either lead to stress or stress relief. If you feel as though you’re ability to get through your day and accomplish your goals is being affected by how you eat and how you drink then I highly recommend seeking out a registered dietician or learning about the basics from this website.
Another type of stress I just recently became aware of is postural stress. In other words, being sedentary and staring at a phone or computer for hours on end. Our ancestors moved almost constantly due to hunting and gathering, and we are built like them. Therefore, our brains and bodies are meant to move not sit. Per the resources I’m going to provide you, “sitting is the new smoking.” So, what is the solution if you have a desk job? Get up and move every single hour as long as you can. 5 minutes of stretching and possibly jumping jacks or jogging in place? Yes! 10 minutes of walking every 1.5 hours ANYWHERE in your building that you can? Yes! Just MOVE.
Did you know that there’s something called environmental stress?! I did not either until recently!
Environmental stress is our constant exposure to chemicals in household products, food, beauty products and so on. It also includes our exposure to electromagnetic radiation from wifi, Bluetooth and mobile phones. The World Health Organization has classified electromagnetic radiation as a Class 2b Carcinogen. What can we do about this? Set boundaries on how long you have access to technology, using the loudspeaker on your phone as much as possible so that there’s space between your phone and your body, leave phones in another room while charging, and turn off wifi at night if you can. I can certainly work on this myself! Technology addiction is real in our modern technology driven world. Read more here on different types of stress.
Emotional Stress & What to do About it
What does emotional stress do to us?
When we feel stress the stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol elevate our heart rate, our blood pressure and our energy and prepare us to deal with a problem. Our ancestors survived being eaten or being frozen to death due to these stress hormones. Fortunately for them, these occurrences were not too often. As long as they ate and didn’t get eaten and kept warm, they were pretty good! However, stress hormones are released in our bodies in this modern-day world many times a day due to the plethora of challenges presented to us all the time. Paying bills, getting to work on time, traveling in dangerous machines all throughout the day (cars, traffic and road rage anybody?), raising children and trying to keep up with ALL the guidelines on how to do so, and deadlines at work. You get the picture! So, this leads to us being stuck in the “on” position (overexposure to stress hormones which are MEANT to be temporary). Which can lead to high blood pressure, lack of sleep (which leads to its own varying health problems), weight gain, memory and concentration diminishing, digestive issues, anxiety and depression. Read more from where I got my info here.
Have I conveyed how MUCH too much stress can affect you yet? I hope so! Because I want to get to the good part!
How to Manage your Stress
Identify Triggers
Good News! You can manage your stress if you’re willing to TRY!
There are different approaches to managing stress… let’s go over them.
First identify what triggers your stress and seriously evaluate whether you can make changes or not. If you can make changes, then do so.
Some examples may include:
Hours in traffic–> Solution? Possibly Leave your house earlier and then leave your office earlier.
Carrying too many responsibilities on your shoulders–> Solution? Delegate as much as you possibly can. Or schedule breaks for yourself. Even 10 minutes can be a restorative break in your day.
Time Management–> Solution? Write down how you spend your time and manage how you spend your time from there. Setting time-boundaries helps us to feel as though we have control over our schedules and time.
The list can go on! But I’d like to move on to some solutions that may be the ticket to feeling restored.
Some Generalized Techniques...
Here are some activities that can only benefit every human on the planet…read on!
- Add some play into your life. Playing as an adult can lead to the release of endorphins into your body which is the body’s natural feel-good chemical. Playing has MANY benefits! Read more here. Some examples of play can be:
Board games
Video games (not for hours though!)
Tennis
Rollerblading/ Roller-skating
Hula hoop
Baseball
Kickball
Dodgeball
Splashing in a pool
Yard games
- Speaking of endorphins. Break a sweat. Jog, do some jump squats, tread water, do some burpees, take a group fitness class FREE from YouTube or go on a brisk walk. When you exercise you release endorphins into your body, which, as you read above, is the body’s natural feel-good chemical. Not to mention exercise is life enriching and lengthening in all the ways!
- Deep breathing. It is directly related to your body’s stress response. So purposefully taking slow and deep breathes in and out exerts control over your body’s stress response. Deep breathing can help soothe your sympathetic nervous system (flight or fight response) and, therefore, reduce stress and anxiety on the spot! Read more here.
- Get NO LESS THAN 7 hours of sleep a night…8 is even better. Sleep restores our ENTIRE body including our brain. Any less than 7 and our brain and body suffer. Which will then ADD to stress.
- Fixed routine with the function of decompressing. Ensure that you have a fixed routine that involves you participating in an activity that you KNOW decompresses you. For example, each night I love sitting with my husband (no kiddos!) to eat dinner in front of the TV to watch a quick show before we go our separate ways. It’s about 30 minutes worth of time but it’s my happy place.
- “Forest bathing” aka go on a walk around some greenery! Forest bathing, or simply walking around mindfully and slowly can lead to a decrease in cortisol (stress hormone), increase in anti-cancer proteins, and a reduction in blood pressure. Need I say more? Read more here!
- Reach out to loved ones and ensure you’re actively maintaining healthy relationships as much as you can. Disclaimer: Controlling another person is not an option. We can only control our own actions. This is why I give the advice to monitor only yourself. If you feel as though you’re in a highly stressful or volatile relationship, then please seek help or reconsider your options. I do not say this lightly as I’ve been in a verbally abusive and controlling relationship myself. There’s a national domestic violence hotline @ 800- 799-7233 or SMS text @ 88788. Or access their website here.
- On that note! If you feel as though you’re implementing all the techniques that you possibly can and you’re still not feeling less stressed. Reach out for professional help. These professionals earned an education that they can share with you. It’s often very enlightening to work with a psychologist, licensed professional counselor (LPC), or psychiatrist. A type of therapy that personally resonates with me is, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Read more about ACT on my other blog post here. Don’t be shy; at least look into it if you feel as though that’s where you may find a solution. Access a psychologist locator here.
In Conclusion...
I hope that this post helped you to learn more about different types of stress, what kind of stress you may be experiencing and what you can do about it. Like I said, stress is unavoidable. However, there are some changes we can make to decrease stress and manage the inevitable stress we encounter daily.
What kinds of stress might be prominent in your life? What changes do you feel like you can make to decrease this stress?
Until next time,
Kristi McCreight
Written by Kristi, May 17th, 2023
That is such good advice! Thanks for sharing. Your valuable insight and resources takes the power of stress out of everyday life and puts you back in control. Thank you, Kristi