Stress symptoms affect millions of people every day, and this can be debilitating. Many people experience these symptoms in times of intense stress while in everyday life their stress is minimal. Others experience panic attacks with little or no warning signs, and these emotions prevent them from engaging in activities they love. Fortunately, there are many ways and treatment options available to manage stress and control its symptoms.
What is stress?
Table of Contents
Stress is an emotion that we all experience at some point in our lives. It is often associated with stressful or emotional events. However, there are people who experience the symptoms of stress much more often than others. When stress begins to affect your daily life, it can be a sign that something more serious needs to be addressed.
Stress manifests itself with many different symptoms. Depending on their severity and the causes, each person may experience these symptoms differently. General symptoms of stress include anxiety or nervousness, difficulty concentrating, and difficulty sleeping.
Stress can also occur with physical symptoms such as high blood pressure and palpitations, sweating, tremors, digestive problems, and rapid breathing. For some people, especially those with phobias or panic disorder, anxiety can cause them to feel that they are in danger for no apparent reason and thus avoid engaging in activities that they fear will stress them out.
“Stress” is the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder among adults. 189-20% of the adult population has an anxiety disorder, and 30% will experience any anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.
Generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and phobias affect women twice as much as men, while social anxiety disorder affects both sexes equally. But only one in three people with an anxiety disorder seek help and I am glad you sought it
Ways/Techniques to manage stress
There are many effective ways and treatments for stress, but there are also some strategies that will help you manage your symptoms.
Here are some ways you can follow to reduce the symptoms of stress
1. Focus on the positive aspects of your life
Stress can make you focus on all the negative aspects of your life, and get stuck in things that you feel have not been handled properly. This can quickly lead to a destructive mindset that exacerbates stress and other mental health disorders. To be able to reduce or avoid this negative way of thinking, try to focus on the positive aspects of your life.
When you start to worry about things in your life that are not going so well, give yourself some time to see what is going very well. If you feel bad about a reaction to a friend or at work, try to think about how this interaction can help you learn and have a positive effect on your future reactions.
2. Keep a diary of your stress
When you feel anxious, it can be difficult to identify what is causing your symptoms. An exercise that can help you with this is keeping a diary and recording what you are feeling. When you feel anxious, write down all the reasons you are worried or nervous and the feelings you are feeling at the moment.
Sometimes, just recording your thoughts and fears can help you work to overcome your worries. You can always look at your diary when you feel stressed or discuss what you feel with a friend or close relative who is sensible and attention, and work on them.
3. Change the negative way of thinking
When you focus on positive thoughts you can overcome the worries, thoughts, and scenarios that make you stressed and anxious. When you are afraid of negative thoughts, then fear will overwhelm you every day. When you feel fear or anxiety, try to see things in a positive light.
For example, when you have too much workload in your place of work that needs to be finished, you can as well set your mind on the pleasant and interesting things you get to do when you are through with the work, it can be time with family, a dinner, whatever it is.
This simple exercise will be energizing as your thoughts are focused on that one thing. The work will no longer influence feelings of stress, rather it becomes an opportunity to pass through to your desired activity.
4. Establish a routine
The routine will help you manage daily activities and minimize exposure to sudden causes of stress. Establishing a routine also helps to achieve what you want in your day, which helps reduce stress as you will not have to leave unfinished work.
Adopt habits such as healthy eating and exercise to improve your physical health, which in turn improves your mental health. A daily routine helps you focus on your schedule and the positive parts of the day without worrying about what each day will bring.
5. Practice relaxation techniques
Relaxation techniques can vary from person to person, as everyone relaxes with different activities. There are many techniques you can try to alleviate your anxiety. Breathing exercises can relieve tension and nervousness, close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing when you feel stressed.
Music, reading, and exercise are activities that help calm the mind. Try what suits you and see what works for you. For me I prefer going to a quiet place, alone with my music when stressed, this helps me get calm quickly, that’s what works for me, yours might be different.
6. Put exercise into your life
Exercise is very important for a healthy lifestyle. It can benefit you physically and mentally. Daily exercise will help you have a healthier lifestyle. There are many forms of exercise that will keep your physical and mental energy away from negative thinking and this energy will be channeled into positive things.
7. Practice acceptance
There will always be things in life that get out of our control, and many times these are the things that cause intense stress. It’s a challenge to overcome the fears and anxieties associated with the unknown, but it is important to understand that no matter how much time we spend concentrating on them, we will not change them.
Recognize some stressful situations or worries, and think about whether you can control them. If the answer is yes, recognize everything you need to do to reduce the anxiety and do it.
If the answer is no, realize that there will always be things in your life and in the lives of others that you cannot change, and remind yourself that this is not a bad thing and accept it.
Take-Home
Thank you for reading through. Stress is very coming these days, especially in a work setting where there is a high demand for your involvement in work. These tips are what I personally apply over the use to ease and alleviate stress in my daily activities.
I know they will work for you as well, just follow through with them and practice them, and you will see yourself being free from the slightest emotions that cause stress.
Enjoy your stress-free life!